Surveyor's Vernier Compass
name: label: maker
content: Foster, Jr., James
notes: label: Description
content: James Foster Jr. (1814-1873) began advertising as a mathematical and philosophical instrument maker in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1846. He showed his wares at several fairs sponsored by the Ohio Mechanics Institute in the 1850s. The rim of this surveyor's compass is graduated every 30 minutes. The vernier on the north arm is moved by rack and pinion, and reads to single minutes. There is a circular level on the south arm. The inscription reads "James Foster, Jr. Cincinnati, O."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Cincinnati
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
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Indiana State University, Department of Physics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.337208
label: catalog number
content: 337208
label: accession number
content: 1979.0649
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Vernier Compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length: 15 in; 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 5 1/2 in; 13.97 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 1/2 in x 15 in x 6 3/8 in; 24.13 cm x 38.1 cm x 16.1925 cm