Thomas Jones circular antique brass plotting chart protractor c1840 navigation

Description

Thomas Jones circular antique brass plotting chart protractor c1840 navigation
We are pleased to offer a circular plotting chart protractor, a mathematical instrument made and signed by Thomas Jones, 62 Charing Cross London.  This object would have most likely been used in navigation, and we think dates to circa 1840.  Protractors were used for calculating angles, and were valuable when plotting courses.
The antique instrument is 9 1/4 inches (23.3 cm) from tip to tip.  The circumference of the inner brass circle is 5 7/8 inches (15cm).   It is constructed entirely in brass with the exception of the two knurled screws with pricking pins at each end of the rotating arm.  The screw/pricking pins are bi-metal construction, brass and steel.  One is a professional replacement, otherwise the instrument is completely original.  There are also four smaller screws with tiny pins on underside of the protractor, positioned at the four corners of the circle.
This instrument is not complex but quite elegantly made.  Some instruments had "folding arms" where the triangular portions which stick outward from the circular protractor would fold in - this example has fixed arms on each side.  So the normal "unfolding spring action" to prick holes in the paper was provided just by hand pressure - the "wings" don't hinge or spring as found on some (particularly earlier) instruments.  The circle is graduated from 0 to 360, and the rotating arm has a secondary vernier scale from 0 to 15 in the positive and negative direction relative to the circle on one side, and a simple center diamond mark on the other side.
The instrument retains a portion of it's original lacquer, but is well worn as one appreciates in a working instrument.  Sadly, it's carrying case (which probably would have been a simple mahogany case) has been lost to history.
An excellent item that should be appreciated by anyone who enjoys navigation, charts and maps, and early scientific instruments.
Bennett's
The Divided Circle -  A History of Instruments for Astronomy Navigation and Surveying
shows an earlier (and more complex) example of a chart protractor by Adams from the late 18th century (page 90), as well as some very complex and exotic instruments made by Thomas Jones for other scientific uses.
Thomas Jones (I) was a scientific instrument maker (1806-1861) operating at 62 Charing Cross, London from 1816-1850.  He is known to have made Astronomical, Mathematical, Optical and Philosophical apparatus.  His son, Thomas Jones (II) was also known at this address in 1834, when the firm was a partnership, Jones & Sons (from 1831-1834).  A third Jones, W. H. Jones, was also operating at this address from c1850-1852.
We believe this instrument was made by the senior Jones (I) who was earlier apprenticed to and worked for the renowned instrument maker Jesse Ramsden.
Sources:  Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers, 1550-1851, p 154.
From wikipedia :
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History offers the following on Thomas Jones:
"Thomas Jones (1775-1852)  Thomas Jones F.R.S., F.R.A.S. maker of scientific instruments.
- 1775 Born in London eldest son of William Jones and his wife Catherine, née Nicoll
- 1789-1796 Apprenticed to Jesse Ramsden of Piccadilly, the most eminent scientific instrument maker of the day
- Jones continued to assist Ramsden until the latter's death in 1800
- With his brother, Jones worked for private customers and for the trade, in particular for Edward Troughton of Fleet Street.
- 1803 A Thomas Jones married Emma Osborn in Westminster (unclear whether this is the relevant marriage)
- By 1806 had opened his first shop in Mount Street, off Berkeley Square.
- 1811 he moved to 21 Oxenden Street
- 1811 Mathematical instrument maker; witness to the operation of Woolf's steam engine at Woolf and Edwards premises in Lambeth
- 1816 He moved to 62 Charing Cross.
- Major national observatories at home and overseas ordered their principal astronomical instruments from him including the Cape of Good Hope Observatory, Greenwich Observatory, Armagh Observatory and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, although the quality of his work on the Cape instrument was questioned.
- 1824 Thomas Jones, Charing Cross, Mathematical Instrument Maker to the Board of Longitude, became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
- Jones was one of the founder members of the Astronomical Society
- Married Emma; their son Thomas worked with his father, attended the London Mechanics' Institute in 1834, and continued the business until 1861.
- 1835 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society
- 1836 of Charing Cross, Westminster. Was an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers
- Also devised an all-metal travelling barometer and a transit instrument for Sir Henry Englefield, a lactometer for Sir Joseph Banks, and a small azimuth compass for Henry Kater.
- 1850 He moved the business to 4 Rupert Street
- 1851 Thomas Jones 75, optician, lived in Chelsea, with Emma Jones 79, Thomas Jones 40, optician
- 1852 Died in his shop. He was buried at St James's Church, Piccadilly."
Keywords: LR CCGO scientific instruments instrument engineering engineer science tech technology artifact
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