Surveyor's Transit
name: label: maker
content: W. & L. E. Gurley
notes: label: Description
content: This is a Standard Precise Transit, Reconnaissance Model (#112-T), with a telescopic solar unit attached to one standard "as constructed for the Bureau of Land Management." It can be used for standard surveys, as well as for determining the solar meridian quickly and efficiently. Inscriptions read "W. & L. E. Gurley Troy, N.Y., U.S.A." and "461261."
label: Description
content: Gurley produced its first example of this form in June 1946, basing it on specifications that the General Land Office (the predecessor of the Bureau of Land Management) had published in June 1944. The "Jos. C. Thoma” inscription on this example refers to a General Land Office surveyor who made substantial contributions to its design. Thoma’s widow transferred it to Clyde N. Eldridge, a surveyor and aerial photogrammetrist in Barnesville, Ga., and Eldridge’s brother donated it to the Smithsonian in his memory.
label: Description
content: Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, <i>The Gurley Telescopic Solar Transit</i> (Troy, N.Y., 1959).
label: Description
content: W. & L. E. Gurley, <i>Manual of Surveying Instruments</i> (Troy, N.Y., 1951), p. 123.
label: Description
content: “Joseph C. Thoma, Government Surveyor” Washington Post (Feb. 1, 1967), p. C6.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Troy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
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content: Measuring & Mapping
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: W. & L. E. Gurley. Manual of Surveying Instruments
label: Related Publication
content: W. & L. E. Gurley. Gurley Telescopic Solar Transit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Albert M. Eldridge in memory of Clyde N. Eldridge
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0809.01
label: accession number
content: 1991.0809
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0809.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: solar transit
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 in; 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 15 3/4 in x 9 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in; 40.005 cm x 24.13 cm x 24.13 cm