http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/11720/153/
(pdf version with images) http://www.amerisurv.com/PDF/TheAmericanSurveyor_PenryIngram-TheAmericanTheodolite_Vol10No9.pdf
Here is the story that Dave Ingram and I had worked on for many months after Dave first posted his pictures of his rare Gurley theodolite on this message board at the beginning of the year.
We uncovered some very interesting details about how the Americans could not replicate what the Europeans had already done in terms of developing the glass circles for a theodolite during WWII.
Dave has the first instrument developed by Gurley to fulfill their government contract. A very rare find.
Great article guys....thanks.
I wonder why the "reverse engineering" of the circle didn't happen?
I really liked the article. the etching process sounds really fascinating. it's amazing that post-war Japan (Topcon and Sokkisha) were able to do it.
It had to have been very frustrating being able to have and see something, but not know how to produce it.
Kind of like when the German's thought they were getting the plans to the Norton Bombsight; but Hogan was really drawing the plans for the Norton Vacuum Cleaner 😀
I've read that in some of the night naval battles in the early part of WWII, before the Americans had refined their radars and produced them in quantity, the Japanese were winning because they had better optics. (They had also practiced night fighting, and the US Navy hadn't.)
I don't doubt it. Topcon has been around a long time.
I wonder if the glass circles in Topcon and Sokkia early theodolites were purchased third party from Wild or Kern and installed in their own housings or if they were manufacturing the circles themselves.
I had a teacher
who had been a Naval Commander during World War II and then went on to oversee a shipyard in Japan following the war. He had great admiration for their ability to copy almost anything. He told us of a friendly competition between an American drill bit manufacturer and a Japanese company. They were trying to develop the smallest workable drill bit. The American company made a tiny bit and sent it to the Japanese company who sent it back with a hole drilled in it.
Andy
I had a teacher
ha. that's cool.