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Bubble Quadrant

Catalogue number:
AF*59051-N

Inscriptions:
"BERNH. BUNGE BERLIN S.O. N^o 860"

Discussion:
This has a telescope along one side, an index arm pivoted at the center of the arc, and a bubble tube mounted on the index arm. A mirror in the telescope reflects an image of the bubble into the eyepiece. The scale is graduated every degree from -20^o to +100^o and read by micrometer to 30 seconds of arc. The Aeronautical Instruments Section of the National Bureau of Standards tested an instrument of this sort in the early 1920s and declared it the best of the several German instruments known. P. V. H. Weems donated this example to the Smithsonian in 1963.

A card in the box reads: "Bernh. Bunge Berlin S.O. 26, Werkstätten für Präzisions Mechanic Spec. Instrumente für Meteorolgie, Luftschiffart u. Geodäsie."

Ref: K. H. Beij, "Astronomical Methods in Aerial Navigation," Report of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 198 (1924), p. 14.

W. Lindt, "Ein Libellenquadrant in neuer Form für Astronomische Ortsbestimmungen," Deutsche Luftfahrer Zeitschrift 16 (May 29, 1912): 273-274.

Further Information:

Bunge
Aircraft Sextant