Horizontal Portable Sundial by Thomas Saunders of Dublin
date: label: date made
content: ca 1800
name: label: maker
content: Saunders, Thomas
label: maker
content: Saunders, Thomas
notes: label: Description
content: The case for this horizontal prtable sundial is a dark wooden box with a silver nameplate on the cover and a crescent-shaped latch.The nameplate is engraved: I. Burgh Esq. The box holds a silver-colored metal compass which is calibrated from 0 to 90 x 4 by 10 degrees. A raised outer ring is calibrated from 0 to 360 by degree, lettered at each 10-degree point and having an arrow at five-degree points. The eight-pointed compass rose has a fleur de lis at North. The maker's name, engraved near the center of the rose, reads: SAUNDERS DUBLIN. the two-sided ferrous metal compass needle is no longer fastened to the compas (the pin is missing) and does not function. The compass has no glass cover. The case also holds a removable silver-colored metal hour ring. This ring is calibrated from IIII to XII to VIII by I, with arrows at the half-hour points and line divisions for every five munutes. The gnomon is a metal bar which folds up and is attached to two metal half-circles on the inside of the hour ring.
label: Description
content: A paper label inside the case lid reports that the compass varition was 26 degrees 54 minutes in June 1794.
label: Description
content: Thomas Saunders began to work as an instrument maker and optician in Dublin in 1793. In 1802, he sat on a London committee which inquired about hydrometers.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: J.E. Burnett and A.D. Morrison-Low, <I>"Vulgar and Mechanick": The Scientific Instrument Trade in Ireland 1650-1921</I>, Royal Dublin Society, 1989, pp. 51, 134.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Ireland: Dublin, Dublin
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Timekeeping
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0707.04
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0707.04
label: accession number
content: 1987.0707
label: catalog number
content: 330839
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Sundial
label: Object Name
content: sundial, horizontal portable
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (scales, needle, compass rose, hinges material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (sticker material)
label: Measurements
content: overall, closed: 3 cm x 14.7 cm x 14 cm; 1 3/16 in x 5 25/32 in x 5 1/2 in