Epact Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

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Quadrant
Attributed to James Kynvyn
Date; place Undated; English
Brass; 318 x 380 mm

A mounting socket for a tripod or staff carries an open semicircle which has been cut from a former ring with diametric supports, now with a scale 180 to 360, divided to 10, subdivided to 5, to 1, to 1/2 and to 1/4, numbered by 10, and with the surviving marks for cardinal points 'SW', 'W' and 'NW'. On this pivots a vertical quadrant, secured by a nut, with nonius divisions on 45 concentric quadrant arcs and a degree scale on the limb. None of the scales has been numbered.

The verso has a suspension point, target line and constraint for a plumb-line (missing), and the removable box for a magnetic compass (missing). A reinforcing bar at the base of the quadrant is broken where it accommodates one of two slots for the compass box. Two brass straps on the verso of the quadrant have no present function.

Jim Bennett

Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Firenze
Inventory nos 3362 and 242

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