Navisphere Celestial Globe
notes: label: Description
content: The Navisphere was designed to be "a nautical instrument of extremely simple construction and easily handled, by means of which nearly all the complex nautical problems may be solved in a few minutes, and without calculation, or, at least, with very little calculation." It consists of a celestial globe that shows only the brightest stars, with a brass superstructure (the Metrosphere) that represents the horizon and two meridians. Henri DeMagnac, a captain in the French navy who was interested in the problems of navigation, probably came up with the original design. Frederic William Eichens, an instrument maker in Paris, obtained a French patent for it in 1878, an American patent in 1881, and other patents in England and Germany. An inscription on This example reads "NAVISPHERE / DE / . . . / F. W. EICHENS CONSTR / E. BERTAUX, ÉDITEUR / PARIS."
label: Description
content: Ref: F. W. Eichens, "Celestial Globe," U.S. patent #247,811.
label: Description
content: H. De Magnac, "Le navisphere - instrument nautique," <i>Revue Maritime et Coloniale</i> 61 (1879): 598-616.
label: Description
content: H. De Magnac, <i>Le Navisphere: instrument nautique, instruction pour son usage</i> (Paris, 1881); and <i>The Navisphere</i> (England, 1881).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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: 1989.0189.03
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0189.03
label: accession number
content: 1989.0189
label: patent number
content: 247,811
objectType: label: Object Name
content: globe
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: silver (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 21.9 cm; 8 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 in x 9 in; 33.02 cm x 22.86 cm