Sextant
date: label: date made
content: 1940s
name: label: maker
content: Cruver Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description
content: This sextant was made for emergency use during World War II. The body is plastic. The scale is graduated every degree from -5° to +140° and read by vernier to 3 minutes of arc. The box is marked "U.S. MARITIME COMMISSION / CRUVER MFG. CO." The Cruver Manufacturing Co., in Chicago, began making novelty objects of plastic in the early 1900s. The U.S. Maritime Commission (fl. 1936 to 1950) was responsible for further developing and maintaining a merchant marine for the promotion of American commerce and defense.
label: Description
content: Ref: W. J. Eckert, Lifeboat Sextant. <i>Instructions for Use in Finding Latitude and Longitude Together with Simple Sailing Instructions</i> (U.S. Naval Observatory, 1944).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Navigation
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2003.0334.01
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0334.01
label: accession number
content: 2003.0334
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sextant
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9.5 cm x 27 cm x 27 cm; 3 3/4 in x 10 5/8 in x 10 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 3 5/8 in x 10 1/4 in x 9 1/8 in; 9.2075 cm x 26.035 cm x 23.1775 cm