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7 Inch Bridge-Framed Sextant Jesse Ramsden

Bridge Frame Vernier sextant by Jesse Ramsden. London nr 1226 + Box

Type of object:

Sextant

Time period:

Britain rules the waves + France

Place:

London

Date:

1794

Maker / Author:

Jesse Ramsden

Publisher / Printer:

idem

Dimensions:

7inch radius, 25.5 x 29 cm box

Material:

Brass and Mahogany

Graduation:

0-130°

Inscription:

Ramsden London No 1226

Provenance:

Charles Miller and collection of mr. Peter James McSloy

References:

Sextants at Greenwich pag 172

Image by Austin Neill

Description

Bridge- Framed Laquered Brass sextant, signed at the apex Ramsden London, ans numbered 1226, The inset silvered scale divided to 130°, Verneier with lateral adjusting telescope, Bridge-framed supporting adjustable sighting tube socket, mirrors and six shades and treated hardwood handle, contained in fitted keystone box with tubes.
Probably one tube missing.
Provenance: collection of mr. Peter James McSloy, 1946-2012

Additional information

Jesse Ramsden FRS (1735 – 1800) was one of the leading manufacturers of scientific instruments in the latter part of the eighteenth century, apprenticed unusually late to the industry at the age of 21, to Mark Burton, mathematical instrument maker in Denmark Street, in the Strand. Ramsden had previously been apprenticed to a cloth worker, although abandoned this trade when he apprenticed himself to Burton in 1756.

Swiftly gaining a reputation, Ramsden began trading under his own name by 1763. It was at this time that he developed a life long association with the Dollond family. Ramsden was undoubtedly influenced by and learnt from John Dollond, who had famously invented and patented 'the achromatic lens'. When Ramsden married Dollond's daughter, Sarah, he subsequently acquired a profitable share in this patent. Opening a shop in Haymarket, near Little Suffolk Street, Ramsden traded under the sign of the Golden Spectacles

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