This is a wonderful Varney Theodolite or Protracting Circumferentor. Varney received a patent on the novel design of the cool instrument. U.S. Patent 3147. This transit was
Varney's attempt to provide more functionality than a Surveyors' Transit at less than half the price.

The Varney Theodolite featured a 13 inch tube scope (no glass) and a 4,5 inch needle. I believe this Varney Theodolite is serial number 8. There is an 8 stamped on the compass box housing as seen in one of the pics below.

The Varney Theodolite comes complete with its box and some accompanying non-original tools as shown in the pics below.

The Varney Theodolite offered here is missing its center clamp screw (part g in the parts pic below). You should be able to have the screw replaced at a modest cost. The screw in the base has the same thread count, so it can be used as a model. One needle tip also appears to have a 100 year old plus bug attached to the tip. See pic. I suspect that the bug would be easily removed.

The Varney Theodolite is fascinating in a number of ways. First, the instrument can measure angles independently of the needle. This was a big deal in the early 1840s. Railroad compasses and Transits that could do the same thing were relatively new when Varney took out his patent on this device.

Second, the instrument has a very unique leveling system for the tripod mount. The Varney system includes 2 Thumbscrews to control the horizontal and 2 Thumbscrew to control the vertical. A very neat design feature.

Third, the instrument was designed to do plotting at the same time. Note the dropping pencil like device at the end of the sighting tube.

The Varney Theodolite was deficient in other respects. The sighting tube doesn't have any glass - it's just a hallow tube. A big shortcoming compared to a transit. (Interestingly, when I looked thru the tube, I could see detail that I couldn't see without the tube).

My take on the Varney Theodolite…this instrument screams American Ingenuity, but was an evolutionary deadend. The instrument only cost $60, or roughly half the cost of a transit. But it has the look and feel of something made in a guy's garage, which was likely its downfall. It doesn't have the heft of a transit, and the sighting tube falls far short of how one feels when they look thru a real telescope.

This is a rare example of an early patented American Surveying Instrument. There are only 5 to 10 Varney Theodolites known, and there are only a few that still have the plotting instrument. There is a Varney Theodolite in the Here are the Varney Theodolite sales (or sales offerings) I have in my database:

Moskowitz - Early 1972 - $325 to $375

Skinner - 1997 - $1265

Tesseract - 2003 - $5500

Skinner - 2006 - $2938