Sextant
Object Details
- Description
- This sextant is inscribed "J. Nixon. Commercial Road. London" and "U.S. NAVY 8608." It was probably made by the John Nixon who worked in London from 1850 to 1869, and advertised as a "Real Maker of Mathematical Instruments." The silvered scale is graduated every 15 minutes from -5° to +125° and read by vernier with tangent screw and magnifier to 15 seconds of arc.
- This sextant may have been lent to the U.S. Navy for use during World War I. It came to the Smithsonian in 1930.
- Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1895), p. 201.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- U.S. Navy
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- Date made
- 1900
- date made
- 1850-1869
- ID Number
- PH.309888
- accession number
- 110828
- catalog number
- 309888
- maker
- Nixon, John
- Object Name
- sextant
- Physical Description
- metal, brass (overall material)
- metal, silver (overall material)
- glass (overall material)
- wood (overall material)
- Measurements
- radius: 7 1/4 in; 18.415 cm
- place made
- United Kingdom: England, London
- associated place
- United States: District of Columbia, Washington
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Measuring & Mapping
- Record ID
- nmah_1060163
