Rude Star Finder (2102-C)
date: label: date made
content: 1942
notes: label: Description
content: This star finder, designed for aeronautical use, was based on the Rude form as modified by Elmer Collins of the United States Hydrographic Office. It consists of a white plastic planisphere with the northern sky on one side and the southern on the other that shows all the stars in the American and the British Air Almanacs; nine clear plastic altitude-azimuth templates for use at different latitudes up to 85° north and south; an instruction card; and a leatherette container. It was published in March 1942 under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, and cost $2.50. The Hydrographic Office transferred this example to the Smithsonian in 1957. The instrument bears the inscription "No. 2102-C / A-N TYPE 1 / STAR FINDER AND IDENTIFIER / PATENT Nos. 2304797 - 2337545 / U.S. NAVY HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE."
label: Description
content: Ref: Elmer B. Collins, "Star Finder," U.S. patent #2,304,797 (Dec. 15, 1942).
label: Description
content: Elmer B. Collins, "Star Finder," U.S. patent #2,337,545 (Dec. 28, 1943).
label: Description
content: Nathaniel Bowditch, American Practical Navigator (Washington, D.C.: Unted States Hydrographic Office, 1943), pp. 212-214.
label: Description
content: "Elmer B. Collins," Washington Post (2 October 1958), p. B2.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Navigation
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.315071.3
label: catalog number
content: 315071.3
label: accession number
content: 214422
objectType: label: Object Name
content: star finder
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in; 21.59 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/4 in x 10 1/2 in x 3/4 in; 26.035 cm x 26.67 cm x 1.905 cm