Measuring & Mapping

Vernier Compass

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

Place: England

Betts 15-Inch Collapsible Terrestrial Globe

This is a cloth globe on a steel frame that expands and collapses like an umbrella.
Description
This is a cloth globe on a steel frame that expands and collapses like an umbrella. The cartouche in the North Pacific reads “BY THE QUEEN’S ROYAL LETTERS PATENT / BETTS’S / PORTABLE / TERRESTRIAL GLOBE / COMPILED FROM / THE LATEST AND BEST AUTHORITIES / LONDON: GEORGE PHILIP & SON, 32 FLEET STREET / LIVERPOOL: CAXTON BUILDINGS, AND 49 & 51 SOUTH CASTLE STREET.”
The pine box that holds the collapsed globe is marked “BETTS’S PATENT PORTABLE GLOBE” and “London: George Philip & Son, 32, Fleet Street Liverpool: Caxton Buildings, & 49 & 51 South Castle Street.”
John Betts (fl. 1844-1875) was a London publisher who specialized in inexpensive educational goods. He obtained a British patent (GB 1338) for "Collapsible Geographical Spheres" in 1856, and began advertising his patent portable globe soon thereafter. This example was produced by George Philip & Son, a publishing firm that was established in London in 1834, and that was still offering Betts’s globes in the 1920s.
The inclusion of “Cape Colony” suggests that this example was made before the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The inclusion of “Ind. Ter.” in the United States suggests that it was made before 1907 when Oklahoma became a state.
Ref: John Betts, A Companion to Betts’s Portable Globe and Diagrams (about 1850).
John Lanman, “Folding or Collapsible Terrestrial Globes,” Der Globusfreund 35-37 (1987): 39-44.
Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich (Oxford, 1999), pp. 276-278, and 444-447.
Yojiro Utsunomiya, “The Amount of Geographical Information on ‘Betts’s Portable Terrestrial Globe’” Globe Studies 53-56 (2007): 100-?
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
George Philip & Son
ID Number
PH.328739
accession number
277678
catalog number
328739

Lloyd-Creak Dip Circle

The key feature of this circle is a second needle to measure the relative intensity of the field. Humphrey Lloyd, a professor of natural philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, introduced the design in the 1840s. E. W.
Description
The key feature of this circle is a second needle to measure the relative intensity of the field. Humphrey Lloyd, a professor of natural philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, introduced the design in the 1840s. E. W. Creak, a Captain in the Royal Navy who served as Superintendent of the Compass Department of the Admiralty, improved the design around 1900, and the Admiralty paid for its development and tests. It soon replaced the Fox-style dip circles that had been in use since the 1830s.
This example is marked "Dover, Charlton Kent. Circle 168" and "C.&G.S. No. 35." The vertical circle is inside the box and viewed by opposite microscopes on the outside. This circle is silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes; and there is a curved thermometer along its top edge. The axle holding the needle rests in jeweled holes. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 30 minutes, and read by vernier to single minutes. There are two level vials on the base.
The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey modified this instrument in 1906, making it more useful at areas within 30 or 40 degrees of the magnetic equator. The original deflection distance of 7.3 cm was replaced with two deflection distances of 7.9 and 9.4 cm. by placing an aluminum case on the frame between the reading microscopes. A small telescope was added in front of the instrument, and an auxiliary needle, used to determine magnetic declination, on top.
This instrument sailed on the Galilee, a ship owned by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, in 1905-1907 and was later used in Canada, Greenland, and Newfoundland. It came to the Smithsonian in 1959.
Ref: "The Lloyd-Creak Dip Circle for Observations at Sea," Terrestrial Magnetism 6 (1901): 119-21.
L. A. Bauer, "Results of Magnetic Observations," Report of the. . . Coast and Geodetic Survey (1903-04), App. 3.
D. Hazard, Directions for Magnetic Measurements (Washington, D.C., 1911), pp. 97-99.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Dover
ID Number
PH.316509
accession number
225703
catalog number
316509

