Measuring & Mapping
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 1254 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
Lady's Pocket Watch
- Description
- This tiny watch, with a movement made by the American Watch Company, Waltham, Mass., was the gift of Philip Cadmus to his fiancée Augusta Francis Stipp in 1906, shortly before their marriage.
- Cadmus, a watchmaker, had his photo applied to the dial. The gold case, engraved with the monogram “A.F.S.”, is the hunter style, with a cover over the dial of the watch and the winding stem positioned at three on the dial. The movement is serial number 11647977. Preserved with the watch are its protective cloth sack and velvet-covered presentation box.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1906
- maker
- Waltham Watch Company
- ID Number
- 1981.0691.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0691.01
- accession number
- 1981.0691
- maker number
- 735
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Railroad Watch
- Description
- Railroad managers learned that to have their lines run on time, they needed to issue accurate timepieces to their employees. This watch was made in 1869 by Elgin National Watch Company, Elgin, Ill., under contract to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Outside case back is engraved "449," the number of the locomotive on which the watch was used. The "449" was a Baldwin 10-wheeler delivered to the railroad in July 1869.
- The watch is an 18-size, 15-jewel key-wind movement in silver case. Movement marked: "B.W. Raymond / Patent Pinion / No. 69170 / Elgin, Ills." The B. W. Raymond model was named for Elgin’s first president, who also had been mayor of Chicago twice and president of the Elgin and State Line Railroad Co. Inside of dust cap marked: "7431." Inside of case back stamped: "J. R. Reed & Co. / Pitts / Coin / 7431." Dial reads: "PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD CO." Its steel winding key survives.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1869
- manufacturer
- Elgin National Watch Co.
- ID Number
- 1982.0517.01
- accession number
- 1982.0517
- catalog number
- 1982.0517.01
- serial number
- 69170
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pocket Watch
- Description
- The Peoria Watch Co., Peoria, Ill., made this high-grade watch. The movement is marked with the company’s name and serial number 17672. The dial indicates the watch could be used for railroad timekeeping, where the most reliable watches and clocks were fundamental to safe and efficient operation. The definition of a railroad watch changed over time and varied among railroad companies in the nineteenth century, but by about 1920 generally accepted, closely specified standards governed almost every detail of watch construction for railway use.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1887
- manufacturer
- Peoria Watch Co.
- ID Number
- 1982.0518.001
- catalog number
- 1982.0518.001
- accession number
- 1982.0518
- serial number
- 17672
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Terry and Andrews Shelf Clock, 1840s
- Description
- Made in the 1840s by the firm of Terry and Andrews, this clock represents an effort to incorporate imported springs, instead of falling weights, to drive the brass movement. At the time of its manufacture, there was no spring-making industry in the United States.
- Theodore Terry and Franklin Andrews formed a partnership in 1842 in Bristol, Conn., to make brass clock movements, which began to replace wooden ones after 1838. In 1850 they moved to Ansonia, Conn., to form a company with Anson Phelps who owned a brass mill there. Beginning as a subsidiary of Phelps’ firm, the Ansonia Clock Company went on to build millions of clocks until it went out of business in 1929.
- This clock has a brass time-and-strike movement. Its case has a beehive-shaped iron front inlaid with mother of pearl. The white painted dial has Roman numerals. A label inside the case has directions for setting up and regulating the clock and the makers’ names.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1840s
- maker
- Terry & Andrews
- ID Number
- 1984.0416.030
- catalog number
- 1984.0416.030
- accession number
- 1984.0416
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Shelf Clock, 1850s
- Description
- This small clock from the early 1850s is unsigned, but its movement is likely from a Connecticut clock factory and its case is likely a product of the Litchfield Manufacturing Co., Litchfield, Conn. The Litchfield firm was America’s first paper-mâché factory, founded by English immigrants in 1851 and eventually employing about 50 men and women. The firm used a patented British process for mother-of-pearl inlay to decorate an array of goods in addition to clock cases, including tables, card cases, fire screens, boxes, vases and ornamental hinges and clasps. The Litchfield firm failed after a merger in the mid-1850s that bankrupted its major supporter, showman P.T. Barnum.
- This clock’s base is made of wood, the body is made of black papier-mâché, with mother-of-pearl inlay and painted images on front and gilt edge paint. The white enamel dial features Roman numerals. The brass movement has steel mainsprings, and the entire clock is covered with glass dome.
- References:
- DeVoe, Shirley Spaulding. "The Litchfield Manufacturing Company, makers of
- japanned papier mache." Antiques, August 1960, 150-153.
- Palmer, Brooks in “The Litchfield Manufacturing Company,” American Antiques
- Journal, November 1949, 26-28.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850-1860
- maker
- Litchfield Manufacturing Co.
- ID Number
- 1984.0416.095
- catalog number
- 1984.0416.095
- accession number
- 1984.0416
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pathfinder Pocket Watch
- Description
- This is the Pathfinder, an inexpensive watch model made by E. Ingraham and Company, Bristol, Conn. These “dollar watches” made by Ingraham and other firms were easier to make than high-grade watches and very much in demand. They got their nickname in 1896 when such timekeepers began to sell for about $1. In contrast, the best pocket watches from other American watchmaking firms at the time could cost over $150. Because they were inexpensive, “dollar watches” were often giveaways during promotions for other products or marketed for children.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920
- manufacturer
- E. Ingraham Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0416.169
- catalog number
- 1984.0416.169
- accession number
- 1984.0416
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hunting Case Pocket Watch
- Description
- This stem-winding watch was made by E. Howard and Company of Boston, Mass. The firm was an American pioneer in building the high-quality stem-winding watches that replaced key-wound watches in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
- Company founder Edward Howard began a clockmaking business in 1842, branched out into watchmaking about 1850 with partners in what would eventually become the American Watch Company in Waltham and then left to form his own watch company in 1858. Howard retired in 1881, but the firm carried on under various names until the early 21st century.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1876
- 1873
- maker
- Howard Watch Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0416.229
- catalog number
- 1984.0416.229
- accession number
- 1984.0416
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Tornado Alarm Clock
- Description
- This mechanical alarm clock was made about 1925 by the William Gilbert Clock Co., Winsted, Conn. The model, suggesting an aggressive wakeup, is called the Tornado.
- date made
- ca 1925
- manufacturer
- William Gilbert Clock Co.
- ID Number
- 1984.0416.577
- catalog number
- 1984.0416.577
- accession number
- 1984.0416
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Travelers' Official Guide
- Description
- The National Railway Publication Company in New York issued this Travelers’ Official Guide, a monthly periodical listing passenger timetables for railroads and steamships, in December 1883. The cover showed the new zoned times that would govern railway travel, and inside were new standardized time tables.
- On November 18, 1883, local times across North America – determined by the position of the sun overhead – were consolidated into standardized time zones. Each zone had a uniform time within its boundaries. At the request of the railroads, William F. Allen, publisher of the Guide, devised the plan. The railroads implemented the change for their own benefit and to avoid government intervention in operations. But gradually, despite scattered resistance, standard time became the way just about everyone kept time.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1883
- ID Number
- 1984.0472.01
- accession number
- 1984.0472
- catalog number
- 1984.0472.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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