Talk:Theodolite

message: I have just created this article as a request on WP:AFC.  Please have a look at it and see if it warrants an article on its own or if it would better be merged into here.  Also if you know anything about it, feel free to expand it.and to see the moon.
I have just expanded the gyrotheodolite section and removed the misleading paragraph. Maybe it needs a new page --King of Tea Tree (talk) 11:03, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Gyro-Theodolite]] 

message: Here's the thing: the page says a theodolite combines a telescope with measuring technology, and was invented in 1571.  I thought the telescope made its appearance in 1608!  I know Digges is said to have constructed a telescope, but that was a reflector; can't be what we're talking about here...so what's the solution to this discrepency?
:Perhaps it is incorrect to imply that the telescope is a necessary component. The instrument could perform all of the same functions (albeit, with lower precision) if it were equipt with a non-telescopic aiming sight. I would be interested in seeing the Digges model.
:219.78.135.245 09:07, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  How can this be? 

message: The history section states that the theodolite derives from the plane table alidade.  Since the plane table dates to the 17th century and Digges described the theodolite in 1571, there's an obvious discrepancy.  The theodolite derives from prior instruments such as the geometric square and various graduated circles and semi-circles.
BTW - Leonard wrote the book, his son Thomas published it posthumously.  The full title is A geometric practice named Pantometria.
Digges was preceded by Gregorius Reisch who described such an instrument in Margarita Philosophica, Strasburg, 1512.
This section needs a serious re-write.  I'll be back! :-)  Michael Daly 22:13, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confused history. 

message: The article says theodolites could meassure "angular scales accurately to within a second of arc" since several centuries ago. I doubt this is true but I'm not sure, some modern theodolites aren't that accurate.--200.125.48.41 14:54, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: That is a comment on Jesse Ramsden's dividing engine, not theodolites in general.  When manufacturing the graduated limb, the errors in the markings are less than a second of arc. Michael Daly 16:27, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Accuracy 

message: A tachometer measures speed of rotation, a tacheometer measures quickly. I have changed the spelling in article. King of Tea Tree (talk) 23:24, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tachometer or Tacheometer 

message: The Caption in Diagram of an Optical Theodolite says that the vertical angle is 94deg, 12min, 44sec.
I think it should be 94deg, 02min, 44sec.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.46.200.232 (talk) 16:51, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: You're correct, it would appear.  However, that text is in the image and can't be changed without modifying the image.  This typo, according to the image's accompanying documentation, appears to be in the US Army manual. --Michael Daly (talk) 21:52, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wrong? Caption in Concept of Operation might be off 

message: In particular, the sentence:
:In the middle of the 20th century, "transit" came to refer to a simple form of theodolite with less precision, lacking features such as scale magnification and micrometers.
The instrument known as the engineer's transit was the same from maybe the 19th century until electronics took over. It was as described in the above sentence. A theodolite was always the high-precision version of a transit, which sometimes was unable to "transit" the telescope. There were further breakdowns of these general terms. Tfr000 (talk) 22:23, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: The transit refers to specialized type of theodolite that was developed in the early 19th century. It featured a telescope that could "flop over" ("transit the scope") to allow easy back-sighting and doubling of angles for error reduction. Some transit instruments were capable of reading angles directly to thirty arc-seconds. The role of transits diminished in the late 20th century with the advent of compact, accurate electronic theodolites.
Probably we should restore this to make it more understandable. As is, it reads like the term "transit" for a lower-precision theodolite came around mid-20th-century, when in fact that's what it stood for all along. Tfr000 (talk) 18:26, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some of these definitions incorrect? 

message: Insley, J.; (2008) The Tale of the Great Theodolites. Londen: Science Museum. Sander1453 (talk) 08:26, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interesting (new) source 

message: In the description, it says, "The builder's level is sometimes mistaken for a transit theodolite, but it measures neither horizontal nor vertical angles". However, most all levels, both Dumpy and automatic will measure a horizontal angle, (some pretty precise), just not a vertical. They are single axis, but will measure angles about that horizontal axis.--Craxd (talk) 02:01, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not quite correct. 

message: The lead states that theodolites are used in metrology, but this is not mentioned in the body of the article. I have a little knowledge of the subject matter, and I think this might mean meteorology, where, for example, theodolites are used in tracking weather balloons. Either way, if it's mentioned in the lead, it should do so only to highlight its mention in the body of the article. Lou Sander (talk) 22:52, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: They're used in metrology too. It's not common, as it falls somewhere between dedicated instruments in jigs and modern coordinate measuring machines. However theodolites are cheap (compared to custom optics) and capable.  An interesting example from the 1920s was the GWR locomotive works at Swindon, which invested in a Zeiss custom system for aligning locomotive frames. This gave significantly better performance (and in turn, reliability) for GWR locomotives. In comparison the LNER had perennial problems with the Gresley conjugated valve gear where less-good alignment led to imbalance between cylinders and overloading of the middle cylinder. Theodolites were used for the erection and fitting of large machinery installations around this period, notably in shipbuilding for engine installation and the alignment of turbine generator sets in the first steam turbine power stations. Andy Dingley (talk) 10:54, 25 May 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Great stuff, but it's not in the body of the article. That's my point. (Also that maybe meteorology isn't mentioned.) Lou Sander (talk) 16:53, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

text: Since posting the above, I added a referenced section on weather balloons, and took the liberty of changing "metrology" to "meteorology" in the lead. I would welcome the addition of a metrology section to the article, and the re-addition of the lead's reference to metrology. I'm also going to remove the "more references" tag on the article, since there are plenty of them now. Lou Sander (talk) 17:52, 25 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Metrology? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: Should Temporary adjustments of theodolites and Permanent adjustments of theodolites be deleted and appropriate content merged back into this article? These two pages seem like how-to articles; I can't find any other articles in WP about how to make adjustments to a piece of equipment. Wanted to ask other editors for their thoughts as a first step. Thanks. Levivich (talk) 22:47, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Child articles re-merged and deleted?