Measuring & Mapping - Overview
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.
"Measuring & Mapping - Overview" showing 48 items.
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Condy Octant
- Description
- An octant measures angles by bringing two images together—that of the sun, for instance, and the horizon—and was used primarily to determine latitude at sea. The form was described by John Hadley in London in 1731 and still in use in the early twentieth century.
- This example is marked "B. CONDY PHILADELPHIA 1778," the signature being that of Benjamin Condy (d. 1798). It was made during the American Revolution, and there are faint markings on the scale that may read "equality" and "justice." It has a mahogany frame and index arm, and ivory inset. The boxwood scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +95° and read by ivory vernier to single minutes of arc. There is also a back sight and a back horizon mirror for measuring angles greater than 90°. The radius is 17.75 inches.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1778
- business owner
- Condy, Benjamin
- maker
- Condy, Benjamin
- ID Number
- 1992.0312.01
- catalog number
- 1992.0312.01
- accession number
- 1992.0312
- catalog number
- 92.312.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Queen & Company Wye Level
- Description
- This is marked "QUEEN & CO. PHILADA 6750." The firm termed it an Improved Engineer's Y Level, and priced it at $110. The serial number suggests a date from the mid-1890s. A label in the box reads "QUEEN & CO., Inc.," referring to the incorporation of the firm in 1896.
- Ref: Queen & Co., Catalogue of Mathematical and Engineering Instruments and Materials (Philadelphia, 1887), pp. 153-154.
- maker
- Queen and Company
- ID Number
- 1980.0319.01
- accession number
- 1980.0319
- catalog number
- 1980.0319.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
W. J. Young Surveyor's Vernier Compass
- Description
- This compass is marked "Wm. J. Young Maker Philadelphia." It is not dated, but we know that William J. Young began using this particular signature around 1840, and he began putting serial numbers on his instruments in the early 1850s. The variation arc on the north arm extends 27 degrees either way. The vernier is moved by rack and pinion located on the south arm and hidden under a brass plate, and reads to 5 minutes. A circular level vial is on the south arm and an outkeeper on the north arm. The face is dark, and the needle ring was probably silvered originally.
- Ref.: D. J. Warner, "William J. Young. From Craft to Industry in a Skilled Trade," Pennsylvania History 52 (1985): 53-68.
- maker
- Young, William J.
- ID Number
- 1981.0648.02
- accession number
- 1981.0648
- catalog number
- 1981.0648.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gurley Surveyor's Compass
- Description
- This compass was made between 1853 and 1859, and came from Gettysburg College. The "Jas. W. Queen, Philada. Warranted" signature indicates that James W. Queen sold the compass and guaranteed its quality. The style, however, indicates that it was made by W. & L. E. Gurley, the Troy, N. Y., firm that was rapidly becoming the largest producer of complex mathematical instruments in the United States. The Queen Catalogue of 1859 offered several compasses, levels, and transits, with illustrations and descriptions copied from the Gurley Manual of 1855. A compass of this sort, with 6-inch needle, two straight levels, outkeeper, and mounting for use on a Jacob staff, cost $30. A paper label inside the box reads “James W. Queen 264 Chestnut St., near 10th, Philadelphia.”
- Ref: James W. Queen & Co., Illustrated Catalogue of Mathematical, Optical, and Philosophical Instruments and School Apparatus (Philadelphia, 1859), p. 14.
- date made
- 1853-1859
- maker
- W. & L. E. Gurley
- ID Number
- 1982.0104.04
- accession number
- 1982.0104
- catalog number
- 1982.0104.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
David Rittenhouse Surveyor's Vernier Compass
- Description
- The magnetic compasses that Americans used to determine property boundaries were inexpensive and expeditious but affected by magnetic variation—the fact that magnetic north seldom coincides with true north, and the relation between the two changes over time. The vernier compass solved this problem. This example is marked "David Rittenhouse PHILADELPHIA." It dates from around 1785, and is probably the first American instrument of its kind; similar instruments were made in Ireland. David Rittenhouse (1732–1796) was a skilled clock and instrument maker, man of science, and master of the American mint.
- Ref: D. J. Warner, "True North—And Why It Mattered in Eighteenth Century America," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149 (2005): 372–385.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1785
- maker
- Rittenhouse, David
- ID Number
- 1983.0498.01
- accession number
- 1983.0498
- catalog number
- 1983.0498.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ellicott Transit and Equal Altitude Instrument
- Description
- Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) was the leading geodetic surveyor in the United States in the early years of the Republic, and he aimed to produce surveys that compared favorably with those done by the best Europeans in the field. In his words, the transit and equal altitude instrument was "the most perfect, and best calculated for running straight lines." Moreover, "when the different verifications are carefully attended to, [it] may safely be considered as absolutely perfect."
- Ellicott made this instrument, and used it to run the western boundary of New York in 1789, the boundaries of the District of Columbia in the early 1790s, the southern boundary of the United States in 1796-1800, and the boundary between Georgia and North Carolina in 1811. Ellicott took this instrument with him to West Point, when he became professor of mathematics at the U.S. Military Academy in 1813. A descendant, Andrew Ellicott Douglass, deposited it with the Smithsonian in 1898.
- This instrument, marked "Andw Ellicott Philadelphia," is modeled on the transit and equal altitude instrument that had been made by John Bird in London, purchased by Thomas Penn in 1763, and used by Mason and Dixon for their survey of the boundary between the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Ellicott had used this English instrument in 1784, when he was part of the team of American surveyors who extended the Mason-Dixon line to the western edge of Pennsylvania.
