Micrometer
date: label: date made
content: 1870
name: label: maker
content: Rutherfurd, Lewis Morris
notes: label: Description
content: Micrometer designed for measuring celestial photographs. The “L. M. R. No 3 1870” inscription refers to Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (1816-1892), a wealthy and prominent New Yorker who made important contributions to astronomical photography and spectroscopy.
label: Description
content: Here, the photographic plate is held on the horizontal bed, illuminated from below, and read from above through a microscope. For measures in rectangular coordinates, the microscope is moved by two perpendicular micrometer screws. For position angles, the plate and its bed are rotated, and the angular distance read on a graduated circle.
label: Description
content: This example was made from Rutherfurd’s designs, and under his supervision, for the U.S. Coast Survey. It was originally used to measure photographs taken during the solar eclipse of August 7, 1869. Charles S. Peirce would later use it to compare the lengths of varies centimeter scales.
label: Description
content: Ref: Deborah Jean Warner, “Lewis M. Rutherfurd: Pioneer Astronomical Photographer and Spectroscopist,” <i>Technology and Culture</i> 12 (1971): 190-216.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.322304
label: catalog number
content: 322304
label: accession number
content: 247805
objectType: label: Object Name
content: micrometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 3/4 in x 16 1/4 in x 11 in; 40.005 cm x 41.275 cm x 27.94 cm