Surveyor's Compass
name: label: maker
content: W. & L. E. Gurley
notes: label: Description
content: The "W. & L. E. Gurley Troy, N. Y." inscription--with its v–shaped trenches and lines of varying weight--was clearly engraved by hand. That means that this surveyor's compass was made between 1852, when the Gurleys began in business, and before the middle of 1876, when their new engraving machine was up and running. There is a level vial on each arm, and an outkeeper on the south arm. The sides of the vertical sights have a series of divisions for reading angles of elevation or depression . The compass belonged to Bowdoin College. New, it cost $35.
label: Description
content: Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, <i>A Manual of the Principal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying</i> (Troy, N. Y., 1871), pp. 14–22.
label: Description
content: W. Skerritt, "W. & L. E. Gurley's Engraving Machine," <i>Rittenhouse</i> 11 (1997): 97–100.
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 the Prinicipal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying; 17th Edition
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Bowdoin College
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.329728
label: catalog number
content: 329728
label: accession number
content: 278336
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length: 15 in; 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 5 in; 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 4 1/2 in x 16 1/8 in x 7 5/8 in; 11.43 cm x 40.9575 cm x 19.3675 cm