- Ref: Andrew Ellicott, "A Letter to Robert Patterson," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 4 (1799): 32-51.
- Andrew Ellicott, "An Account of the Apparatus used on the Boundary between the United States and His Catholic Majesty," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 5 (1802): 204-208.
- Silvio Bedini, "Andrew Ellicott, Surveyor of the Wilderness," Surveying and Mapping (June 1976): 113-135.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Ellicott, Andrew
- ID Number
- PH*152080
- catalog number
- 152080
- accession number
- 116914
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Draper Surveyor's Vernier Compass
- Description
- This compass, marked "Edmund Draper 468 Philada," dates from around 1876. It has a variation arc on the north arm that extends 28 degrees to either side; the vernier is moved by rack and pinion, and reads to 5 minutes. Two spirit levels are on the south arm.
- Edmund Draper (1805–1882) apprenticed with Benjamin Stancliffe in Philadelphia and worked in partnership with him for a few years. By 1832 he was in business on his own, making and repairing "Theodolites, Engineer’s Levels, Surveyor’s Compasses, &c." He also built a dividing engine. The only other dividing engine in the United States at that time was one built by William J. Young, also of Philadelphia. Since Draper never published a catalog or price list, it is difficult to know how many different instruments he made, or how much each one cost. He apparently began using serial numbers around 1860, and produced some 28 instruments a year.
- Ref: Robert C. Miller, "Benjamin Stancliffe and His Successors: A Century of Mathematical Instrument Makers in Philadelphia," Rittenhouse 11 (1996): 1–13.
- date made
- ca 1876
- maker
- Draper, Edmund
- ID Number
- PH*327880
- catalog number
- 327880
- accession number
- 271855
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Heller & Brightly Transit
- Description
- Heller & Brightly advertised this as an "Improved Complete Combined Transit and Leveling Instrument For Civil Engineers and Surveyors." This example is marked "Heller & Brightly Makers 5740 Philadelphia." The serial number indicates that it was made around 1884. New, the basic transit cost $220. The vertical circle was an extra $25. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated every 30 minutes of arc, and read by verniers at N and S to single minutes. There are level vials at N (this one covers a vernier) and at E. The vertical circle, also silvered, is read by vernier to single minutes, and is protected by an aluminum guard. To reduce weight, the vertical standards are ribbed and braced. The telescope is equipped with stadia wires for determining distances.
- The tripod head of this transit allows the instrument to be leveled, and also to be adjusted horizontally in order to be brought over a fixed point on the ground. Daniel Hoffman obtained a patent (#197,369) on this design in 1877, and assigned the rights to Heller & Brightly in exchange for $5 for each unit sold.
- Ref: Heller & Brightly, Remarks on Surveying Instruments (Philadelphia, 1886).
- date made
- ca 1884
- maker
- Heller & Brightly
- ID Number
- PH*328726
- catalog number
- 328726
- accession number
- 275808
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Whitney Surveyor's Vernier Compass
- Description
- In the Aurora General Advertiser for Feb. 23, 1808, Thomas Whitney stated that he made surveyor's compasses "of the most accurate construction, and with several late improvements, which have been approved of, in preference to any other, by several eminent surveyors, and others." What these improvements were, however, he did not say. In Whitely's Philadelphia Annual Advertiser for 1820, Whitney announced that during the past 13 years or so he had made about 500 compasses, "the good qualities of which are well known to many Surveyors, in at least sixteen of the States and Territories of the Union." Another Whitney document, this one dated March 1, 1814 and headed "Variation of the Compass," provides information about the extent of the variation in several states as observed by different surveyors, and the change of variation with time. It also describes five ways to determine a meridian line, so that the local variation can be found.
- This compass, marked "Thos Whitney maker Philadelphia No 437," has a variation arc on the north arm that extends 25 degrees either way. The vernier is moved by rack and pinion, and reads to 5 minutes. A level vial is on the south arm. Under the socket on the bottom of the compass is the date "1818."
- The cover of the box is marked in ink "R. R. MORRIS NEW YORK, May 27th 1817 red'd from Philadelphia." Two printed cards are inside the box. One, signed by Whitney and dated March 1, 1817, is headed "Care in the Use of the Compass." The other is a trade card that indicates that while Whitney specialized in compasses, he made many other instruments as well. The date of the card can be inferred from the statement that Whitney "has made near 400 Surveying Compasses."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1818
- maker
- Whitney, Thomas
- ID Number
- PH*328751
- accession number
- 308252
- catalog number
- 328751
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
W. J. Young Solar Compass
- Description
- This solar compass, one of the earliest instruments of its kind, is marked "Burts patent Made by Wm. J. Young Philada." It belonged to Artemas Curtis, a brother–in–law of the inventor, William Austin Burt. It was made by William J. Young in Philadelphia, probably in 1840, and it nicely illustrates the complex process of developing a successful instrument. Following Burt's instructions, Young produced an instrument in which the vernier for the variation arc was moved by hand. When that design proved inconvenient, a tangent screw was added to move the vernier–and this tangent screw covered the signature. This example is of that type. In later examples, the signature appears where it can be easily read.
- Ref: John S. Burt, They Left Their Mark. A Biography of William Austin Burt (Rancho Cordova, Ca., 1985).
- maker
- Young, William J.
- inventor
- Burt, William A.
- ID Number
- PH*328793
- catalog number
- 328793
- accession number
- 277834
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center