Transit and Equal Altitude Instrument, made entirely of brass, with original lens now broken. The instrument is described by Ellicott in the following extract from The Journal of Andrew Ellicott:
Preparatory to beginning the ten mile square [of Washington] a Meridian was traced at Jones' Point on the West of the Potomac. From this Meridian an angle of 45 degrees was laid off North Westerly and a straight line continued in that direction ten miles.... From the termination of this second line a third making a right angle with it was carried South-Easterly ten miles: and from the beginning on Jones' Point a fourth was carried ten miles to the termination of the third. These lines were measured with a chain which was examined and corrected daily, and plumbed whenever the ground was uneven, and traced with a transit and equal altitude instrument which I constructed and executed in 1789 and used in running the Western boundary of the State of New York. This instrument was similar to that described by Le Monnier in his preface to the French "Histoire Celeste." ... All the lines in this city in which I have been concerned were traced with the same instrument which I used on the lines of the ten mile square but as the Northern part was not finished when I left that place, I cannot pretend to say what method has since been pursued.
Deposit of Andrew Ellicott Douglass of Flagstaff, Ariz., in 1931. USNM 152080. Figure 10.
Figure 73.—Telescope used by Andrew Ellicott for his survey of the boundary between the United States and the Spanish territory of Florida. The instrument is signed "W. & S. Jones, 135 Holborn, London." USNM 152082.
Ellis, Orange Warner (18th century). Theodolite, about 1780, brass; horizontal circle 5 in., vertical circle 5 in., telescope 7-1/2 in., compass 3 in.; spirit level set into compass card; spirit level attached to telescope; fixed vertical circle; unsigned. Used by Orange Warner Ellis about 1780 in the surveying of the boundary between the United States and Canada, the area which is now Vermont.
Acquired from Miss Mary N. Ellis of Chicago, Ill., in 1929. USNM 309596. Figure 74.
Frye, Joseph (fl. 1762-1783), Fryeburg, Maine. Manuscript Booklet of "Tables Useful in Surveying Land, made and presented by Joseph Frye to his son, Joseph Frye, Jr., November 18, A. D. 1783." Size 6-1/4 in. by 3-7/8 in., 16 pages, paper covers, marked "Fryeburg Joseph Frye AD MDCCLXXXIII."
Loan from Laurits C. Eichner of Clifton, New Jersey, in 1957. USNM 315062. Figure 45.
(See Greenough, Thomas, for surveying compass used by Joseph Frye.)