Bridges-Lee, John 1867 - 1917

(1867-1917), inventor of the Bridges Lee phototheodolite

John Bridges-Lee was a scientist and lawyer based in London. He filed two British patent applications describing the Bridges-Lee photo-theodolite in 1894. He filed a third in 1896, and licenced 'Casella' to bring it to the market. The Casella firm was still offering instruments of this sort in the 1930s.

The Bridges Lee phototheodolite comprised a camera set on the horizontal plate of a theodolite, with a telescope and vertical arc set on top of the camera. Horizontal and vertical lines appeared on the negative, along with the direction of the magnetic meridian and the orientation of the camera.