Surveyor's Transit
date: label: date made
content: about 1889
name: label: maker
content: W. & L. E. Gurley
notes: label: Description
content: Gurley described this instrument as a Light Mountain Transit with two verniers to the horizontal circle. The inscription on this example reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY, TROY, N.Y." It has a 4-inch needle, vertical arc, hanging level, and clamp and tangent to the telescope axis. With solar attachment and latitude arc, it cost $300. These features were designed by Robert M. Jones of New Mexico, and described in his patent (#270,679) of Jan. 16, 1883. The transit is also equipped with a gradienter that measures elevations of the telescope, and that cost an additional $18. Gurley began making these gradienters in 1885.
label: Description
content: Gurley introduced the Light Mountain Transit in 1876. This example was made after 1886, when Gurley began using bent standards, and before 1908, when Gurley began using serial numbers. The label in the box, with an image of "W. & L. E. Gurley's Instrument Manufactory," was used until 1900, and suggests that the transit was made before that date.
label: Description
content: Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, <i>Manual of the Instruments used in American Engineering and Surveying</i> (Troy, N.Y., 1904), pp. 28-32, 56, 61-69, 83-84.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Troy
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: W. & L. E. Gurley. Manual of the Prinicipal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying; 37th Edition
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: LaVerne Watkins
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0403.01
label: accession number
content: 1989.0403
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0403.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: surveyor's transit
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/4 in; 33.655 cm
label: Measurements
content: horizontal circle: 5 1/2 in; 13.97 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 4 in; 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: telescope: 8 in; 20.32 cm
label: Measurements
content: hanging level: 5 in; 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in box: 14 1/2 in x 10 1/2 in x 10 in; 36.83 cm x 26.67 cm x 25.4 cm