Surveyor's Vernier Compass
name: label: maker
content: Randolph, Theodore F.
notes: label: Description
content: Theodore F. Randolph (1829-1898) worked in Cincinnati, Ohio, making instruments for surveyors and engineers, and winning awards at local exhibitions.
label: Description
content: He termed this instrument a Patent Vernier Telescope Compass, referring to his 1879 patent (#216,769) for an Improvement in Surveying-Instruments. The raised rim is silvered and graduated to single minutes. The variation arc on the compass face extends ± 20 degrees and reads by double vernier to single minutes. Two level vials are on the face. The inscriptions read "T. F. RANDOLPH CINCINNATI, O."and "1332" and "PATENTED JUNE 24 ‘79."
label: Description
content: The telescope assembly is provided with two later additions: a level vial marked "C. F. RICHARDSON, ATHOL, MASS." and a vertical arc marked "C. F. Richardson, Athol, Mass." and "PATENTED Aug. 16, 1887."
label: Description
content: Ref: T. F. Randolph, <i>Illustrated Catalogue and Price List</i> (Cincinnati, 1892), p. 2.
label: Description
content: Charles F. Richardson, “Surveyor’s Transit,” U.S. Patent 368,308 (August 16, 1887).
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
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Randolph, T. F.. Illustrated Catalogue and Price List
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: LaVerne Watkins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0403.10
label: patent number
content: 216769
label: accession number
content: 1989.0403
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0403.10
objectType: label: Object Name
content: surveyor's compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: needle: 6 in; 15.24 cm
label: Measurements
content: telescope: 7 in; 17.78 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 1/4 in x 7 1/4 in; 23.495 cm x 18.415 cm