Abney Level
name: label: maker
content: W. & L. E. Gurley
notes: label: Description
content: William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843–1920), an English scientist who made many important contributions to spectroscopy and photography, devised this level in the 1870s while working for the School of Military Engineering at Chatham. W. & L. E. Gurley described it as an English modification of the Locke hand level, noting that it gives angles of elevation "and is also divided for slopes, as 1 to 2, 2 to 1, etc."
label: Description
content: The University of Missouri, Columbia, donated this example to the Smithsonian Institution in 1972. Since the main tube is square, it can be applied to any plane surface. The clinometer scale is graduated to degrees, and read by vernier to 5 minutes. The inscription reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY TROY, N.Y." New, it cost $15.
label: Description
content: Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, <i>A Manual of the Principal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying</i> (Troy, N.Y., 1893), p. 228.
label: Description
content: C. Jones, "Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, K.C.B., D.C.L., D.Sc., F.R.S., Hon. F.R.P.S., etc.," <i>The Photographic Journal</i> 61 (1921): 296–311.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Troy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: W. & L. E. Gurley. Manual of the Prinicipal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying; 30th Edition
label: Related Publication
content: Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Photographic Journal
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: University of Missouri-Columbia, Department of Civil Engineering
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.333657
label: catalog number
content: 333657
label: accession number
content: 300659
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Abney level
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: box: 1 1/2 in x 2 7/8 in x 5 1/2 in; 3.81 cm x 7.3025 cm x 13.97 cm
label: Measurements
content: level: 1 1/4 in x 2 1/8 in x 4 3/4 in; 3.175 cm x 5.3975 cm x 12.065 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 1 1/2 in x 5 9/16 in x 2 13/16 in; 3.81 cm x 14.12875 cm x 7.14375 cm