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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Paper, regarding an instrument to show the latitude at sea without seeing the horizon by Stephen Plank

Reference number: CLP/8ii/41

Date: 26 April 1733

Description

Planck describes an instrument he has invented which consists of tube containing a weight 'of near six feet long' which 'rests with the pointed end downwards in a brass socket which is fastened at the bottom of the tube, so that if the tube be made to decline from the vertical point, the weight will rest on that side the tube declines, this weight when it shifts from one side of the tube to the other it moves a rod, which said rod the observer is to hold slightly between his fingers thro a hole that is cut in the tube'.

Subject: Navigation / Astronomy / Scientific apparatus and instruments

Read to the Royal Society on 26 April 1733

Reference number
CLP/8ii/41
Earliest possible date
26 April 1733
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
2 pages
Format
Manuscript

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Citation

Paper, regarding an instrument to show the latitude at sea without seeing the horizon by Stephen Plank, 26 April 1733, CLP/8ii/41, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/clp_8ii_41/paper-regarding-an-instrument-to-show-the-latitude-at-sea-without-seeing-the-horizon-by-stephen-plank, accessed on 14 October 2024

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/clp_8ii_41/paper-regarding-an-instrument-to-show-the-latitude-at-sea-without-seeing-the-horizon-by-stephen-plank

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  • Classified Papers

    Dates: 1592-1741

    The 'Classified Papers' of the Royal Society are papers from British and international natural philosophers and scholars categorised according to subject areas.

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