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: United States

Engraved printing plate "Pleiodus strigirostris"

This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Pleiodus strigirostris" (now Didunculus strigirostris - Tooth-billed Pigeon or Samoan Pigeon) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalo
Description (Brief)
This engraved printing plate was prepared to print an image of "Pleiodus strigirostris" (now Didunculus strigirostris - Tooth-billed Pigeon or Samoan Pigeon) for the publication "United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842," Volume 8, Mammalogy and Ornithology, plate 34, in the edition Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1858. The engraving was produced by W. H. Dougal after T. R. Peale.
Description
William H. Dougal (1822–1895) of New York and Washington, D.C., (after 1844) engraved this copper printing plate after a drawing by Expedition Naturalist Titian Ramsey Peale. The image depicts the Pleiodus strigirostris (now Didunculus strigirostris, Tooth billed pigeon or Samoan Pigeon). The engraved illustration was published as Plate 34 in Volume VIII, Mammalogy and Ornithology, by John Cassin, 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1858
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Peale, Titian Ramsay
graphic artist
Dougal, William H.
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Cassin, John
ID Number
1999.0145.414
catalog number
1999.0145.414
accession number
1999.0145

Hamilton No. 1 Box Chronometer

This instrument is a specialized timekeeper for determining longitude at sea. It is serial no. 1 from a run of approximately 10,000 similar timekeepers made by Hamilton Watch Co, Lancaster, PA in 1942.World War II created a dire chronometer shortage for the United States.
Description
This instrument is a specialized timekeeper for determining longitude at sea. It is serial no. 1 from a run of approximately 10,000 similar timekeepers made by Hamilton Watch Co, Lancaster, PA in 1942.
World War II created a dire chronometer shortage for the United States. Before the war, most chronometers for American military and civilian customers were imported. Only a few American firms—including William Bond & Son of Boston and the New York establishments of John Bliss Inc. and T.S. and J. D. Negus—finished chronometers from parts imported from European makers. Chronometer making was a craft, with only a few hundred produced in any given year. When the war started in 1941, European suppliers of parts and finished instruments halted exports to the United States.
Anticipating the arrival of war, the U.S. Naval Observatory had asked American domestic watch manufacturers in 1939 for their participation in mass-producing chronometers. Domestic watch manufacturers Hamilton and Elgin agreed to undertake the design and production, but only Hamilton’s product met Navy accuracy requirements. Hamilton delivered two prototypes to the Navy on 27 February 1942, which passed with an error rate of 1.55 seconds per day. The firm went on during the war to mass-produce 8900 more chronometers for the Navy, 1500 for merchant shipping and 500 for the Army. Between 1942 and 1944, the price dropped from $625 to $390 per timekeeper.
Hamilton’s design for its Model 21 chronometer did not copy traditional European standards. Instead the design introduced key changes to improve accuracy. The modifications included changes to the escapement and the chronometer’s oscillating unit—the balance and hairspring assembly.
To find longitude at sea, a chronometer would be set to the time of a place of known longitude, like Greenwich, England, the prime meridian. That time, carried to a remote location, could be compared to local time. Because one hour of difference in time equals 15 degrees difference in longitude, the difference in time between the chronometer and local time would yield local longitude.
References:
1. Dick, Steven J. Sky and Ocean Joined: The U. S. Naval Observatory 1830-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
2. Whitney, Marvin. The Ship’s Chronometer. Cincinnati: American Watchmakers Institute Press, 1985.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1941
1956
maker
Hamilton
ID Number
ME.314825
catalog number
314825
accession number
210893

Bubble Sextant

Edwin A. Link, Jr. presented this bubble sextant, in a beautiful alligator case, to P. V. H. Weems. It is a standard A-12 with an attachment that enables the user to view the real horizon.
Description
Edwin A. Link, Jr. presented this bubble sextant, in a beautiful alligator case, to P. V. H. Weems. It is a standard A-12 with an attachment that enables the user to view the real horizon. Link applied for a patent on this feature in 1943.
Ref: Link Bubble Sextant (Octant) Model A-12 Handbook: Description, Operation, Use, Adjustment (Binghamton, N.Y.: Link Aviation Devices, Inc., 1943).
Edwin A. Link, Jr., "Navigation Instrument Including a Horizon Attachment," U.S. patent #2,395,559
Location
Currently not on view
user
Weems, Philip Van Horn
ID Number
AF.59061-N
catalog number
59061-N
accession number
242229

