Surveyor's Compass
name: label: maker
content: Bowles, Thomas Salter
notes: label: Description
content: Wooden surveyor's compass with a paper card, the central circle of which is marked, “T. S. BOWLES*PORTSMOUTH, N. H.*” Thomas Salter Bowles was baptized in Portsmouth, N.H., in 1785. According to an advertisement in the Portsmouth Oracle for May 31, 1806, he was a mathematical instrument maker who had just taken a shop in Daniel Street, and his wares included “Azimuth and brass Compasses, wood and Hanging Compasses.” Bowles was still in business in 1821. Several Bowles compasses with different cards are known. Unlike most wooden compasses, this one has a brass band around the outside of the box, and a brass needle ring graduated to 1 degree of arc.
label: Description
content: Ref: Silvio A. Bedini, <i>Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers</i> (Washington, D.C., 1964), pp. 124-126.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Hampshire, Portsmouth
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Bedini, Silvio A.. Early American Scientific Instruments and Their Makers
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0706.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0706
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0706.01
label: accession number
content: 1987.0706
objectType: label: Object Name
content: surveyor's compass
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall length: 13 in; 33.02 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 4 1/2 in; 11.43 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 13 in x 6 1/4 in; 17.78 cm x 33.02 cm x 15.875 cm