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Sextant

Catalogue number:
PH*309888

Inscriptions:
"J. Nixon. Commercial Road. London" and "U.S. NAVY 8608"

Dimensions:
radius 7.25

Discussion:
This sextant was probably made by the John Nixon who worked in London from 1850 to 1869, and who advertised as a "Real Maker of Mathematical Instruments." It may have been lent to the U.S. Navy for use during World War I. It came to the Smithsonian in 1930. The silvered scale is graduated every 15 minutes from -5^o to +125^o and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 15 seconds of arc.

Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1895), p. 201.

Further Information:

Sextant