Bardin 18-inch Terrestrial Globe

This terrestrial globe is supported on a wooden tri-leg pedestal, surrounded by a wooden horizon circle, and it equipped with a brass meridian and a small brass circle around the north pole.
Description
This terrestrial globe is supported on a wooden tri-leg pedestal, surrounded by a wooden horizon circle, and it equipped with a brass meridian and a small brass circle around the north pole. It (and its celestial mate) belonged to the Anglo-American chemist, Joseph Priestley.
The cartouche in the Pacific Ocean displays a seated female figure of Britannia, a seated woman holding an astronomical quadrant, and a small portrait of Joseph Banks. The text below reads: “To the Rt Honorable / SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BART K. B. / This New British Terrestrial Globe / containing all the latest Discoveries and Communications, from the most / correct and authentic Observations and surveys, to the year 1798 / by Captn Cook and more recent Navigators, Engraved on / an accurate Drawing by Mr Arrowsmith Geographer / Is respectfully dedicated / by his most obedient hble servants / W. & T. M. Bardin / 230” A text below reads: “Manufactured & Sold Wholesale & Retail by W. & T. M. BARDIN / 16 Salisbury Square Fleet Street London”
William Bardin (fl. 1730-1798) was a London artisan who began making globes around 1780. Ten years later, now partnership with his son, Thomas Marriott Bardin (1768-1819), he began trading as W. & T. M. Bardin. The 18-inch globes, their most ambitious, were introduced in 1798, and remained in production, by successor firms, for a half century.
Ref: John Millburn and Tör Rossaak, “The Bardin Family, Globe Makers in London” Der Globusfreund (1992).
Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich (Oxford, 1999), pp. 260-270.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1800
owner
Priestley, Joseph
ID Number
PH.53253
catalog number
53253
accession number
27050

Ferguson 3-Inch Terrestrial Globe

A cartouche in the North Pacific of this pocket globe reads “A New / GLOBE of the / Earth / by James Ferguson.” A broken line shows the route taken by George Anson during his 1740-1744 global circumnavigation.
Description
A cartouche in the North Pacific of this pocket globe reads “A New / GLOBE of the / Earth / by James Ferguson.” A broken line shows the route taken by George Anson during his 1740-1744 global circumnavigation. The Antipodes to London is shown, as are the Chinese Wall and monsoons in the Indian Sea. California appears as a peninsula. The globe is provided with a case made of dogfish skin, with an inverted celestial globe on the inside.
James Ferguson was an astronomical and philosophical lecturer and instrument maker who hailed from Scotland and settled in London. He introduced this globe circa 1756, and transferred his globe business to Benjamin Martin the following year.
Ref: John R. Millburn, Wheelwright of the Heavens. The Life and Work of James Ferguson (London, 1988).
Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich (Oxford, 1999), pp. 332-333.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1756-1757
maker
Ferguson, James
ID Number
PH.318287
catalog number
318287
accession number
233574

Thermometer

This is a sensitive precision instrument that was probably used as a standard for evaluating instruments sent to meteorological field stations.
Description
This is a sensitive precision instrument that was probably used as a standard for evaluating instruments sent to meteorological field stations. The mercury-in-glass thermometer is mounted on a white porcelain plate marked "NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS, LONDON" and "ABSOLUTE" and "29" with the M/O monogram of the British Meteorological Office, the N/Z monogram of the firm, and the K/O monogram of the Kew Observatory.
The plate is graduated every 5 degrees from 245 to 325. The back of the stem is white enamel and marked "29" and with the M/O and N/Z monograms; the front is graduated every degree from +243 to +325 and numbered at 245, 273, and 320. It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Weather Bureau.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 20th century
maker
Negretti & Zambra
ID Number
PH.314556
accession number
204612
catalog number
314556

SURREY INSTITUTION

This charming hand-colored aquatint shows Friedrich Accum giving a chemistry lecture at the Surrey Institution in London, a short-lived organization (it opened in 1808 and closed in 1823) that presented scientific, literary, and musical programs for ladies and gentlemen in London
Description
This charming hand-colored aquatint shows Friedrich Accum giving a chemistry lecture at the Surrey Institution in London, a short-lived organization (it opened in 1808 and closed in 1823) that presented scientific, literary, and musical programs for ladies and gentlemen in London. The inscriptions at the bottom read “Rowlandson & Pugin delt et sculpt” and “J. C. Stadler aquat” and “London Pub. Sept 1st 1809, at R. Ackermann’s Repository of Arts 101 Strand.”
Augustus Charles Pugin (1762-1832), an Anglo-French artist, drew the architectural features of this image. Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), a London artist, drew the people. Joseph Constantine Stadler (active 1780-1812), a German artist working in England, produced the plate. Rudolph Ackermann, a German immigrant whose popular print and picture emporium was known as the Repository of Arts, commissioned the work and included it in The Microcosm of London (1808-1810), an ambitious three-volume work produced under his auspices.
Ref: F. Kurzer, “A History of the Surrey Institution,” Annals of Science 57 (2000): 109-141.
John Ford, Ackermann 1783-1983: The Business of Art (London, 1983).
Matthew Payne & James Payne, Regarding Thomas Rowlandson, 1757-1827 (London, 2010).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1809
ID Number
PH.317523
catalog number
317523
accession number
230391

Magnetometer

This is a Kew pattern unifilar magnetometer that is marked "Dover, Charlton Kent No. 145" and that belonged to the Survey Branch of the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office.
Description
This is a Kew pattern unifilar magnetometer that is marked "Dover, Charlton Kent No. 145" and that belonged to the Survey Branch of the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office. While the "Dover, Charlton Kent" inscription was used between 1859 and 1920, the serial number suggests a date of around 1900. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey repaired, cleaned, adjusted, and calibrated this instrument around 1950, and transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1959.

