Telescope

Description:

This brass telescope sits on a pillar-and-tripod stand. The achromatic objective is 2.75 inches aperture and 57-inch focus. The “W. & S. Jones” inscription is that of William and Samuel Jones, brothers who, beginning in 1791, sold a range of scientific and mathematical instruments from their shops on Holborn Hill in London.

The telescope was owned and used by Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820), an American surveyor and geodesist who determined longitudes by observing eclipses of the moons of Jupiter.

Ref: Andrew Ellicott, “Astronomical, and Thermometrical Observations, made on the Boundary between the United States and His Catholic Majesty,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 5 (1802): 203-311; also Ellicott, “Astronomical observations made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, chiefly with a view to ascertain the longitude of that borough, and as a test of the accuracy with which the longitude made by found by lunar observation,” pp. 61-69.

Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1995), p. 155.

Maker: W. & S. Jones

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United Kingdom: England, London

Subject: Revolutionary War

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences, Astronomy, Science & Mathematics

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Andrew E. Douglass

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: PH.152082Catalog Number: 152082Accession Number: 116914

Object Name: telescoperefracting telescope

Measurements: overall: 30 in x 60 in x 15 1/2 in; 76.2 cm x 152.4 cm x 39.37 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-508f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1184214

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