Locke Level (binocular)
name: label: maker
content: W. & L. E. Gurley
notes: label: Description
content: In 1886 William Gurley obtained a patent (#353,406) for a Locke level with the vial inside the telescope tube. He described it as "a short, compact, cheap, durable, efficient, easily adjustable, and well–incased telescopic leveling–instrument, having a very large and clear field, and requiring but one eye to be used by an engineer or surveyor in quickly taking preliminary or approximate levels with the instrument held by hand." Maria Gurley, William's wife and executrix of his estate, obtained a patent (#360,805) for a binocular version of this instrument in 1887. Here the tube on the right holds the usual lenses of an opera glass, while the tube on the left holds the level vial, prism, and cross wires of the level. The monocular was soon selling for $12, and the binocular for $15, and both remained on the market for about 30 years. The Interstate Commerce Commission transferred this example to the Smithsonian in 1962. The inscription reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY TROY N. Y."
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., 1893), pp. 225–226.
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
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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; 30th Edition
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Interstate Commerce Commission
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.321741
label: catalog number
content: 321741
label: accession number
content: 246883
objectType: label: Object Name
content: level
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 3/8 in x 4 5/8 in x 2 1/16 in; 8.5725 cm x 11.7475 cm x 5.23875 cm