Surveyor's Transit
name: label: owner
content: Ferris, John
label: maker
content: Stackpole and Brother
notes: label: Description
content: The inscription on this transit reads "Stackpole & Brother New York 655." The original bill of sale shows that John Ferris, a surveyor of Dutchess County, N. Y., bought this instrument from the Stackpoles in 1866. The basic trabsut cost $250, while the meridian finder--marked "Stackpole's Mern. Findr. Patented, Sep. 26, 1865 107"--cost an additional $40. William Stackpole's patent (#50,182) describes a small reflector that attaches to the objective end of the telescope, and that enables a surveyor to easily use the sun to locate the true meridian.
label: Description
content: Ref: Conrad S. Ham, "A Family History of a Group of Surveying Instruments, 1750 to the Present Year 1954," <i>Annual Report of Proceedings of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers</i> 70 (1954): 134-138.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
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: Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers. Annual Report of Proceedings of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Conrad S. Ham
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1983.0548.06
label: maker number
content: 655
label: accession number
content: 1983.0548
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0548.06
objectType: label: Object Name
content: surveyor's transit
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: needle: 4 1/2 in; 11.43 cm
label: Measurements
content: telescope: 10 in; 25.4 cm
label: Measurements
content: hanging level: 6 in; 15.24 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/4 in; 33.655 cm
label: Measurements
content: horizontal circle: 6 in; 15.24 cm
label: Measurements
content: vertical circle: 5 in; 12.7 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 16 in x 10 in x 10 3/4 in; 40.64 cm x 25.4 cm x 27.305 cm