Surveyor's Transit
name: label: maker
content: B. Pike & Son
notes: label: Description
content: The "B. Pike & Son. New York. Warranted" inscription identifies the shop in which this instrument was sold, but not necessarily where it was made, or by whom. This inscription was used between 1831 and 1841, when Benjamin Pike worked with his son Benjamin Jr., and again between 1843 and 1850, when Benjamin Pike worked with his son Daniel. While the word "Warranted" represents the Pikes' guarantee of quality. In design and production, this instrument is less successful than those made by men who specialized in instruments of this sort.
label: Description
content: As in William J. Young's original surveyor's transit, the horizontal circle here is inside the compass face. The circle, however, is graduated every 30 minutes of arc, and read by vernier to single seconds. The vertical circle is graduated every 1 degree, and read by vernier to 4 minutes.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0254.01
label: accession number
content: 1980.0254
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0254.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: transit
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 in; 22.86 cm
label: Measurements
content: base plate: 8 1/2 in; 21.59 cm
label: Measurements
content: vertical circle: 5 in; 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 6 in; 15.24 cm
label: Measurements
content: telescope: 9 1/4 in; 23.495 cm
label: Measurements
content: level vial above the telescope: 4 1/4 in; 10.795 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 8 1/4 in x 9 7/8 in; 27.94 cm x 20.955 cm x 25.0825 cm