Waywiser
Waywiser
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- Description
- The dial of this instrument is divided into 100 sections, and has 2 pointers. The box in front of the dial can hold supplies. The vertical pole serves as a staff for a surveyor's compass. The inscription reads "JAMES M. BEERS Maker New Haven, Conn" and "No 55."
- James Morris Beers (1841-1918) described himself as "an expert machinist and an inventor of talent," noting that he made "carriage and wood working machinery, steam and hydraulic pumps, electrical apparatus, surveying, drafting and philosophical instruments, machinery for the use of manufacturing druggists and chemists, and experimental and special machinery of all kinds." He was probably related to Smith Beers, also of Connecticut, who obtained two odometer patents, one in 1839 and another in 1856.
- Ref:The Industrial Advantages of the City of New Haven, Conn. (New Haven, Conn., 1889), p. 139.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- waywiser
- maker
- Beers, James Morris
- place made
- United States: Connecticut, New Haven
- Measurements
- overall: 32 in x 20 in x 57 in; 81.28 cm x 50.8 cm x 144.78 cm
- wheel: 32 in; 81.28 cm
- ID Number
- PH.319204
- catalog number
- 319204
- accession number
- 234775
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Surveying and Geodesy
- Measuring & Mapping
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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