NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: David Pike
Date: 2016 Mar 16, 05:54 -0700
I went to the British Library in London yesterday to complete my registration. By way of a test of the facilities, I asked to see their rare(ish) copy of Francis M Roger’s ‘Precision Astrolabe’. The diagram of what you actually see through Coutinho’s artificial horizon was slightly easier to follow than the excerpts available on-line and in Peter Ifland’s book, so I took the attached photo. The diagram on the right-hand page doesn’t seem to include the smaller lateral spirit level visible in the drawings on the left-hand page. DaveP
Bill Lionheart wrote: There is a Japanese sextant on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Japanese-Tamaya-Sextant-serial-number-715-/291687942883?hash=item43e9f4cae3:g:TdsAAOSwe7BWt6Kh. I am intregued about the large triangualr box like structure near the horizon mirror. I wondered if it was some kind of artificial horizon?
Bill. The triangular attachment looks exactly like the “System Gago Coutinho” system. You can read all about its history, advantages, and disadvantages on pages 161-163 and Figures 171 and 172 of Peter Iflands “Taking the Stars”. The fact that Peter placed this particular device in the “Aircraft Celestial Navigational Instruments” section suggests the sextant on eBay might possibly have an aviation connection. DaveP
