I'd never heard of the British optical firm of Lawrence & Mayo before, but apparently they made surveying instruments back in the 1930's or 40's (my guess). I told the widow of a deceased colleague that I'd post some photos of various instruments that she has been left with to see what sort of interest there is in them.
The story behind this one is that the colleague was making a survey near Hebgen Lake in Southwestern Montana and one of the adjoining landowners asked if he'd be interested in buying this instrument which he had. I'm positive it was not my colleague who took the original lacquer off some of the brass parts.
I'm thinking it would still make a cute display piece for an office.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
I have always seen four. Does the base fit 4 1/2" tripod threads?
Paul in PA
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
> I have always seen four. Does the base fit 4 1/2" tripod threads?
I'm going to guess that the four leveling screws is mostly an American design characteristic, one not followed by European manufacturers. As for the tripod head that the instrument would need, I didn't measure the threads or diameter, but I'd be startled if it fit some standard American-made tripod of the day.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
Hope the threads aren't Whitworth.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
> Hope the threads aren't Whitworth.
Oh, assuming that British practices were pervasive, it's safe to assume that the threads conform to no known standard in any other industrialized country. I mean wasn't Johnny Foreigner supposed to get with the program and adopt British standards?
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
No kidding...
I own a Royal Enfield that was sold in the sixties on this side of the pond under the name "Indian". Nuts and bolts are Whitworth and AST...there is also some other freakish nuts on there that are NOT either of those two nor metric.
Bloody something MI6 came up with, jolly good.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
> Bloody something MI6 came up with, jolly good.
My theory is that it was to make the Lucas electrics seem like a secondary problem.
Lucas
I've got a small sign somewhere in the garage, in vivid brit green, white and black that states, "LUCAS ELECTRICS - automatic flicker and intermittent dim at the touch of a finger!" :pinch:
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
wow... they get survey goddess of all time with slide #4 on their homepage.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
> wow... they get survey goddess of all time with slide #4 on their homepage.
Yeah, what's not to love about that?
(Even if that photo was probably lifted from Leica's promo material. It's one of my Leica tripods that my new assistant is shouldering, after all.)
Lucas
Lucas, Prince of Darkness.
Lucas
From the link: The other three switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE.
Based on person experience (driving my Spitfire up I-5 in Oregon on my way home for the weekend in college) smolder comes before smoke and after fire comes panicked jump from vehicle. :-O
Warm Beer
Why do the British drink warm beer.....Lucas refrigeration.:-P
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
I get paid to be around stuff like that all day long. I just can't touch any of it ... but I do get to look.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
is that a leica tripod? The metal-ware and color look like it, but I am not used to seeing the legs be solid like that.
Interesting Three Adjustments? And Long Too
> is that a leica tripod? The metal-ware and color look like it, but I am not used to seeing the legs be solid like that.
Tripod? Oh, yeah, that is a tripod, isn't it? The paint scheme and carrying strap looks Leica, but the legs on mine have shallow recesses on their faces. The faces of the tripod my new assistant is holding appear to be flat.
BTW Kent..
did you receive an email from me?
BTW Kent..
> did you receive an email from me?
No, I just checked. I just checked the email in my profile and it's correct.
As a point of information: Paden Cash has made a decent offer for this instrument that has been accepted. If you were thinking of offering $800 for it, sorry you're too late.
