There are loads of these on ebay.
Please..what is it..what does it do?
Is it like a sextant?
Search the patent number. I don't have time right now to try to read all the text but I like these older drawings.?ÿ
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526d=PALL%2526p=1%2526u=%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r=1%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526s1=2988952.PN.%2526OS=PN/2988952%2526RS=PN/298895 2" target="true" rel="noopener">Patent 2988952
Thanks for that Daniel.
I assumed more people would have known about them, but obviously not!
"I assumed more people would have known about them, but obviously not!"
Crap, I'm 68 and never even heard of them. What do they do and what do you do with them? Maybe the Divine Bovine might know, he's from that foreign country known as Kansas.?ÿ ? ?ÿ
What is Emporia, Kansas??ÿ ??ÿ
Just from looking at pictures and reading the scales on it, I'm guessing it was designed for bombers in aircraft to use when they didn't have a better bomb sight, in order to measure distance to target.
Since then they have found other uses, according to a google search.?ÿ
?ÿ
I think most of these were sold off the back pages of comics in the fifties. They are not transits by any definition. There is a pair of mirrors that can be aligned by raising and lowering the device which allows a somewhat level sight to be made. There is no magnification or lenses of any kind involved. No way of measuring an angle.
Years ago, I picked one up off eBay out of curiosity and later sold it for the same ten bucks or so. Nothing at all interesting about the item. I expect there are 20 or so of the misnamed "transits" churning around eBay at any given time.
It was used measure the floor slope in an auto repair bay for headlight adjustment equipment
See page 9
http://americanaimers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/v1b_full_file.pdf
?ÿ
I also thought it looked like an aircraft sextant, but it seems to be the kind of gadget that was advertised in Popular Mechanics in the 60's and 70's, so more of a civilian thing. I saw some mention of aligning headlights with it...I thought all the old surveyors here would say, "Oh that thing, yeah, I remember them!"
"It was used measure the floor slope in an auto repair bay for headlight adjustment equipment"
Doesn't look like any headlight alignment apparatus I've ever used. I've adjusted many headlights working part time on school days and all day on Saturday?ÿ at Dave's Texaco, starting at age 15. (1965)?ÿ ??ÿ
"It was used measure the floor slope in an auto repair bay for headlight adjustment equipment"
Doesn't look like any headlight alignment apparatus I've ever used. I've adjusted many headlights working part time on school days and all day on Saturday?ÿ at Dave's Texaco, starting at age 15. (1965)?ÿ ??ÿ
I guess Dave couldn't afford the Hoppy?ÿ Vision 1? Image Processing?ÿHeadlamp Aimer
"I guess Dave couldn't afford the Hoppy?ÿ Vision 1? Image Processing?ÿHeadlamp Aimer"
No, I don't think so. Dave was one of a few mechanics that could turn a Chevrolet 283 small block with 165hp into a small block 283 with 420hp and always had great equipment. Have you ever aligned headlights in the 1960's??ÿ ? ?ÿ
..."Have you ever aligned headlights in the 1960's??ÿ ? ?ÿ
I had a buddy, who's dad had this string line setup, to do his own alignments...
What is Emporia, Kansas. ?ÿNASCAR fans should ask Clint Bowyer. ?ÿUp until 2015 basketball fans could have asked Dean Smith. People who read and enjoy newspapers may be aware of a giant in that industry named William Allen White. ?ÿIt is also home to Emporia State College well known for educating school teachers. ?ÿLocated on the east edge of the Flint Hills it is a short distance from Wichita, Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka and Manhattan.
Google Hopkins Mfg. Co., Emporia, KS to find their current list of products.
?ÿ
FYI, Emporia is also famous for a "graphic" news story from about 40 years ago. ?ÿA truck driver was walking across a grassy area one wintry day when he spotted something odd laying on the frozen snow. ?ÿUpon closer inspection he realized it was a severed human penis.
I lived in Emporia for a year about 1989.
When I was there a preacher killed?ÿ his wife while having a thing with his secretary.?ÿ They made a movie about it. Don't recall HC's story.
Emporia is a nice town.?ÿ One drawback is the smell of the big meat plant.?ÿ 6 months after I left a tornado tore through the neighborhood I lived in.?ÿ During the 5+ years I lived in Kansas I never saw a tornado.
?ÿ
Nice town.
Here is a link to the story Leon remembered involving the infamous Lorna Anderson.?ÿ
?ÿ
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/6/kansas-woman-in-infamous-murder-case-off-parole/
?ÿ
The grisly story I mentioned happened in October 1989. The severed appendage was found next to the K-Mart parking lot. ?ÿThe poor fellow missing said appendage had married a divorced woman. ?ÿHer ex-husband is the one who dis-membered the new husband. ?ÿCan't help but wonder if she stayed married to husband number two. ?ÿBet there were no volunteers to be number three.
Wow, talk about thread drift! How was it we got here??ÿ
Oh, what's this gadget, one use is headlight aiming, made in Emporia, all about Emporia, I was in Emporia, news about emporia, severed parts.
Sure, makes sense now, I guess.
?ÿThe Lowest Common Denominator interests of many if not most is sex, drugs (including alchohol), and violence.
Here is a link to the story Leon remembered involving the infamous Lorna Anderson.?ÿ
?ÿ
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/6/kansas-woman-in-infamous-murder-case-off-parole/
?ÿ
The grisly story I mentioned happened in October 1989. The severed appendage was found next to the K-Mart parking lot. ?ÿThe poor fellow missing said appendage had married a divorced woman. ?ÿHer ex-husband is the one who dis-membered the new husband. ?ÿCan't help but wonder if she stayed married to husband number two. ?ÿBet there were no volunteers to be number three.
Wow. What a tale.?ÿ ?ÿ
I guess quilting and jelly making isn't so much of a pastime anymore....
Wow, talk about thread drift! How was it we got here??ÿ
Oh, what's this gadget, one use is headlight aiming, made in Emporia, all about Emporia, I was in Emporia, news about emporia, severed parts.
Sure, makes sense now, I guess.
welllllllllll.... there are a bunch of surveyors here, so there's that...
