Surveyor's Compass
name: label: maker
content: James Reed & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This compass, which was designed to measure horizontal and vertical angles on hilly ground or in mines, resembles the one that the American surveyor, Lucius Lyon, described in 1828. It also resembles the Hedley's dial, devised in 1850 by John Hedley, H. M. Inspector of Mines in England. This example consists of a gimbal mounted vernier compass, a vertical arc, a sighting telescope, and a hanging level. The variation arc and vernier mechanisms are located on the compass face, under glass and protected from harm. The vertical arc is solid, graduated to 30 minutes, and read by vernier to single minutes. The inscription reads "JAMES REED & CO. Pittsburg, Pa. No. 383."
label: Description
content: James Reed (1792-1878) was listed in the Pittsburgh directories in 1847 as a watch maker and jeweller. He began trading as James Reed & Co. in 1850, and in 1852 advertised as "Manufacturers of theodolites, surveyors compasses, leveling & grading instruments, &c."
label: Description
content: Ref: Lucius Lyon, "Observations on Surveying Instruments, and the means of remedying their imperfections," <i>American Journal of Science</i> 14 (1828): 268-275.
label: Description
content: William Ford Stanley, <i>Surveying and Levelling Instruments</i> (London, 1901), pp. 311-319.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
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: American Journal of Science
label: Related Publication
content: Stanley, William Ford. Surveying and Leveling Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gerhard Derge
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0798.01
label: accession number
content: 1985.0798
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0798.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: miner's compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: telescope: 17 3/4 in; 45.085 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 3/4 in x 19 3/8 in x 8 1/2 in; 22.225 cm x 49.2125 cm x 21.59 cm