Juvet Time Globe

In 1880, Scientific American enthusiastically recommended Louis P. Juvet's time globe to its readers.
Description
In 1880, Scientific American enthusiastically recommended Louis P. Juvet's time globe to its readers. It was, the magazine found, "a fit ornament for any library, a valuable adjunct in every business office, and a necessity in every institution of learning." The clockwork-driven globe was undeniably useful for studying geography, determining world time, and illustrating the rotation of the earth. The basis of its appeal, however, was even broader. Prominently displayed in the parlors and drawing rooms of Gilded Age America, the elegant time globe clearly demonstrated the wealth and culture of its owner.
Available in a range of sizes and versions simple and ornate, the time globe consisted of three basic elements: a globe, a mechanism for rotating it, and a base. The globe most often featured a terrestrial map, but celestial globes were also offered. An equatorial ring indicated worldwide time and zones of daylight and darkness. A meridian ring supported a clock dial over the north pole.
Concealed within the globe was a four-day, spring-driven brass movement that drove the clock dial and rotated the globe once every twenty-four hours. Manufactured for Juvet by Rood and Horton of Bristol, Connecticut, the movements featured a lever escapement and a balance wheel. Turning the feather end of the arrow-shaped axis wound the movement.
Precisely when production of the globes began is uncertain. Juvet, a Swiss immigrant and a resident of Glens Falls, New York, first patented a mechanical globe in January 1867, and exhibited one at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Probably sometime in 1879, Juvet formed a partnership with James Arkell. By the early 1880s, Juvet and Company of Canajoharie, New York, was making more than sixty varieties of globes. In October 1886, fire consumed the factory where the globes were assembled, ending their manufacture there forever.
Pictured on the left. Overall measurements are 55 1/2 x 17 x 17 inches.
Location
Currently not on view (stand)
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1885
manufacturer
Juvet & Co.
ID Number
ME.308472
catalog number
308472
accession number
93248

Dry Card Compass

This compass has a brass bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. A label on the box reads: "BRASS COMPASS, MANUFACTURED BY S. THAXTER & SON, 125 STATE STREET, BOSTON. Dealers in Nautical Instruments, Charts, Nautical Books, &c. N.B. Nautical Instruments Repaired." S.
Description
This compass has a brass bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. A label on the box reads: "BRASS COMPASS, MANUFACTURED BY S. THAXTER & SON, 125 STATE STREET, BOSTON. Dealers in Nautical Instruments, Charts, Nautical Books, &c. N.B. Nautical Instruments Repaired." S. Thaxter & Sons sent this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1880, perhaps for use in the International Fishery Exhibition which opened in Berlin on April 20 of that year. The compass was clearly shown in the similar exhibition held in London in 1883.
Ref: G. Brown Goode, et. al., Descriptive Catalogues of the Collections Sent from the United States to the International Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883 (Washington, D.C., 1884), vol. 2, p. 725.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
S. Thaxter & Son
ID Number
PH.039384
catalog number
39384
accession number
8745

Surveyor's Transit

Wm. J. Young & Sons (fl. 1870-1881) used a simple transit instrument of this sort as their logo, placing it on their advertisements and on the front cover of their Manual and Price List of Engineering and Mathematical Instruments. The inscription on this example reads "Wm. J.
Description
Wm. J. Young & Sons (fl. 1870-1881) used a simple transit instrument of this sort as their logo, placing it on their advertisements and on the front cover of their Manual and Price List of Engineering and Mathematical Instruments. The inscription on this example reads "Wm. J. Young & Sons 4648 Philadelphia." The serial number dates from 1872. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated into 30 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers. One vernier reads to single minutes, and the other reads to 1/100 of a degree.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1872
maker
William J. Young and Sons
ID Number
1985.0800.01
accession number
1985.0800
catalog number
1985.0800.01

