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Sextant

Catalogue number:
PH*313422

Inscriptions:
"BRANDIS & SONS, BROOKLYN, N.Y." and "5620"

Dimensions:
radius 6 inches

Discussion:
This sextant was probably made for use in World War I. Brandis & Sons termed it a "U.S. Navy surveying sextant, 6 inch radius, reading 30 seconds of arc." New it cost $120. It has a silvered scale that is graduated every 20 minutes from -5^o to +185^o and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier. The words "U.S. NAVY 2939" are scratched onto the arc. A certificate in the box shows that it was inspected at the Naval Observatory in 1919. The Navy transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1950.

Ref: Brandis & Sons Mfg. Co., Catalogue No. 20. Instruments of Precision (Brooklyn, n.d.), p. 298.

Further Information:

Brandis
Sextant