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- Description
- At least as late as 2004, weapons sergeants in the United States Army (people with the job title computer) were trained to use plotting boards like this one, in combination with other materials, to plot the location of mortars, targets, and reference points, and to determine the direction of fire, mounting azimuth, and deflection of azimuth for weapons.
- This version of the M16 plotting board has a white plastic base that is square on one side and semicircular on the other. A circle marked with a grid of lines is printed on the base, and a vernier for finding azimuth deflections is along the top edge. A rotating disc pivots at the center atop the disc, with distances measured radially from 0 at the center to 3400 meters. Angles around the rim range from 0 to 6400. Scales for reading maps, given in metric units, are along the right edge. A scale pivoted at the center assists in reading distances.
- A mark in the upper right corner reads: PLOTTING BOARD-M16 (/) DEVICE 17E5 (/) MODIFIED FOR INSTRUCTIONAL (/) PURPOSES ONLY. It also reads: A PRODUCT OF (/) NDC (/) U.S. NAVAL TRAINING DEVICE CENTER. Text in the bottom right reads: FSN 6910-407-1242 (/) NAVAL TRAINING DEVICE CENTER (/) ORLANDO, FLORIDA 32813 (/) MFR. BY (/) FELSENTHAL INSTRUMENTS CO. (/) 22040 (/) CONTRACT NO. N61339-70-C-0185.
- Objects 1977.114.04 and 1977.1141.31 are very similar – the first has a white plastic base, the second a transparent plastic base. The accession file indicates that the second object dates from 1970, which gives the approximate date of this object.
- References:
- U.S. Department of the Army, Soldier’s Manual and Trainer’s Guide MOS-18B Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Skill Levels 3 and 4, 2004, esp. pp. 3-122-3-130. Use of then-current version of the M16 plotting board described.
- Accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Felsenthal Instruments Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.04
- catalog number
- 336388
- accession number
- 1977.1141
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- Description
- Plotting boards of this sort were standard equipment for pilots flying from U.S. Navy aircraft carriers during World War II. The large rectangular sheet of clear plastic has a white disc pivoted to it on which a grid of green lines is indicated. It has scales allowing for course corrections due to magnetic variation and wind speed. The back of the disc is also printed, but the range of speeds goes from 0 to 230 rather than 0 to 170. A mark on the corner of the rectangular sheet reads: AIRCRAFT NAVIGATIONAL (/) PLOTTING BOARD (/) MARK 3A F.S.S.C. No. 88-B-770 (/) BU, AERO. U. S. NAVY CONTRACT NO. N28s-4359 (/) G. FELSENTHAL & SONS, CHICAGO, ILL.
- A small white plastic square with a round disc atop it is riveted to the right corner of the rectangle. It allows for corrections to air speed in relation to air temperature and altitude. It is marked: BU. AERO. U. S. NAVY (/) AIRCRAFT NAVIGATIONAL (/) COMPUTER (/) MARK 8 (/) F.S.S.C. NO. 85-C-1150.
- The instrument is stored in a cloth case with a snap.
- Both the inside of the flap of the case and the larger board are marked with the initials HEA. The object came to the museum from the mathematics department of Wesleyan University. One member of that department was the statistician Herbert E. Arnold (1896-1957). According to the Wesleyan University Archives, Professor Arnold, along with other faculty, taught for Wesleyan's Navy program during World War II. One part of this program, the V-5 Naval Training Unit, was also called the Navy Flight Preparatory School, and stayed at Wesleyan from January 1943 until August 1944. Coursework focused on aerology and naval science. Whether Arnold taught in this particular program is not clear. He did teach in a V-12 program, which included classes more like Wesleyan's usual liberal arts curriculum.
- A similar plotting board is in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum.
- References:
- Personal Communication, Special Collections and Archives, Olin Library, Wesleyan University, June, 2016.
- Herge, Henry C. Navy V-12, Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1996. The volume has a photograph of Arnold teaching in a V-12 program at Wesleyan.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1945?
- ca 1944
- maker
- Felsenthal Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1985.0112.226
- catalog number
- 1985.0112.226
- accession number
- 1985.0112
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- Description
- At least as late as 2004, weapons sergeants in the United States Army (people with the job title computer) were trained to use plotting boards like this one, in combination with other materials, to plot the location of mortars, targets, and reference points, and to determine the direction of fire, mounting azimuth, and deflection of azimuth for weapons.