Winlock & Huddleston Psychrometer

This is the model that Joseph Winlock, a professor of astronomy at Harvard College, and John S. F. Huddleston, a thermometer and barometer maker in Boston, submitted along with their patent application in 1873.
Description
This is the model that Joseph Winlock, a professor of astronomy at Harvard College, and John S. F. Huddleston, a thermometer and barometer maker in Boston, submitted along with their patent application in 1873. The wet bulb thermometer is mounted on a brass plate that is marked "HUDDLESTON BOSTON" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from +10 to +115. The dry bulb thermometer is missing.
The wooden tower holds a rotating chart that indicates relative humidity, and carries a brass plate graduated every degree from +6 to +113. The patent described "a simple, efficient, and convenient means of determining the relative humidity of the atmosphere or the dew-point, so called, without calculation."
Ref: J. Winlock and J. S F. Huddleston, "Psychrometer," U.S. Patent 149176 (issued 1874).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1873
maker
Huddleston, John S. F.
Winlock, Joseph
ID Number
PH.309319
catalog number
309319
accession number
89797
patent number
149,176

Waterbury Turnout Alarm Clock

This mechanical alarm clock features a radium dial to glow in the dark. Made about 1920 by the Waterbury Clock Co., the model is called the Turnout.Currently not on view
Description
This mechanical alarm clock features a radium dial to glow in the dark. Made about 1920 by the Waterbury Clock Co., the model is called the Turnout.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918-1920
manufacturer
Waterbury Clock Company
ID Number
1986.0434.04
catalog number
1986.0434.04
accession number
1986.0434
catalog number
1986.434.04

Surveyor's Transit

This surveyor's transit with a "Stackpole & Brother New York 1748" inscription was probably made in the 1870s. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 20 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes.
Description
This surveyor's transit with a "Stackpole & Brother New York 1748" inscription was probably made in the 1870s. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 20 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes. There is a hanging level, and a clamp and tangent screw on the horizontal axis.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Stackpole and Brother
ID Number
PH.330482
maker number
1748
catalog number
330482
accession number
296855

Surveyor's Transit

This instrument is marked "DIETZGEN 10823." Dietzgen introduced the form around 1920, termed it a Highway Transit, and was still offering in the late 1930s. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated in both directions, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes.
Description
This instrument is marked "DIETZGEN 10823." Dietzgen introduced the form around 1920, termed it a Highway Transit, and was still offering in the late 1930s. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated in both directions, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes. The vertical circle is silvered, graduated, and read by vernier to single minutes. There are clamps and tangent screws to the horizontal circle and to the telescope axis. This example belonged to the University of Montana and, when new, cost $260.
Ref: Eugene Dietzgen Co., Catalogue (Chicago, 1921), pp. 334-335.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Eugene Dietzgen Company
ID Number
1984.0636.10
catalog number
1984.0636.10
accession number
1984.0636

Engraved wood block "Kasanji"

Joseph H. Brightly (about 1818–about 1858) of Philadelphia and New York City engraved this printing block after the drawing Kasanji, a native of Kasanji, by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 63 of Volume I of the U.S.
Description
Joseph H. Brightly (about 1818–about 1858) of Philadelphia and New York City engraved this printing block after the drawing Kasanji, a native of Kasanji, by Expedition Artist Alfred T. Agate. The wood engraving illustration was published on page 63 of Volume I of the U.S. Exploring Expedition Narrative by Charles Wilkes, 1844.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1844
ca 1844
publisher
Wilkes, Charles
printer
Sherman, Conger
author
Wilkes, Charles
original artist
Agate, A. T.
graphic artist
Brightly, Joseph H.
ID Number
1999.0145.038
accession number
1999.0145
catalog number
1999.0145.038
accession number
1999.0145

Ellis Water Current Meter

After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, General Theodore Grenville Ellis resumed work as an engineer in Hartford, Conn. In 1867 he was placed in charge of the U.S. Corps of Engineers navigation-improvement study of the Connecticut River.
Description
After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, General Theodore Grenville Ellis resumed work as an engineer in Hartford, Conn. In 1867 he was placed in charge of the U.S. Corps of Engineers navigation-improvement study of the Connecticut River. For that task, in 1874, he built a current meter with four revolving cups and a four-blade rudder. This was similar to, but smaller than, the current meter designed by Daniel F. Henry.
This example is a slightly improved version of Ellis’ original meter. The U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916. The “Buff & Berger, Boston, 2154” inscription refers to a firm that was in business from 1871 to 1898.
Ref: Buff & Berger, Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers’ and Surveyors Instruments (Boston, 1890), pp. 61-62 and 135-137.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 62-63 and 74-75.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874-1898
maker
Buff & Berger
ID Number
PH.289637
accession number
59263
catalog number
289637

