overall in case: 16 3/8 in x 10 1/8 in x 11 1/8 in; 41.5925 cm x 25.7175 cm x 28.2575 cm
Object Name:
surveyor's transit
Place made:
United States: Massachusetts, Boston
Description:
This transit is marked "Buff & Buff Mfg. Co. Boston 8215" and PAT'D NOV. 13-1900" and "Public Service Railway Co." It is similar, in all important respects, to the instrument that George L. Buff designed in 1866, and that Buff & Berger began making in 1871. Buff & Buff continued the tradition, boasting that this instrument "is not the product of today nor of a few years, but the crowning result of over forty years' experience in dealing with a very critical clientele." A Precise Transit No. 1C cost $234 in 1907, and was still being offered in 1938. This example belonged to the New Jersey Transit Bus Operations, Inc.
The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated to 30 minutes of arc, and read by verniers to single minutes. There is a clamp and tangent to the telescope axis. The finish, termed Golden Bronze, was described in 1938 as "unique and characteristic" of Buff instruments. "It is not glaring, but is bright enough to throw off all objectionable heat rays."
Ref: Buff & Buff Mfg. Co., <i>High Grade Engineering, Surveying, Astronomical and Mining Instruments</i> (Boston, 1907), pp. 7, 28, and 36-41.
Buff & Buff Mfg. Co., <i>Surveying Instruments for Civil and Mining Engineers</i> (Boston, 1938), pp. 6, 15, 39, and 41-45.
Location:
Currently not on view
Related Publication:
Buff & Buff Mfg. Co.. High Grade Engineering, Surveying, Astronomical and Mining Instruments
Buff & Buff Mfg. Co.. Surveying Instruments for Civil and Mining Engineers
