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Dividing engine for making sextants and octants

Made late 1700s, modified 1800s

Four photographs of Ramsden's dividing engine

Circular Instrument Dividing Engine

1919

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

circa 1845

Circular instrument dividing engine

1778

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

1842

Part of circular instrument dividing engine

1905

Photograph (12" x 10") of dividing engine constructed by George W. Watts in 1905, ( Prepared in museum from negative lent by Messrs E.R.Watts & Son, Ltd.)

Photograph (12" x 10") of dividing engine constructed by George W. Watts in 1905

Circular instrument dividing engine designed by Frederick Cooke, at T. Cooke & Sons, London, England around 1890. The cast brass, 28-inch dividing plate, with nine spokes is supported on a heavy wooden tripod stand. The instrument is mechanically similar in design to the large dividing engine completed by Thomas Cooke, the company’s founder in 1865.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1890-1895

Circular instrument dividing engine made by T. Cooke & Sons Ltd, London, England,1908. The cast brass dividing circle (42-inch diameter) with 1,080 teeth is fitted inlaid silver scale on a heavy cast iron table base.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1908

"Four foot" circular dividing engine (c. 1778) by John Troughton, diameter of wheel to edge of teeth is 46 1/4 inches, with 2160 teeth, wooden treadle missing, and also a few unimportant details such as milled-head screws, near the 210 degree mark seven teeth are partly burred

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

1778

Stand with line feed pulleys, part of the original circular dividing engine, made by Edward Troughton in 1793.

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

1793

Circular instrument dividing engine (Watts No. 1) made by George W. Watts, London, England in 1905. An automatic dividing engine, complete with test circle.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1905

Circular instrument dividing engine made by William Simms, London, England in 1842 has been modified over time (wooden stand made at the Science Museum, 1954). The cast gunmetal, 46-inch dividing plate, with 4320 divisions on a inlaid silver ring is signed and dated, ‘Troughton & Simms, London, 1842’. The engine is similar to that made by Edward Troughton in 1793.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1842

Circular dividing engine and related components, believed to have been made by W.F. Stanley for own use between 1852 and 1880.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1852-1880

Original circular dividing engine made by Edward Troughton in 1793

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

1793

One standard 22" Circle, with two photo prints of a dividing engine and a booklet.

One standard 22" Circle

Circular instrument dividing engine, possibly made by Anthony James Lear, London, England, around 1850. Consists of cast brass, dividing plate (15 7/8-inch), with six spokes and inner and outer circles is supported on heavy triangular framework. The dividing screw design is similar to that used on Allan's Dividing Engine (Inv. No.1932-23).

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1840-1850

Circular instrument dividing engine, made possibly by either Peter & John Dollond (active 1766-1804) or perhaps Edward Pritchard around 1800. The cast brass, 34 ¾-inch dividing plate, is supported on a heavy metal cast frame on a massive wooden tripod table with four drawers.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1795-1805

Circular dividing engine made by James Allan, London, England in 1809. The cast brass, 30-inch dividing plate, with a split outer rim of two rings has 1440 teeth is supported on cast brass frame. The wooden tripod stand, treadle, and frame for carrying cutting mechanism are missing.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1809

Circular dividing engine, believed to have been made by W.F. Stanley for own use between 1852 and 1880.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1852-1880

Self-acting circular dividing engine, of a model made as a regular commercial article by E.R. Watts & Sons, London, c.1930 - c.1950.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1930-1948

Circular instrument dividing engine made by Edward Troughton, London, England in 1793 and described by him in 1809. It was later modified by William Simms, his business partner after 1826, with the additional of a self-acting mechanism, the details of which Simms published in 1843. The engine has a 34-inch cast brass dividing plate with 2,160 teeth and a worm with 20 threads to the inch, all mounted on a wooden tripod base.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1793

Components from "Four foot" circular dividing engine (c. 1778) by John Troughton, diameter of wheel to edge of teeth is 46 1/4 inches, with 2160 teeth, wooden treadle missing, and also a few unimportant details such as milled-head screws, near the 210 degree mark seven teeth are partly burred

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

1778

Certificate for Watts No.1 Circular instrument dividing engine, made by George W. Watts, London, England in 1905.

Circular instrument dividing engine.

1905

Watts No.1 automatic circular dividing engine, constructed by George. W. Watts in 1905

Part of circular instrument dividing engine.

1905

Photograph (12" x 10") of W.Simms's dividing engine, from Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society vol. 15, 1846

Photograph (12" x 10") of W.Simms's dividing engine

Photograph (10" x 12") of E.Troughton's dividing engine, 1793, from Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopaedia vol. x, 1830, plate CCLXXIX