Surveyor's Vernier Compass

The "Wm. J. Young Maker 3641 Philadelphia" inscription indicates that this compass was made around 1859. The face is dark, and the needle ring is silvered. An outkeeper is on the face at west, and a circular level at east.
Description
The "Wm. J. Young Maker 3641 Philadelphia" inscription indicates that this compass was made around 1859. The face is dark, and the needle ring is silvered. An outkeeper is on the face at west, and a circular level at east. The variation arc on the north arm extends 20 degrees either way, and reads by vernier to single minutes. The arms are unusually thick, making the compass unusually heavy. The box is marked "J. H. Marvin Lexington Ky."
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Young, William J.
ID Number
2000.0241.01
accession number
2000.0241
catalog number
2000.0241.01

Pocket Compass (prismatic)

This compass is similar to the one for which Charles Schmalcalder, a London instrument maker, obtained a British patent in 1812. It is designed so that a surveyor can read the card while sighting a distant object.
Description
This compass is similar to the one for which Charles Schmalcalder, a London instrument maker, obtained a British patent in 1812. It is designed so that a surveyor can read the card while sighting a distant object. It has a tall folding sight at north, and at south, a shorter sight with a prismatic eyepiece at its base. The floating card is colored bright green; the numbers around its edge read correctly when seen through the prismatic eyepiece.
This example is marked "U. S. ENGINEERS" and "J. Green N. Y." The U. S. Weather Bureau transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1954. James Green was born in England in 1808, moved to the United States around 1832, and opened an instrument shop in Baltimore. He opened a second shop in New York in the early 1840s, and retired in 1885.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Green, James
ID Number
PH.314563
catalog number
314563
accession number
204612

Hurricane Evacuation Route Road Sign

As Hurricane Katrina approached in August 2005, over 80 percent of the residents of New Orleans fled the city during the mandatory evacuation. Thousands of residents, however, could not or would not leave.Currently not on view
Description
As Hurricane Katrina approached in August 2005, over 80 percent of the residents of New Orleans fled the city during the mandatory evacuation. Thousands of residents, however, could not or would not leave.
Location
Currently not on view
Associated Date
2005
fabricator
New Orleans Department of Public Works
ID Number
2005.0284.01
accession number
2005.0284
catalog number
2005.0284.01

Edson's Hygrodeik

William Edson, a civil engineer in Boston, designed a "Hygrometrical Index" that, when connected to a common wet and dry bulb hydrometer, "will enable any one, by simple inspection of the instrument, to ascertain the relative humidity and dew-point of the air, also the absolute a
Description
William Edson, a civil engineer in Boston, designed a "Hygrometrical Index" that, when connected to a common wet and dry bulb hydrometer, "will enable any one, by simple inspection of the instrument, to ascertain the relative humidity and dew-point of the air, also the absolute amount of moisture in the air, without the aid of tables or calculation." In this example, which came from Cornell College, the paper chart is marked "EDSON'S HYGRODEIK MANUFACTURED BY N.M. LOWE, BOSTON." Nathaniel M. Lowe is known to have manufactured Edson's Hygrodeik from 1866 until the early 1890s.
Ref: William Edson, "Hydrometer," U.S. Patent 48620 (1865), as well as similar patents in England and France.
William Edson, The Use of Edson's Hygrodeik (1865).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1866-1895
maker
Lowe, Nathaniel M.
ID Number
PH.329004
catalog number
329004
accession number
278100

