Early English Theodolite

Early English Theodolite, possibly by Benjamin Cole, with four-inch silvered dial, rose with central flower roundel and eight plain, hatched and foliate-engraved points, needle ring with divisions in individual degrees 0-360 , blued-steel needle with periphery-set brass lifting arm, compass box with vernier rotating around horizontal circle, and detachable vertical half-circle with vernier divided 90-0-90° , the yoke supporting 9-inch lg. telescope with vial, in fitted dovetailed mahogany box. Literature: Silvio Bedini, (1975), Thinkers and Tinkers , fig. 24, for an mid-18th century painting of a surveyor using a Cole-type theodolite.