- This version of the M16 plotting board has a transparent plastic base that is square on one side and semicircular on the other. A circle marked with a grid of lines is printed on the base, and a vernier for finding azimuth deflections is along the top edge. A rotating disc pivots at the center. Distances are measured radially from 0 at the center to 3400 meters. Angles around the rim range from 0 to 6400. Scales for reading maps, given in metric units, are along the right edge. A scale pivoted at the center atop the disc assists in reading distances.
- A mark in the upper right corner reads: PLOTTING BOARD-M16 (/) DEVICE 17E5 (/) MODIFIED FOR INSTRUCTIONAL (/) PURPOSES ONLY. It also reads: A PRODUCT OF (/) NDC (/) U.S. NAVAL TRAINING DEVICE CENTER. Text in the bottom right reads NAVAL TRAINING DEVICE CENTER (/) ORLANDO, FLORIDA 32813 (/) MFR. BY (/) FELSENTHAL INSTRUMENTS CO. (/) 22040 (/) CONTRACT NO. N61339-70-0185.
- Objects 1977.114.04 and 1977.1141.31 are very similar – the first has a white plastic base, the second a transparent plastic base.
- The accession file indicates that this object dates from 1970.
- References:
- U.S. Department of the Army, Soldier’s Manual and Trainer’s Guide MOS-18B Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Skill Levels 3 and 4, 2004, esp. pp. 3-122-3-130. Use of then-current version of the M16 plotting board described.
- Accession file.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- Felsenthal Instruments Co.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.31
- catalog number
- 336415
- accession number
- 1977.1141
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- Description
- This instrument has a wooden base with two metal reels that hold a loop of paper in place. A crossbar over the frame at the back carries a hollow circular protractor that moves over the paper. The protractor is divided to degrees. It also has an alidade with scales on both sides of it. Both the ring of the protractor and the alidade may be rotated. One side of the alidade has a scale in which six inches equals one mile, the other eight inches to one mile. On the left side of the frame are holes for six pencils, with pencils. On the right side is a part of a compass and a clinometer scale that reads from 40 to 0 to 40. The position of the compass can be fixed by turning a screw on the back of the instrument. A short belt attached to the back of the base makes it possible to wear the device on the arm. The instrument fits in a leather pouch with metal clasp and leather strap. There is additional paper in the pouch.
- According to the 1904 Gurley catalog, this instrument was designed for the use of civil and military engineers and surveyors in reconnaissance and topographical surveys. In 1898, it was "given an extensive and successful trial in Cuba and the Philippines, as well as in the United States."(p. 205)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1900
- maker
- W. & L. E. Gurley
- ID Number
- MA.333648
- accession number
- 300659
- catalog number
- 333648
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- Description
- This instrument has a wooden base that holds a paper scale attached to a metal disc. Around the rim is a scale of degrees from 0 to 360, divided to degrees. A grid of lines on the inner part of the disc is divided to degrees. Radial distances representing distances of up to two miles are indicated. Reels on either side of the base hold a roll of tracing paper over the disc. There is a compass ring divided to degrees that is enclosed in a metal container and fits to the right of the sketching board. A short belt attached to the back of the base would make it possible to wear the device on the arm. There also is a small clinometer on the back of the instrument. The instrument fits in a cloth pouch which has a leather strap.
- According to the 1912 Gurley catalog, Glenn S. Smith, who patented this instrument September 1, 1908, was a topographer in the U.S. Geological Survey who initially designed this instrument for the Army Engineers. This example of the instrument came to the Smithsonian from the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Missouri.
- References:
- Glenn S. Smith, "Sketching Outfit," U.S. Patent 897,794, September 1, 1908.
- W. and L. E. Gurley, A Manual of the Principal InstrumentsUsed in American Surveying and Engineering Manufactured by W, & L. E. Gurley, Troy, New York: W. & L. E. Gurley, 1912, pp. 256-258.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1910
- maker
- W. & L. E. Gurley
- ID Number
- MA.333649
- accession number
- 300659
- catalog number
- 333649
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- Description
- Soldiers in the U.S. Army infantry plotted the relative position of guns, base points, and targets using instrumentslike this one. A plastic rotating disc pivoted on a flat plastic base. The base is square on one side and semicircular on the other. Printed in red on the base, directly under the disc, is a rectangular grid of lines. Numbers on the grid (moving out from the center of the disc) range from 0 to 19, representing hundreds of yards. Each small grid square thus represents 50 yards on a side (or, if one uses a scale to the left of the first one, 100 yards on a side).