Thermometer

Simple mercury-in-glass thermometer with a brass scale housed in a maple case suitable for hanging on the wall. The scale is graduated in degrees from -40 to +150. and marked "C.J. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. Bklyn. N.Y. Made in U.S.A."Currently not on view
Description
Simple mercury-in-glass thermometer with a brass scale housed in a maple case suitable for hanging on the wall. The scale is graduated in degrees from -40 to +150. and marked "C.J. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. Bklyn. N.Y. Made in U.S.A."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1885
maker
C. J. Tagliabue Manufacturing Company
ID Number
PH.335521
catalog number
335521
accession number
321714

Saybolt Viscosimeter

The viscosimeter began as a scientific instrument for laboratory use in the 1830s. In time, due to increased industrial production, demand for quality control, and use of mineral-based oils, it gained real-world importance.
Description
The viscosimeter began as a scientific instrument for laboratory use in the 1830s. In time, due to increased industrial production, demand for quality control, and use of mineral-based oils, it gained real-world importance. The favored form for petroleum products measured the time it took for a certain volume of fluid to empty out of a container. The standard American design was developed by George M. Saybolt, unveiled in the 1880s, and manufactured by the C. J. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. for the Standard Oil Company in New York. It resembled the viscosimeters designed by Boverton Redwood in Great Britain and by Karl Engler in Germany.
Tagliabue brought the basic Saybolt viscosimeter to the open market in 1905. An improved form adapted for steam, gas, or electric heating, appeared in 1914. It cost $82 with a stopwatch, and $75 without. Following Saybolt’s death in 1924, the New York Times implied that the viscosimeter was largely responsible for his $100,000 estate.
This example is marked: “The SAYBOLT Standard / UNIVERSAL VISCOSIMETER / C. H. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. / New York / Sole Sales Agents” and “C. J. TAGLIABUE MFG. CO. N.Y.” and “2880” and “PATENT PENDING” and “2880 STANDARD UNIVERSAL VISCOSIMETER, GEO. M. SAYBOLT, NEW YORK”. It was made after Saybolt applied for a patent in 1914, and before the patent was issued in 1915. The U.S. Military Academy donated it to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1914-1915
maker
C.J. Tagliabue Manufacturing Company
ID Number
CH.316411
catalog number
316411
accession number
223721

American Watch Company Prototype

The first firm to mass-produce watches by machine was the American Watch Company of Massachusetts. Oliver B.
Description
The first firm to mass-produce watches by machine was the American Watch Company of Massachusetts. Oliver B. Marsh, one of the firm's earliest watchmakers, designed and made this watch as a prototype.
The appetite for watches in the United States in the early part of the 19th century was huge; about $46 million worth were imported between 1825 and 1858, especially from England Switzerland. To tap into this market, a few Americans attempted to develop watches domestically, but probably no more than two thousand watches were made in the United States before the 1850s.
In that decade, watchmakers at what would become the American Watch Company of Waltham, Massachusetts, developed the world's first machine-made watches. They completely redesigned the watch so that its movement could be assembled from interchangeable parts made on specialized machines they invented just for that purpose. They also developed a highly organized factory-based work system to speed production and cut costs.
The firm was launched in 1849 in a corner of the Howard & Davis clock factory in Roxbury, near Boston, where Edward Howard and Aaron Dennison experimented with completely new designs for watches and the machines to make them. With expert help from a cadre of experienced mechanicians and funding from Howard's father-in-law, the Boston mirror maker Samuel Curtis, the enterprise got under way.
Dennison had absorbed techniques for the mass production of firearms with interchangeable parts during a visit at the Springfield Armory. The primary measures the new firm adopted from arms making were a tight organization, a critically important machine shop, and a manufacturing system that relied on models. Waltham designers made a model watch and a master set of gauges to fit it, and every watch part made thereafter was measured against the corresponding model part.
In its first decade, the firm's work was largely experimental, but by late in 1852, Howard and Dennison finally had products-seventeen watches, made mostly by hand by brothers Oliver and David Marsh. One of these prototypes, a watch made by Oliver Marsh, survives in the collections of the museum.
O. B. Marsh's watch was large compared to other pocket watches of the time. The white- enamel dial indicated minutes around the rim and featured four smaller dials indicating hours (at 6:00) seconds (at 12:00), days of the week (at 9:00) and date (at 3:00).
The design of these first watches, eight-day movements with two mainsprings, gave way to a simpler one, a watch that ran on one mainspring for a little more than a day. Although superficially similar to English watches of the time, the new American watch featured a mainspring in a "going barrel." This meant a watch without the traditional fusee and chain to equalize the force of the unwinding spring. This was a watch with fewer parts to make.
The next hundred Waltham watches, built on the new model, took until the fall of 1853. The third batch of nine hundred sold for just $40 each, cased. An imported movement of the same quality cost twice as much.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849-1851
Date made
ca 1852
manufacturer
Waltham Watch Company
maker
American Waltham Watch Co.
Oliver B. Marsh
Oliver B. Marsh, for American Watch Co.
ID Number
ME.334625
accession number
310796
catalog number
334625

