Object Details
- Description
- This steel drawing compass has a hexagonal brass handle. The width of the instrument is adjusted with a small brass nut on the outside of the leg with the needle point. A second screw adjusts the width of the pen point. This object resembles the bow compasses made by Stanley around 1860 that are depicted in Michael Scott Scott, Drawing Instruments (Haverfordwest, UK: Shire Publications Ltd., 1986), 10.
- Reference: J. F. Heather, Mathematical Instruments: Their Construction, Adjustment, Testing, and Use, rev. ed. (London: Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1870), i:15–16.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Ruth A. Ming
- ca 1860
- ID Number
- 1978.2110.11
- catalog number
- 1978.2110.11
- accession number
- 1978.2110
- catalog number
- 336737
- Object Name
- bow pen
- compass, drawing
- pen, bow
- Physical Description
- steel (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 7.5 cm x 2 cm x .8 cm; 2 15/16 in x 25/32 in x 5/16 in
- place made
- United Kingdom: England, London
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Mathematics
- Science & Mathematics
- Dividers and Compasses
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Mathematics
- Drawing Instruments
- Record ID
- nmah_1122589
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-a102-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
