French Equinoctial Sundial
date: label: date made
content: ca 1870
notes: label: Description
content: This French universal equinoctial dial dates from c. 1870. It consists of a hinged silver hour ring, a folding silver latitude arc, a metal rod gnomon on a folding metal piece transversing the hour ring, and an inset compass. The dial is housed in a square wooden case with a hinged lid and 2 brass hooks for securing the lid. The hour ring is calibrated from IV to XII to VIII by I with lines for each 15 minutes. The latitude arc is calibrated from 0 to 70 by 10 with lines for each degree. The compass is lettered with 8 cardinal points and is marked for variation at 20 degrees west of North. There is a ring around the compass which is calibrated from 0 to 360 by 20 degrees with lines marking each 2 degrees. A ring securing the inset compass with 3 screws is engraved with the latitudes for London, Paris, and Vienna. The dial opens to a maximum height of 10.8 cm.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Timekeeping
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Leo T. Thibodeau
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MA.317697
label: catalog number
content: 317697
label: accession number
content: 231961
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sundial, equinoctial
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 2.8 cm x 9.3 cm x 9.3 cm; 1 3/32 in x 3 21/32 in x 3 21/32 in