Roof Prism
notes: label: Description
content: After the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, American leaders realized that the best optical instruments came from German shops. Thus, to obtain the spy glasses, binoculars, range finders, and other optical instruments needed by its fighting forces, they commandeered the resources of private optical and instrument shops. And they authorized the establishment of a new optical shop at the Washington Navy Yard. That facility, later termed the Naval Weapons Plant Optical Shop, gave this nine-sided roof prism to the Smithsonian in 1961.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.319362
label: catalog number
content: 319362
label: accession number
content: 237036
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Prism, Rangefinder
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 1/2 in x 1 5/32 in x 1 7/8 in; 8.89 cm x 2.921 cm x 4.7625 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/8 in x 3 11/16 in x 1 15/16 in; 2.8575 cm x 9.36625 cm x 4.92125 cm