Compass Made by Rittenhouse & Shower
According to SurveyHistory.org there are two Rittenhouse & Shower compasses known to exist. Pics from one of the two are posted below. Looks like a nicely engraved compass, at a BR level of quality. I tried briefly to figure out who Shower was via an internet search - nothing.
Bud Uzes authored two articles in the early 1990s regarding Rittenhouse surveying instruments. Bud's files included a fair number of background reference materials, and I've found a few additional articles published in the last 20 years that are relevant to collecting surveying instruments made by the Rittenhouse Family. Attached below are the most helpful articles. Please keep in mind that collectors were trying to figure this stuff out, and that developments may have impacted some of the analysis and conclusions stated in the articles. I've also included a longer list of my dad's reference materials.
1. Uzes - Colonial Surveyor and Instrument Maker (1990) published in the Rittenhouse Journal (Vol 5, No 1).
2. Uzes - The Brothers Rittenhouse - 1994 ACSM Presentation (similar to the Rittenhouse Journal Article)
3. Bedini - David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) - Rittenhouse Journal (Vol 14, No 1).
4. Bedini - Benjamin Rittenhouse (1740-1825)
5. Bedini - Benjamin Rittenhouse and His Apprentices and Partners
6. Bedini - Relevant Pages from Thinkers and Tinkerers
7. Lock - David Rittenhouse Telescopic Theodolite - The American Surveyor (Dec 2007)
8. Forman - The Worcester Workshop of Benjamin Rittenhouse
9. Smart - The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America Since 1700 (Relevant Pages)
10. Other List of References Pulled Together by Bud Uzes
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