Surveyor's Compass
name: label: owner
content: Ellicott, Andrew
label: owner
content: Douglas, Henry B.
label: maker
content: Rittenhouse, Benjamin
notes: label: Description
content: This surveyor's compass inscribed "B. Rittenhouse" and "A. ELLICOTT" was owned by the noted American surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, and remained in the Ellicott family until a descendant donated it to the Smithsonian. A remarkably similar compass, with the same inscriptions, is found at Fort Necessity National Battleground. For his survey of the southern boundary of the United States in the late 1790s, Ellicott used a Benjamin Rittenhouse vernier compass.
label: Description
content: Ref: <i>The Journal of Andrew Ellicott, Late Commissioner on Behalf of the United States During Part of the Year 1796, the Years 1797, 1798, 1799 and Part of the Year 1800 For Determining the Boundary Between the United States and the Possessions of His Catholic Majesty in America</i> (Philadelphia, 1803).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: New Jersey, Newton
topic: label: Subject
content: Revolutionary War
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: Journal of Andrew Ellicott, Late Commissioner on Behalf of the United States During Part of the Year 1796, the Years 1797, 1798, 1799 and Part of the Year 1800 For Determining the Boundary Between the United States and the Possessions of His Catholic Majesty in America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Henry B. Douglas
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.310815.01
label: accession number
content: 128427
label: catalog number
content: 310815.01
label: catalog number
content: 310815
objectType: label: Object Name
content: compass
label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Compass
label: Object Name
content: surveyor's compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length: 13 1/2 in; 34.29 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 5 3/4 in; 14.605 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; compass: 7 3/8 in x 13 5/8 in x 6 5/8 in; 18.7325 cm x 34.6075 cm x 16.8275 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; attachment: 5 in x 2 1/4 in x 1 1/2 in; 12.7 cm x 5.715 cm x 3.81 cm