- To plot directions, one uses a scale on the edge of the disc which is divided evenly in mils from 0 to 6400, with every 10 units marked and every 100 units labeled (the labels go from 0 to 63). A vernier along the top edge of the base allow for further subdivision. Having measured the distance and azimuth of both a gun and a target, one can find the distance between them (the range required) and the direction in which the gun should be aimed.
- A mark on the upper right of the base reads: BOARD, PLOTTING (/) M17. Also on the top edge of the base is a scale of centimeters divided to millimeters. Along the right edge of the base is a scale of inches divided to tenths of an inch.
- The instrument fits in a cloth case.
- This example of the M17 was made by Felsenthal and had Felsenthal model number FAO-52. According to a tag received with the object, it dates from 1962.
- Compare 1977.1141.13 (the M10 plotting board) and 1977.1141.14 (the M17). On the M17, the map scale readings at the bottom right are in meters, on the M10 these are in yards.
- References:
- Accession File.
- U.S. Marine Corps, MCWP 3-15.1, Machine Guns and Machine Gun Gunnery, 1996, pp. E-1—E-7. This is a description of the M17 plotting board.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1962
- maker
- Felsenthal
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.14
- catalog number
- 336398
- accession number
- 1977.1141
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- Description
- In the early twentieth century, the U.S. Geological Survey began to use panoramic cameras for topographic surveys. Photogrammetry, or measurement using photographs, proved highly successful. From 1921, the Topographic Branch of the Survey had s Section of Photographic Mapping. A variety of special instruments helped to transform photographs into maps. In 1931, James L. Buckmaster of the Survey designed the first version of this instrument, the vertical sketchmaster.
- The device allowed the transfer of detail from a photograph taken vertically from the air to the ground onto a plotting sheet. The image to be copied was placed in the bed of the instrument. By means of an arrangement of mirrors, the image also could be viewed on a plotting sheet below and sketched.
- At the time of World War II, the U.S. Marine Corps arranged for Abrams Instrument Company of Lansing, Michigan, to make this version of the sketchmaster. It has an iron and stainless steel frame, three large supports stored at the back (two of these rotate out to the sides), and glass mirrors and lenses. Placing a photograph on the bed and looking through a hole at the front, one can see the photograph projected onto a surface below.
- A metal tag on the frame reads: VERTICAL (/) SKETCHMASTER (/) SERIAL NO. 468 MODEL VE-1 (/) MFD. FOR U.S. MARINE CORPS (/) by ABRAMS INSTRUMENT CO. (/) LANSING, MICHIGAN, U.S.A.
- The device fits into a wooden box painted gray. Another metal tag on the front of the box has the same information as the one just cited. A warning painted on the top of the box reads: CAUTION (/) THIS SIDE UP. The inside of the box has a section with six steel box-shaped weights. It also has a paper tag that reads in part: Important (/) This instrument bears Serial No. 468 (/) O.K.ed for shipment by (/) Inspector No. OK (/) 9 Date SEP 3 1943.
- Reference:
- Morris M. Thompson, Development of Photogrammetry in the U.S. Geological Survey. Geological Survey Circular 218 Washington, D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey, rev 1953, esp. p. 7.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1943
- ca 1943
- maker
- Abrams Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- MA.333633
- accession number
- 300659
- catalog number
- 333633
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- Description
- Soldiers in the U.S. Army infantry used devices like this to plot the relative position of guns, base points, and targets. A plastic rotating disc pivots on a flat plastic base. The base is square on one side and semicircular on the other. Printed in red on the base, directly under the disc, is a rectangular grid of lines. Numbers on the grid (moving out from the center of the disc) range from 0 to 19, representing hundreds of yards. Each small grid square thus represents 50 yards on a side (or, if one uses a scale to the left of the first one, 100 yards on a side).
- To plot directions, one uses a scale on the edge of the disc which is divided evenly in mils from 0 to 6400, with every 10 units marked and every 100 units labeled (the labels go from 0 to 63). A vernier along the top edge of the base allow for further subdivision. Having measured the distance and azimuth of both a gun and a target, one can find the distance between them (the range required) and the direction in which the gun should be aimed.
- A mark on the upper right of the base reads: BOARD, PLOTTING (/) M10. Also on the top edge of the base is a scale of centimeters divided to millimeters. Along the right edge of the base is a scale of inches divided to tenths of an inch.
- The instrument fits in a cloth case.
