Octant
Octant
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory name plate. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -3° to +100° and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc. There is also a back sight and a back horizon glass that could be used to measure angles greater than 90°. The radius is about 12 inches. An inscription reads "NORIE LONDON". John William Norie established a Navigation Warehouse in London in 1799. The firm traded as Norie & Co. in the years 1816-1839.
- Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1895), p. 201.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- octant
- date made
- ca 1800
- maker
- Norie
- place made
- United Kingdom: England, London
- Physical Description
- ebony (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 12 in x 10 in x 3 1/2 in; 30.48 cm x 25.4 cm x 8.89 cm
- ID Number
- PH.334285
- catalog number
- 334285
- accession number
- 306664
- Credit Line
- Dorothy Bateman Beck
- subject
- Sailing Ships
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Navigation
- Measuring & Mapping
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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