Surveyor's Compass
name: label: maker
content: Dod, Lebbeus
notes: label: Description
content: Lebbeus Dod (1739–1816) made clocks and mathematical instruments in Mendham, New Jersey. During the Revolution he established an armory for the manufacture and repair of muskets. Various design features—the face reads clockwise, the bar is narrow, and the vertical sights are held in place with dovetails—indicate that this compass dates from early in Dod's career. The signature reads "Lebbeus Dod, Mendham."
label: Description
content: This compass was owned by King's College, which had been established by royal charter as the College of the Province of New–York in the City of New–York in America in 1754. An advertisement of that date mentions instruction in such subjects as numbering, measuring, surveying, and navigation. King's College was renamed Columbia College after the Revolution.
label: Description
content: Ref: Silvio A. Bedini, <i>Thinkers and Tinkers. Early American Men of Science</i> (New York, 1973), p. 241.
label: Description
content: William E. Drost, <i>Clocks and Watches of New Jersey</i> (Elizabeth, N.J., 1966), pp. 98–104.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Mendham
topic: label: Subject
content: Revolutionary War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Surveying and Geodesy
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content: Measuring & Mapping
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Bedini, Silvio A.. Thinkers and Tinkers. Early American Men of Science
label: Related Publication
content: Drost, William E.. Clocks and Watches of New Jersey
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Columbia University. Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.335207
label: catalog number
content: 335207
label: accession number
content: 317998
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Surveyor's Compass
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall length: 14 1/2 in; 36.83 cm
label: Measurements
content: needle: 5 1/4 in; 13.335 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/2 in x 14 5/8 in x 7 in; 6.35 cm x 37.1475 cm x 17.78 cm