- This example of the M10 was made by Felsenthal and had Felsenthal model number FAO-6. According to a tag received with the object, it dates from 1948.
- Compare 1977.1141.13 and 1977.1141.14.
- References:
- Accession File
- U.S. War Department, War Department Field Manual FM23-55, Browning Machine Guns. . ., 1945, pp. 270-275. This is a description of the M10 plotting board.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1948
- maker
- Felsenthal
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.13
- catalog number
- 336397
- accession number
- 1977.1141
-
- Description
- This chart, drawn on a rigid white plastic sheet, has five equally spaced concentric circles, each divided into eight equal sections by lines through the center of the circle. The outer circle is divided into 64 equal segments, which are numbered counterclockwise from 0 to 32 on the left half of the circle. On the right half, segments are numbered from 0 at the bottom counterclockwise to 30 at the top, and also from (34) to (64).
- A mark at the bottom left reads: CARD, TANK RANGE (/) 8724207. A mark on the left top reads: HUNDREDS OF MILS. There are 6400 mils in a circle of 360 degrees angular measure.
- The object comes from the Felsenthal Collection of computing devices. According to the accession file it was made by Felsenthal for the U.S. Army in 1955, and had Felsenthal designation FA0-51. It may have been used by the tank gunner to lay his gun on target, before the availability of electronic or laser sighting.
- Reference:
- Accession file 1977.1141.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- maker
- G. Felsenthal & Sons, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.06
- catalog number
- 336390
- accession number
- 1977.1141
-
- Description
- In this instrument a white rectangular plastic sheet slides between two white discs that are held together with black plastic bars and metal grommets. The sheet is marked in green on both sides, with a polar grid and rectangular grid on one side and a polar grid on the other side. The front disc has scales for altitude computations at the top and for air speed computations at the bottom. The back disc has a scale to correct direction readings for wind and a scale for converting temperature readings from degrees Centigrade to Fahrenheit. The center of the back disc is clear for viewing the grid. A salmon plastic sheath stores the instrument.
- The device is marked on the front: DALTON DEAD RECKONING COMPUTER (/) TYPE E-6B. It also is marked: WEEMS SYSTEM OF NAVIGATION (/) (A DIVISION OF JEPPESEN & CO.) (/) DENVER, COLORADO; PAT. NO. 2,097,118. The grid is marked in pencil: FL[IGH]T OFF COURSE (/) 2 MILES/SQUARE. The back of the disc is also marked in pencil. The three lines in the clear part of the disc are illegible, but below the temperature conversion scale, the marks read: 3.5° F/1000'. A ring at the top of one black plastic bar is marked: U.S. PAT. 3,112,875.
- Naval Reserve pilot Philip Dalton, in consultation with navigation instructor Philip Van Horn Weems, developed the Dalton dead reckoning computer for the U.S. Army Air Corps and received a patent in 1937. The device was widely used during World War II.
- After the war, many manufacturers in the United States and Europe made the E-6B. Elrey Borge Jeppesen, a pilot for what became United Airlines, founded his company in 1934 and moved it to Denver in 1941. Jeppesen & Co. made aeronautical charts and navigational tools and guides. It became a subsidiary of Boeing in 2000. The patent number on the back of this object refers to the design of the computer with the gridded rectangular sheet and two discs. The patentees were employed by Felsenthal Instruments Co., which frequently supplied companies with the plastic for manufacturing Dalton computers in the 1950s and 1960s.
- The donor purchased this object around 1965 and used it for about two years in airplane navigation.
- References:
- Paul McConnell, "Some Early Computers for Aviators," Annals of the History of Computing 13, no. 2 (1991): 155–177, on 156. Philip Dalton, "Plotting and Computing Device" (U.S. Patent 2,097,116 issued October 26, 1937).
- Ben Van Caro and Burton L. Fredriksen, "Computer Slide Construction" (U.S. Patent 3,112,875 issued December 3, 1963). "E6B," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E6B.
- "Jeppesen," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeppesen.
- "On the Beam," advertisement for Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer, Felsenthal Plastics, Flying 35, no. 2 (August 1944): 10.
- Paul Sanik, "U.S. Army Air Corps Aerial Dead Reckoning type E-6B," Journal of the Oughtred Society 6, no. 2 (1997): 32–34 .
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960s
- maker
- Jeppesen & Co.
- ID Number
- 1995.0087.03
- accession number
- 1995.0087
- catalog number
- 1995.0087.03
