Octant
notes: label: Description
content: Octant with an ebony frame and flat brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +100° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc. There is also a back sight and back horizon glass used to measure angles greater than 90°. This instrument was probably made in England around 1800. The U.S. Navy transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1930.
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: 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.309886
label: catalog number
content: 309886
objectType: label: Object Name
content: octant
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: radius: 12 in; 30.48 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 1/2 in x 11 3/4 in x 2 5/8 in; 36.83 cm x 29.845 cm x 6.6675 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 5/8 in x 11 3/4 in x 13 3/4 in; 6.6675 cm x 29.845 cm x 34.925 cm