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Theodolite

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probably made in Edinburgh

Postcard of Theodolite.
000-100-104-673-C
© National Museums Scotland

Theodolite

A theodolite is a surveying instrument for measuring horizontal and vertical angles by the way it is mounted on a special levelling head at the top of a tripod (now missing). This brass example was made around 1750, probably by John Yeaman, a scientific instrument maker based in Edinburgh.

This simple theodolite has two fixed sights and two moveable sights on a bar called an alidade. In the centre of the instrument is a compass with a silvered dial, marked around its edge in degrees. The compass has eight cardinal points. The instrument is signed inside the graduated degree scale around its brass edge 'J. Yeaman Edinr'.

John Yeaman (?1716-c.1780) was apparently a clock and watchmaker recorded between 1734 and 1749 outside Edinburgh's city wall in the Burgh of Canongate, where he described himself from 1745 as a 'mathematical instrument maker'. John Miller (1746-1815), subsequently one of Scotland's most important instrument makers of his generation, was probably apprenticed to Yeaman at some point. Both businesses were renowned for the quality of the surveying instruments.


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Online ID: 000-100-104-673-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1994.60
Date: 1734 - 1780
Around 1750
Material: Brass. Inscription: J. Yeaman, Edinr.
Dimensions:
What: Circumferenter
Subject:
Who: John Yeaman, Canongate (Instrument maker)
Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh, Canongate
Event:
Description: Circumferenter of brass, by John Yeaman of Canongate, Edinburgh, 1734 - 1780
References:
  • For Yeaman, see Clarke, T.N., Morrison-Low, A.D. & Simpson, A.D.C. Brass & glass scientific instrument making workshops in Scotland as illustrated by instruments from the Arthur Frank Collection at the Royal Museum of Scotland. Edinburgh: NMS, 1989. pp 25 
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