Ref: J. E. H. Gordon, A Physical Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (London, 1880), vol. I, pp. 166-177.

Location
Currently not on view
maker
Dover
ID Number
PH.316506
accession number
225703
catalog number
316506

Cary 12-Inch Celestial Globe

The cartouche reads “CARY’S / NEW / CELESTIAL GLOBE, / are correctly laid down upwards of 3500 stars / selected from the most accurate observations / and calculated for the year 1800. / With the extent of each constellation precisely defined / By Mr. GILPIN of the ROYAL SOCIETY.
Description
The cartouche reads “CARY’S / NEW / CELESTIAL GLOBE, / are correctly laid down upwards of 3500 stars / selected from the most accurate observations / and calculated for the year 1800. / With the extent of each constellation precisely defined / By Mr. GILPIN of the ROYAL SOCIETY. / Made and Sold by J. & W. CARY. / Strand London Jan. 1 1816.”
The globe is held on a wooden pedestal with three curved legs. It has a wooden horizon circle and a brass meridian.
John Cary was a globe maker in London who began in business in 1791. For this globe (and a few other things) he worked with his brother William. George Gilpin worked as an assistant at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich for a couple of years, and as the clerk of the Royal Society of London from 1785 until his death in 1810.
Cary introduced his new 12-inch celestial globe and the terrestrial mate in 1798. This example is dated 1816.
Ref: Herbert George Fordham, John Cary: Engraver, Map, Chart and Print-Seller and Globe-Maker, 1754 to 1835 (Cambridge, 1925)
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1816
ID Number
PH.392869A
catalog number
392869A
accession number
214358

Backstaff

The frame of this instrument is rosewood, while the arcs, cross bar, and sights are boxwood.
Description
The frame of this instrument is rosewood, while the arcs, cross bar, and sights are boxwood. The boxwood inset is inscribed "Made.by.John.Holbeche.for Capt Joseph.Swan.1738." John Holbeche advertised an Instrument Maker & Ship-Chandler at the Corner of the Hermitage in London.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1995), p. 138.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1738
maker
John Holbeche
ID Number
PH.318439
catalog number
318439
accession number
234475

Radioactive source for Crookes spinthariscope

A spinthariscope is a device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor or scintillator.
Description
A spinthariscope is a device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor or scintillator. Typically, an eyepiece and a radiation source are located at opposite ends of the cylindrical device.
Two types of spinthariscope are shown in the accompanying multi-object image; a Crookes spinthariscope appears on the right. (Photograph provided by donor, Prof. Herbert Clark, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.)
For general background on the spinthariscope go to:
http://skullsinthestars.com/2011/04/25/the-spinthariscope-see-atoms-decay-before-your-eyes/
For background on the Crookes spinthariscope go to: https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/spinthariscopes/crookes.htm
Description of the separate source for the Crookes spinthariscope, object ID no. 1994.0125.17.2
This separate radioactive source, presumably radium, for Crookes spinthariscope object ID 1994.0125.17.1, is enclosed in a 3 7/8” x 1 ½” x ¼” case of unknown material, with a cardboard lid held by a cloth hinge in which a rectangular window roughly 2” wide by 1” deep. Behind the window is a circular depression about 3/8” in diameter, in the center of which embedded in an unknown white matrix, the presumed 1 mm diameter source lies. Visible through the window, above the source well is the inscription “The Spinthariscope”, and below the source well is the inscription “W. Crookes 1903”. The source .17.2 in the case appears in the accompanying multi-object image, second object from the right.
The sides of the case are further enclosed by stacks of glass microscope slides 3/16’ thick, held by twisted wires and foam pads over top and bottom. The glass slides were placed on both sides of the case by Clark; they have been left undisturbed as a precautionary measure. The object .17.2 in this arrangment appears in the second accompanying image.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 20th century
maker
Crookes, William
ID Number
1994.0125.17.2
accession number
1994.0125
catalog number
1994.0125.17.2

