Heliostat
date: label: date made
content: late 19th century
name: label: maker
content: Kubel, Edward
notes: label: Description
content: A heliostat throws sunlight where it might be used for photography or scientific observations. This simple and inexpensive example was designed in the mid-1870s by Rueul Keith, a mathematician who worked for the U.S. Naval Observatory. It was made by Edward Kubel, a German mechanic who arrived in Washington, D.C., in 1849, and went to work making and mending instruments needed by such agencies as the U.S. Coast Survey, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Army Medical Museum. It was made for Samuel Pierpont Langley, the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and used in the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. A tag reads: “EDWARD KUBEL / MATH. INST. MAKER / WASHINGTON, D.C.”
label: Description
content: Ref: D. J. Warner, “Keith’s American Heliostat,” <i>Rittenhouse</i> 10 (1996): 58-64.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: District of Columbia
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Astronomy
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Optics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.314879
label: accession number
content: 211531
label: catalog number
content: 314879
objectType: label: Object Name
content: heliostat
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 24.1 cm x 14 cm x 28 cm; 9 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in x 11 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/8 in x 11 3/4 in x 5 3/8 in; 33.3375 cm x 29.845 cm x 13.6525 cm