Solar Compass
date: label: date made
content: 1840s
name: label: maker
content: Henry Ware
notes: label: Description
content: Patent model for Ralph Reeder, "Mariner's Time Compass," U.S. Patent #4,964 (1847). The inscription reads "Ralph Reeder Patentee, Cincinnati, Ohio. HENRY WARE, MAKER, CINCINNATI, O." Henry Ware (1810-1885) was a leading instrument maker in Cincinnati.
label: Description
content: <i>Scientific American</i> reported that this instrument combines "three important uses." It shows "the local variation of the magnetic needle with unerring certainty," "the altitude of the sun, and thus enables the mariner readily to compute latitude." and "the true time" and thus "by the aid of the chronometer, shows the longitude." Despite journal's opinion that Reeder’s instrument "appears to be a practically useful invention," the Mariner’s Time-Compass was not a commercial success.
label: Description
content: Ref: "Improved Nautical Instrument," <i>Scientific American</i> 12 (1856): 4.
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
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content: Navigation
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.309345
label: catalog number
content: 309345
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 4,964
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Nautical Compass
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 8 in; 38.1 cm x 20.32 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 in x 9 in; 40.64 cm x 22.86 cm