Wednesday, August 27, 2014

A Brief Introduction To Theodolites

By Carey Bourdier


For many students, the study of geometry is simply one of the classes you take to graduate high school. However, geometry has a huge variety of practical applications and many professions use geometry each day. For instance, engineers and surveyors make use of geometry regularly on their field.

One of the tools often used is the theodolite, and you have definitely seen these before. Surveyors look through these devices and you often see them in the middle of a road making calculations or perhaps at a construction site. The theodolite is an optical instrument that contains a movable or rotating telescope that can be used to measure horizontal angles as well as vertical angles. You can even use a theodolite to help you with leveling tasks and measuring horizontal distances.

Surveyors aren't the only ones that use a theodolite since these are also used by meteorologists as well as for navigation. Surveying tasks, however, have been one of the primary uses for theodolites in the last few hundred years. During the 16th century, the first theodolites were under development which included a telescope, compass and tripod.

One of the most notable theodolites is the Ramsden theodolite, which also is sometimes simply called the Great Theodolite. Built in the late 18th Century, this theodolite weighed more than 300 pounds and its base circle was three feet in diameter. This device was used to create comprehensive maps of Great Britain. The Great Theodolite is on display at the Science Museum in London.

The settlement of the notorious border dispute in Colonial America was one of the most notable uses of the instrument known as Jeremiah's theodolite. The Mason-Dixon Line which is known today was the result of the establishment between the boundaries of Maryland and Pennsylvania, made possible by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, both surveyors. A part of the border for Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia is formed. Historians however, speculate the validity of the Jeremiah's theodolite linking it to a circumferentor, which is a special type of compass.

A total station is often used by surveyors today which include a theodolite and an electronic distance diameter. A remote control version of these total stations exists today. For road construction and building construction, as well as surveying mines is what they are mostly used.




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