Sextant
date: label: Date made
content: 1900
label: date made
content: 1850-1869
name: label: maker
content: Nixon, John
notes: label: Description
content: This sextant is inscribed "J. Nixon. Commercial Road. London" and "U.S. NAVY 8608." It was probably made by the John Nixon who worked in London from 1850 to 1869, and advertised as a "Real Maker of Mathematical Instruments." The silvered scale is graduated every 15 minutes from -5° to +125° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 15 seconds of arc.
label: Description
content: This sextant may have been lent to the U.S. Navy for use during World War I. It came to the Smithsonian in 1930.
label: Description
content: Ref: Gloria Clifton, <i>Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851</i> (London, 1895), p. 201.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
label: associated place
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Navy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.309888
label: accession number
content: 110828
label: catalog number
content: 309888
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sextant
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal, silver (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: radius: 7 1/4 in; 18.415 cm