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Kieran,

I don't suppose you have this catalogue scanned in electronic format do you?
As a long-time Plath adherent, I would love to have a gander at this
catalogue.

Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kieran Kelly" 
To: 
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2004 4:38 AM
Subject: Re: Sextant stands; was Lunar Distances: Graphic Methods


> No they weren't custom made. Royal Navy hydrographers used them when
taking
> shore based lunar distance observations and you can find them occasionally
> mentioned on exploration manifests.  They were manufactured by Troughton,
> Cary and Dolland to name a few and usually came in a leather case as a kit
> including stand, sextant and artificial horizon. I have a Plath catalogue
> from the 1920's where they were still making and selling stands. There is
an
> excellent example in the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney. It however
is
> a surveying octant and a very large and heavy one. the stand was necessary
> to support the weight of the very large instrument.
>
> Pictures of the stands are shown in Ifland's Taking the Stars, pages 126,
> 127 and 136.
>
> I have been trying to buy a sextant stand for years to no avail so if any
> old surveyor has one in the garage I would like to hear from you. In all
the
> time I have been collecting sextants I have never seen a stand offered on
E
> bay and that's saying something given the plethora of stuff that washes
> through its sextant site.
>
> Kieran Kelly
> Sydney
>
>

   

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