Ertel & Sohn Universal Instrument
date: label: date made
content: 1840s
name: label: maker
content: Ertel & Sohn
notes: label: Description
content: In 1841, after seeing the Ertel universal instrument at the Depot of Charts and Instruments (soon to become the U. S. Naval Observatory), Father James Curley determined to acquire a similar instrument for Georgetown College (now University), where he served as professor of mathematics and natural philosophy. Father Curley's quest for funds was successful, and within a few years he was using "an Universal or Altitude and Azimuth Instrument, reading to 10 seconds, by Ertel & Son, of Munich," to orient the walls and determine the position of the new Georgetown College Observatory, and to determine the positions of several prominent sites in Washington, D.C. This is the instrument that Curley acquired for Georgetown College. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by verniers and magnifiers to single seconds. A second telescope is below the horizontal circle. The signature reads "Ertel & Sohn in München" and "Utzschneider u. Fraunhofer in München."
label: Description
content: Ertel & Sohn made the mechanical parts of the instrument. Traugott Leberect Ertel (1778–1858) had joined the Mathematical–Mechanical Workshop in Munich around 1812 and become its sole proprietor around 1820. It was probably he who designed this instrument. In 1834, when Georg Ertel (1813–1863) was taken into partnership, the firm began trading as Ertel & Sohn. They exhibited a larger but still portable universal instrument at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, and an "Instrument universel pour les observations astronomiques et terrestres" at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. The Utzschneider u. Fraunhofer signature refers to the Optical Institute that made the lenses for the instrument. Since Merz u. Mahler became proprietors of the Optical Instrument in 1840, the Georgetown instrument may have been one that had been in stock for some time.
label: Description
content: Ref: Francis Heyden, "Astronomy at Georgetown College," <i>Records of the Columbia Historical Society</i> 53–56 (1953): 155–172.
label: Description
content: <i>Annals of the Georgetown Observatory</i>, vol. 1 (1852), p. 14.
label: Description
content: Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851, <i>Reports by the Juries</i> (London, 1852), pp. 250–251.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany: Bavaria, Munich
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: Records of the Columbia Historical Society
label: Related Publication
content: Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851. Reports by the Juries
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Georgetown College Observatory
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.330526
label: catalog number
content: 330526
label: accession number
content: 293489
objectType: label: Object Name
content: universal instrument
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal, bronze (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 in; 45.72 cm
label: Measurements
content: horizontal circle: 11 in; 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: vertical circles: 6 1/2 in; 16.51 cm
label: Measurements
content: lower telescope: 17 in; 43.18 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: instrument: 20 3/8 in x 14 1/2 in x 15 in; 51.7525 cm x 36.83 cm x 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: attachment with level: 2 1/4 in x 8 3/8 in x 6 1/4 in; 5.715 cm x 21.2725 cm x 15.875 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: attachment without level: 1 3/4 in x 8 3/8 in x 6 in; 4.445 cm x 21.2725 cm x 15.24 cm