Octant
date: label: date made
content: ca 1800
name: label: maker
content: J. Quincy
notes: label: Description
content: Octant with mahogany frame, flat brass index arm with ornate floral pattern, and ivory name plate. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +95° and read by vernier to single minutes of arc. There is also a back sight and a back horizon glass that could be used to measure angles greater than 90°. The "QUINCY, MAKER, N. YORK" inscription refers to J. Quincy, a mathematical instrument maker in New York City in the 1780s. In the stepped wooden box is a trade card of William Hooker, who operated a nautical shop in New York around 1820.
label: Description
content: Ref: Deborah J. Warner, "American Octants and Sextants: The Early Years," <i>Rittenhouse</i> 3 (1989): 86-112, on 107.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Navigation
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0412.01
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0412.01
label: accession number
content: 1988.0412
objectType: label: Object Name
content: octant
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: radius: 18 in; 45.72 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 4 13/16 in x 18 5/8 in x 21 1/4 in; 12.22375 cm x 47.3075 cm x 53.975 cm