Odometer

Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This pendulum odometer is one of those instruments. The inscription under the dial reads “JULIEN P.
Description
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This pendulum odometer is one of those instruments. The inscription under the dial reads “JULIEN P. FRIEZ, BALTIMORE, MD. U.S.A.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
ID Number
PH.247961
accession number
47736
catalog number
247961

Octant

Octant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The brass scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +100° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The brass scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +100° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The "Richard Patten New York" inscription refers to Richard Patten (1792-1865), an instrument maker who began in business in New York City in 1813 and was soon the proprietor of a Navigation Warehouse. By 1820 he was advertising that he was a "manufacturer of mathematical instruments . . . equal to any in the City of London." Elsewhere he claimed to be the "only manufacturer of Sextans [sic] and Quadrants in New York," and that "All instruments in the above line [are] made to order & warranted, being divided on an engine after the Plan of Ramsden’s."
Ref: Deborah J. Warner, "Richard Patten (1792-1865)," Rittenhouse 6 (1989): 57-63.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Patten, Richard
ID Number
1993.0187.01
catalog number
1993.0187.01
accession number
1993.0187

Pendulum Quadrant

This is the model that Robert Norris and Frederick Peters, both of New York City, submitted with their application for a patent for an instrument for taking latitudes at sea.
Description
This is the model that Robert Norris and Frederick Peters, both of New York City, submitted with their application for a patent for an instrument for taking latitudes at sea. Little is known of either man, and there is no record of their invention having been put to use.
Ref: Robert Norris and Frederick Peters, “Pendulum Quadrant,” U.S. Patent #18701 (1857).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1857
ID Number
PH.309356
catalog number
309356
accession number
89797
patent number
18,701

Wye Level

This small level was made between 1874, when Fauth & Co. began in business, and 1878, when the U. S. Coast Survey became the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Since no instrument of this type appears in the Fauth catalogs, it was probably a special-order item.
Description
This small level was made between 1874, when Fauth & Co. began in business, and 1878, when the U. S. Coast Survey became the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Since no instrument of this type appears in the Fauth catalogs, it was probably a special-order item. The signature reads "FAUTH & CO. MATH. INST MAKERS. WASH'N D.C." and "U.S.C.S. No. 31."
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Fauth & Co.
ID Number
PH.309652
catalog number
309652
accession number
106954

Surveyor's Compass

The form of this compass suggests that it was made in the late 18th century. The "DEAN PHILAD" inscription refers to William Dean who, in an advertisement of June 4, 1792, described himself as a "mathematical instrument maker" who had "commenced business" at No.
Description
The form of this compass suggests that it was made in the late 18th century. The "DEAN PHILAD" inscription refers to William Dean who, in an advertisement of June 4, 1792, described himself as a "mathematical instrument maker" who had "commenced business" at No. 43, South Front Street, Philadelphia, "directly opposite the post-office." In another advertisement, this one dated January 31, 1794, Dean announced that he made and sold "Surveying instruments of every description, Theodolets, Circumferentors on an improved plan, with a noneus, &c., Leveling instruments with or without telescopes, Sextants, Quadrants, Mariner’s Compasses, &c. and every article requisite for navigation, surveying, levelling, &c."
Ref: Charles Smart, The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America Since 1700 (Troy, N.Y., 1962), pp. 36-37.
Advertisements in Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser for June 4, 1792, and January 31, 1794.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Dean, William
ID Number
2003.0156.01
accession number
2003.0156
catalog number
2003.0156.01

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