Keuffel & Esser Hairspring Compass
date: label: date made
content: 1876-1892
name: label: maker
content: Keuffel & Esser Co.
notes: label: Description
content: This metal drawing instrument is heavily corroded. It has a cylindrical handle, grooves that allow the user to open the legs just a small amount, a thumbscrew adjusting the hairspring in the leg with the pencil point, and screws for adjusting the needle and pencil points. The legs are jointed, but they are too rusted to bend. The inside of the leg with the pencil point is marked near the top: KEUFFEL & ESSER N.Y.
label: Description
content: This instrument is advertised as model number 205 in K&E's 1881 catalog. It does not appear in the 1876 or 1892 catalogs. Gunther Mathies, a relative of the donor, emigrated from Germany in the early 20th century and worked for the Thomaston (Conn.) Clock Company. He also did photography, drafting, and surveying in the area during the Depression, and he may have acquired this object in the course of those endeavors.
label: Description
content: References: Michael Scott-Scott, <i>Drawing Instruments</i> (Aylesbury, England: Shire Publications Ltd., 1986), 5–6; <i>Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co.</i>, 9th ed. (New York, 1881); accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drawing Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Dividers and Compasses
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of W. H. Koch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.1070.03
label: accession number
content: 1984.1070
label: catalog number
content: 1984.1070.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: compass
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: german silver (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.2 cm x 15.5 cm x 1.6 cm; 15/32 in x 6 3/32 in x 5/8 in