leveling rod
Date1890-1930
Inventory Number2003-1-0162
ClassificationLeveling Rod
Subject
Maker
American
Cultural Region
Dimensions223.5 x 5 x 5 cm (88 x 1 15/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionA leveling rod composed of several opposing wooden pieces that can slide past each other presenting two different faces:
face #1
A long wooden rod with a scale in black and red numbers on a white background. It is stained by a black substance.
This rod has a scale that increases downwards and is in decimal notation
face #2
A long wooden rod with a scale in black and red numbers on a white background.
This rod has a scale that increases upwards and is in decimal notation.
The rod has two sliding brass sights, one near its bottom facing forward (face #1), and another near its top facing backwards (face #2). It can be separated into several sections.
face #1
A long wooden rod with a scale in black and red numbers on a white background. It is stained by a black substance.
This rod has a scale that increases downwards and is in decimal notation
face #2
A long wooden rod with a scale in black and red numbers on a white background.
This rod has a scale that increases upwards and is in decimal notation.
The rod has two sliding brass sights, one near its bottom facing forward (face #1), and another near its top facing backwards (face #2). It can be separated into several sections.
Signedunsigned
FunctionA leveling rod is a surveying instrument. A helper would plant it vertically on the ground and an engineer would point at it with a transit. Communicating via hand signals with the helper, he would try to align the brass sight to the level of the transit to determine the horizontal line between them. By using trigonometry, the transit operator could also determine the distance to the leveling rod by measuring the vertical distance between points on the rod's scale.
Keuffel & Esser Company
Date: 1870-1900
Accessories: red and white target (b)
Object number: 1996-1-0117a,b
American
Date: 1870-1900
Accessories: red and white target (b)
Object number: 1996-1-0116a,b
W. & L. E. Gurley
Date: circa 1935
Accessories: canvas bag
Object number: 2003-1-0183
