Filar micrometer
Date
c.1780s
Creator
John Smeaton (1724 - 1792, British) , Civil engineer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Subject
Content object
Description
Sketches of the lens and base of an filar micrometer, referred to here as a equatorial micrometer, designed by Smeaton for an equatorial telescope. No scale given.
Possibly relates to the micrometer mentioned in ‘Account of an observation of the right ascension and declination of Mercury out of the Meridian, near his greatest elongation, Sept. 1786, made by Mr. John Smeaton, F. R. S. with an equatorial micrometer, of his own invention and workmanship […]’ by John Smeaton in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 77 (1787).
Original drawing from Designs by the late John Smeaton made on various occasions in the course of his employment as a Civil Engineer from the year 175[?] to 179[?], Volume 4. Containing Designs for Bridges and Buildings. Collected and arranged by John Farey, 1821.
John Smeaton (1724-1792) was a British civil engineer, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753.
John Farey (1766-1826) was a British geologist and surveyor, he worked on the published reports of John Smeaton’s work between 1809 and 1812.
Possibly relates to the micrometer mentioned in ‘Account of an observation of the right ascension and declination of Mercury out of the Meridian, near his greatest elongation, Sept. 1786, made by Mr. John Smeaton, F. R. S. with an equatorial micrometer, of his own invention and workmanship […]’ by John Smeaton in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 77 (1787).
Original drawing from Designs by the late John Smeaton made on various occasions in the course of his employment as a Civil Engineer from the year 175[?] to 179[?], Volume 4. Containing Designs for Bridges and Buildings. Collected and arranged by John Farey, 1821.
John Smeaton (1724-1792) was a British civil engineer, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753.
John Farey (1766-1826) was a British geologist and surveyor, he worked on the published reports of John Smeaton’s work between 1809 and 1812.
Object history
Smeaton’s Designs were received by bequest of Mr Edward Farey in November 1913 as indicated in the copies of outgoing correspondence bound in the New Letter Books of the Royal Society, NLB/49/185 and NLB/49/312.
The collection was originally purchased after Smeaton’s death in 1795 by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society and member of the Committee of the Smeaton Society of Civil Engineers. The committee undertook to publish a comprehensive selection of reports on the drawings which was entrusted to John Farey sr (1766-1826) and assisted by his better-known son John Farey jr (1791-1851) mechanical engineer and Fellow of the Royal Society. The work began in 1809 and resulted in three published volumes, Reports of the late John Smeaton FRS, made on various occasions of his employment as a civil engineer, London, 1812.
The collection was originally purchased after Smeaton’s death in 1795 by Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society and member of the Committee of the Smeaton Society of Civil Engineers. The committee undertook to publish a comprehensive selection of reports on the drawings which was entrusted to John Farey sr (1766-1826) and assisted by his better-known son John Farey jr (1791-1851) mechanical engineer and Fellow of the Royal Society. The work began in 1809 and resulted in three published volumes, Reports of the late John Smeaton FRS, made on various occasions of his employment as a civil engineer, London, 1812.
Associated place