Hopkinson Steam Engine Indicator

An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design and performance of the engine. The J.
Description
An engine indicator is an instrument for graphically recording the pressure versus piston displacement through an engine stroke cycle. Engineers use the resulting diagram to check the design and performance of the engine. The J. Hopkinson & Company of Huddersfield, England manufactured this steam engine indicator ca 1855. Made of brass, it consists of an internal cylinder and piston which is surrounded by a concentric brass drum holding the recording paper. The piston causes the stylus to rise and fall with pressure changes thereby directly recording the indicator’s pressure-volume diagram output on the paper. Around the drum’s base is wound a cord that is attached to the connecting rod of the piston on the steam engine being measured. This causes the drum to rotate as the engine’s piston moves. An internal coil spring causes the cord to retract and the drum to counter rotate back to its original position as the connecting rod returns.
The introduction of the steam indicator in the late 1790s and early 1800s by James Watt and others had a great impact on the understanding of how the steam behaved inside the engine's cylinder and thereby enabled much more exacting and sophisticated designs. The devices also changed how the economics and efficiency of steam engines were portrayed and marketed. They helped the prospective owner of a machine better understand how much his fuel costs would be for a given amount of work performed. Measurement of fuel consumed and work delivered by the engine was begun by Watt, who in part justified the selling price of his engines on the amount of fuel cost the purchaser might save compared to an alternate engine. In the early days of steam power, the method to compare engine performance was based on a concept termed the engine’s “duty”. It originally was calculated as the number of pounds of water raised one foot high per one bushel of coal consumed. The duty method was open to criticism due to its inability to take into consideration finer points of efficiency in real world applications of engines . Accurate determination of fuel used in relation to work performed has been fundamental to the design and improvement of all steam-driven prime movers ever since Watt’s time. And, the steam indicators’ key contribution was the accurate measurements of performance while the engine was actually doing the work it was designed to do.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1855
ID Number
1979.0344.01
accession number
1979.0344
catalog number
1979.0344.01

Dumpy Level with Compass

This surveyor's instrument was made by Gabriel Davis (d. 1851), a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria who settled in Leeds and who, by 1830, was in business as an optical and mathematical instrument maker.Currently not on view
Description
This surveyor's instrument was made by Gabriel Davis (d. 1851), a Jewish immigrant from Bavaria who settled in Leeds and who, by 1830, was in business as an optical and mathematical instrument maker.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1850
maker
Davis, Gabriel
ID Number
2005.0182.5
accession number
2005.0182
catalog number
2005.0182.5

Reflecting Circle

Edward Troughton, a prominent instrument maker in London, introduced this type of reflecting circle in 1796. The telescope, mirror, and filters are on one side of the circle, while the silver scale is on the other.
Description
Edward Troughton, a prominent instrument maker in London, introduced this type of reflecting circle in 1796. The telescope, mirror, and filters are on one side of the circle, while the silver scale is on the other. The scale is graduated to 20 minutes, and read by three verniers (one has a tangent screw) to 20 seconds. The circle is supported on a heavy brass stand with a counterweight. The inscription reads "Troughton & Simms 240 LONDON." This example belonged to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and was probably made in the late 1830s. Troughton & Simms was still offering instruments of this sort in the 1850s–at a cost of £23.
Ref: Abraham Rees, The Cyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (London, 1819), vol. 8, art. "Circle," and Plate III of "Astronomical Instruments."
"Directions for observing with Troughton’s Reflecting Circle," quoted in F. W. Simms, A Treatise on the Principal Mathematical Instruments (Baltimore, 1836), pp. 51-54.
"Catalogue of Instruments Made By Troughton & Simms," appended to William Simms, The Achromatic Telescope (London, 1852).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 1830s
maker
Troughton and Simms
ID Number
1987.0924.01
catalog number
1987.0924.01
accession number
1987.0924

Octant

Octant with an ebony frame, ivory scale and name plate, reinforced brass arm, two sets of filters, and telescopic sight. The scale runs from 0° to about 107°, is graduated to 20 minutes, and read by vernier to single minutes.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame, ivory scale and name plate, reinforced brass arm, two sets of filters, and telescopic sight. The scale runs from 0° to about 107°, is graduated to 20 minutes, and read by vernier to single minutes. The scale is marked “SBR.” The name plate reads “Spencer. Browning & Co London.”
Spencer, Browning & Rust was a mathematical instrument firm in London that began in business in the early 1780s, and that became Spencer, Browning & Co. in 1843.
This octant once belonged to the donor’s ancestor, Jacob A. Westervelt (1800-1879), a ship builder and marine architect who served one term as mayor of New York City.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1870
maker
Spencer, Browning & Co.
ID Number
2013.0206.01
catalog number
2013.0206.01
accession number
2013.0206

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