Sector (detail)

This is a detail from a brass sector - an instrument for solving computations which use the rules of proportion. It dates from around 1625. The sector was probably made London-based scientific instrument maker, Elias Allen (c.1588-1653).

The detail shows the quality of the engraving on the sector.

Edmund Gunter devised this type of sector in 1605 and in 1624 produced a book called 'The Description and Use of the Sector', which ran to six editions. Allen's sector follows the pattern shown in the 1624 edition, which was modified in later editions.

Record details

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Online ID:	000-100-102-820-C
Image Rights Holder:	National Museums Scotland
Project:	0098: National Museums Scotland Project description \| View all records in project
Ref:	National Museums Scotland T.1984.134
Date:	Around 1625 c. 1625
Material:
Dimensions:	9.00"
What:	Sector, Gunter's
Subject:
Who:	Elias Allen, London (Maker)
Where:	England, London
Event:
Description:	9" Gunter's sector of brass, by Elias Allen, London, c. 1625
References:	For Elias Allen, see Higton, Hester, 'Elias Allen and the role of instruments in shaping the mathematic culture of seventeenth-century England', unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 1996
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