Accession No

6370

Brief Description

map measure in green box, by Hamilton Watch Company, U.S.A., 1950s (c) (earliest date)

Origin

U.S.A.

Maker

Hamilton Watch Company Keuffel and Esser Company [on box - perhaps sold by or wrong box]

Class

cartography; earth sciences; surveying; calculating; drawing

Earliest Date

1950

Latest Date

1959

Inscription Date

Material

metal; plastic; glass; paper (cardboard, other)

Dimensions

Box: height 17 mm; width 130 mm; depth 46 mm.

Special Collection

Tjeerd Van Andel collection

Provenance

Donated by an individual from the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, 16/07/2009.

Inscription

‘MODEL 33
HAMILTON WATCH CO.
U.S.A.’
(on back of object)

‘MAP MEASURE
K&E CO.
1 ONLY D1741 IN. & CM.
MADE IN U.S.A. REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.’
(front of box)

Description Notes

Map measure in green box (a.k.a. map wheel / opisometer / meliograph), by Hamilton Watch Co. , U.S.A.

Silver metal map measure; Dial under glass with plastic needle; Outer scale of dial reads in inches to thirty nine, inner scale reads in centimetres to ninety nine; Small cog-wheel at bottom of dial turns the needle when spun (designed to be rolled along a surface); Silver metal handle has a screw at the top and may be removed from dial; Inscription on back reads:
‘MODEL 33
HAMILTON WATCH CO.
U.S.A.’

Green plastic-covered cardboard box; Front of box has a sticker that reads:
‘MAP MEASURE
K&E CO.
1 ONLY D1741 IN. & CM.
MADE IN U.S.A. REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.’
Back on back has a second sticker that carries INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE INSTRUMENT.

Instrument has ‘HAMILTON WATCH CO.’ printed on its back (maker’s mark) but was received by the museum in a Keuffel & Esser Co. (K&E) box. David M. Riches’ website, ‘Mathematical Instruments: a private collection’, documents his collection of map measurers (http://www.mathsinstruments.me.uk/page71.html). Among his collection he displays two separate map measures, one produced by K&E and the other by Hamilton Watch Co.. The object distinctly resembles the latter, excepting for a screw attached to the end of the object’s handle which does not appear on the photo in Riches’ collection. Furthermore, Riches’ K&E map measure is distinctly different from the object in physical appearance (for instance, the dial’s scale is from 0 to 12 inches, whilst the object reads up to 39 inches). The model numbers offered by Riches helps to confirm that the map measure was made by Hamilton Watch Co.
Two potential options are suspected: (i) the object arrived from its previous owner in the wrong box, (ii) the object was made by Hamilton Watch Co. and sold separately by K&E. The box that the object arrived in has instructions pasted on the back which correctly describe the scale on the object’s dial. Thus, option (ii) would seem more likely considering that the instructions, although brief in detail, correctly describe the object. However, both companies are American, and it seems unlikely that one would sell the products of the other, but this is purely conjectural. A definite conclusion cannot be made - previous owner could be consulted for more information.

Condition: instrument is of good condition; box is of fair condition, held together in places by sellotape but structure is stable; completeness uncertain (depends on conclusions concerning objects origin).

References

Events