antik.it/Nautical-antiques/7699a-Antique-Sextant/
1697301436Code 7699a Antique SextantBrass quintal signed Whyle Thomson & C. Galsogw, an instrument of fine workmanship, dating back to around the mid-19th century.
The instrument is complete with optics and housed in its original mahogany box with brass latches, handle, hinges and lock.
Brass frame with silver goniometric scale engraved in the arch, with scale from 0 to 150°, silver flap and vernier, boxwood handle, 3 colored glasses for the fixed mirror and 4 for the mobile one, four telescopes of which one long, a microscope for reading the vernier, index and horizon mirror.
Conservation status: very good, small crack on the lid, complete with custom-made support base made of wood and brass.
Box measures 27.5x26x13 cm – 10.8x10.2x5.2 inch
The quintant is an optical instrument used in astronomical navigation to measure the height of the stars above the horizon, in order to obtain the geographical coordinates relating to the ship's point. It has the shape of a circular sector of 50°, i.e. a fifth of the circumference, hence the name, at the vertex of which is pivoted a mobile alidade on which a mirror is fixed which rotates with it.
To measure the height of a star (for example the Sun) you place the instrument in a vertical plane and, looking through the aiming device, you aim at the horizon line visible through the non-silvered half of the fixed mirror. By moving the alidade, with which the mirror is integral, the light rays coming from the celestial body and subsequently reflected by the mobile mirror and by the silvered half of the fixed mirror are sent back by the latter in the direction of observation: if you look through the aiming device, you see the image of the star, obtained by double reflection, coinciding with the horizon line. The height of the star is expressed by the angle whose value is read on the graduated scale. The filter is used when the star to be targeted is the Sun.
Whyte & Thomson Co, associated with several nautical instrument manufacturers, opened profitable branches in several countries: London, Montreal, Boston and New York, thus becoming a major force in the field of navigational instruments in the mid to late 19th century.
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Other countries: delivering on the average in 5 weekdays; custom duties charged to the buyer.
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Nautical antiques
Code 7699a Antique Sextant
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