Geodetic Transit
date: label: date made
content: 1877
name: label: maker
content: Kahler, Edward
notes: label: Description
content: This transit instrument was made in 1877 for the new John C. Green Astronomical Observatory at Princeton University. Like the instruments that Stackpole & Brother had made for the 1874 transit of Venus, this one has a "broken" telescope that is viewed through one end of the horizontal axis. It also has a micrometer eyepiece, a cast-iron base, and a mechanism that is used to lift and reverse the telescope. The vertical circle is silvered, graduated to 10 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to 10 seconds.
label: Description
content: The inscription reads "No 145 EDWD KAHLER WASHINGTON, D.C." Edward Kahler (1833–1890) was born in Germany, and was working as an instrument maker in Washington by 1869. Charles A. Young, the newly appointed astronomer at Princeton, carried on a lengthy correspondence with Kahler, repeatedly modifying the design even as the instrument was being built for the university's new observatory.
label: Description
content: Ref: Charles A. Young Papers, Princeton University Archives.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Princeton University
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.328709
label: catalog number
content: 328709
label: accession number
content: 275579
objectType: label: Object Name
content: geodetic transit
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: telescope: 30 in; 76.2 cm
label: Measurements
content: aperture: 2 3/4 in; 6.985 cm
label: Measurements
content: vertical circle: 10 in; 25.4 cm