My Dietzgen Theodolite arrived yesterday.
I unpacked it, and it attached to my standard tripod. I was happy.
I looked it over, and it has been dropped in the past, which the pictures clearly showed. I looked through the scope, and I had a hard time focusing. I investigated, and the focusing know was almost impossible to turn. I had to partially disassemble that side, and tinker with it. I had to slightly bend the plate that the focusing knob attaches to, and then I filed off just a tad off of the collar that the focusing knob fits inside.
I got it all back together, and I can now use the instrument. The focusing is not quite as smooth as it should be, but I can definitely live with it. Overall it is in pretty good shape, and for $53, I am very happy.
Now I have to brush up on reading vernier scales, and just find the time to play around with it.
Does anyone know of a site that can tell me when this instrument was manufactured? The manual was printed in 1961. The only thing I can see that I am missing is the small magnifying glass that fits inside the case.
Thanks for all the advice in my earlier post.
Jimmy
Thanks for the info. My serial number is not listed in that range. My instrument serial number has 6 digits.
You may find this link, http://www.nashua.com/dietzgen/aboutus/history.html , of some help.
As it was probably manufactured by Tokyo Optical Corporation aka Topcon you might be able to get some information from Topcon in Japan using the contact us link.
If you do get a response it will probably just be the date of manufacture and/or the date of export to the US and Dietzgen.
There could still be a long time employee at Dietzgen who knows what old records are still around. Office still seems to be in the Chicago area which is where instruments were actually made in the good old days and, I suppose, the imported instruments were warehoused.