Surveyor's Vernier Compass
date: label: date made
content: 1850-1875
name: label: maker
content: F. Arnold & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This is an incomplete example (the arms are missing) of an unusual 4–armed instrument. The needle rim is graduated to 30 minutes. The variation scale, at south, extends ± 20 degrees, and is read by vernier to single minutes. The “F. Arnold & Co.” inscription refers to Francis Arnold, an immigrant from Frankfurt, Germany, who signed naturalization papers in Philadelphia in 1854. After working briefly for William J. Young, Arnold went into business on his own, advertising as a manufacturer of surveying and engineering instruments. He settled in Chicago around 1860. By 1875, B. Kratzenstein was advertising as Successor to F. Arnold & Co.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.335531
label: catalog number
content: 335531
label: accession number
content: 321714
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Vernier Compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: dial: 6 3/4 in; 17.145 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 7/8 in x 8 1/8 in x 8 1/4 in; 9.8425 cm x 20.6375 cm x 20.955 cm