Object Details
Description
This instrument consists of four flat wooden bars.Three bars are eighteen inches long, and one is ten inches long. Each bar has a set of irregularly spaced holes that are marked from ½ to 1/16.One of long bars has a metal and wooden piece at one end with points on the bottom for fixing it to table. Another long piece has metal pointer through one end. The third long piece has rounded metal piece through one end which can be used to secure it to a second bar. With three additional joints of this sort and a pencil point, the device could be used as a simple pantograph, an instrument for enlarging and reducing drawings.
The object has no maker’s mark. It was transferred to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Geological Survey in 1907.
For an example of a pantograph with similar scales, see the 1859 catalog of J. Molteni & Cie.
Reference:
J. Molteni & Cie., Catalogue et Pris Courant des Principaux Produits, Paris, 1859, p. 59.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Transfer from U.S. Geological Survey
date made
before 1907
ID Number
MA.247969
catalog number
247969
accession number
47736
Object Name
Pantograph
pantograph
Physical Description
brass (overall material)
wood (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 4.5 cm x 45 cm x 3.8 cm; 1 25/32 in x 17 23/32 in x 1 1/2 in
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Pantographs
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_690233