| 
 Historical Surveying Instruments from Bohemian Region
by Pavel Hánek and Antonín Švejda
 Key words: history of surveying, production of surveying
          instruments, verification of surveying instruments quality. 
 Abstract1 IntroductionOn the occasion of FIG Working Week Prague 2000
          there will be held (within the framework of Prague 2000 European town
          of culture activities) an exhibition of "Historical Geodesy
          Instruments from Bohemia" in The National Technical Museum (NTM)
          from May 15 to July 15, 2000. The exhibit will focus on the two
          periods associated with advanced economic and political development of
          the Czech state: the reign of Emperor Rudolf II and the end of the
          19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. An important aspect of preparing for this
          exhibition has been the testing of the quality of the historical
          instruments using modern methods based on international standard
          ČSN ISO 8322 (1996) in addition to some tests which are no
          longer performed. These results have been incorporated into several
          thesis studies on geodesy which were defended at the Faculty of Civil
          Engineering at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague. 2 HistoryOne of the peaks of science advancement in the
          Czech lands occurred during the reign of Rudolf II (1552 – 1612). In
          his court, which was significant in Europe, worked the naturalist and
          doctor of medicine Tadeáš Hájek z Hájku, who conducted the
          first triangulation of the area surrounding Prague. Thanks to him,
          Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler came to Prague where he designed a new
          type of astronomical telescope in 1611 and defined the first two laws
          on the movement of planets. In addition, several important European
          craftsmen worked for the Emperor. Jost Bürgi (1552 – 1632) became
          the Emperor’s watchmaker in 1604. In 1610 he compiled logarithmic
          tables which J. Kepler himself relied on. Erasmus Habermel (+1606)
          designed a theodolite, levelling and triangulation instruments and
          artillery direction finder. He also made astronomical instruments,
          sundials and armillary spheres. The mathematical instruments of Doctor
          Franciscus Paduarius of Forli on exhibition also come from Habermel’s
          Workshop. A particularly fine decorative piece in the exhibition is
          the gilded theodolite with an azimuthal sundials and diagrams of
          mathematical functions from the period 1608 – 1613. The piece was
          created by Heinrich Stolle, who collaborated with J. Bürgi. At the time, outstanding results were achieved in
          practical geometry which confirms the quality of the instruments. For
          example, a unique water tunnel was constructed in Prague during
          Rudolph’s reign. Just before the project was completed in 1593 a
          member of the court office, Isaac Phendler, made a drawing of it for
          the Emperor. The scale of the plan is 1: 540, and is also presented in
          exhibition. The Thirty Years War brought economic collapse in
          the Czech Lands and resulted in the emigration of many intellectuals
          and a general decline in the importance of Prague. Nevertheless,
          thanks to Kristian Joseph Willenberg (1676 – 1731) and a charter by
          the Emperor, the Estate Engineering Institute in Prague (which was
          predecessor of the Czech Technical University) began to offer two-year
          instruction beginning on January 1, 1707. Lectures were given in
          arithmetic, geometry, practical geometry (geodesy) and fortress
          engineering. In the 19th century, which witnessed economic
          growth and the Czech national revival, the growing economic influence
          of the Czech Lands resulted in new workshops devoted to the production
          of measuring instruments and aids. The first workshop was founded in
          1808 by Josef Božek (1782 – 1835), a watchmaker and craftsman at
          the Prague Polytechnical Institute. His sons František (1809
          – 1886) and Romuald (1814 – 1898) continued his work. The Spitra
          workshop manufactured instruments which were comparable with similar
          European products of that time. Three generations of this family (František,
          Václav Michal and Otakar) worked in Prague from 1820 till the end of
          the century. About 1840, another significant master, Mathias Richard
          Brandeis (1818 – 1868), started to produce his own measuring
          instruments. After his death, the workshop was taken over by the firm
          Haase & Wilhelm. Prague became a centre of this sort of
          production, and in 1890 there were 24 workshops of this kind; by the
          end of century there were 40 such firms. Of those craftsmen who did
          not stay in Prague we have to mention the forester Karl Gangloff (1809
          – 1879). Individual instruments were designed by many Czech
          specialists. We should note the hypsometer of Karel František Edvard
          knight Kořistka (1825 – 1906), professor of Prague Technical
          University. Professor František Müller (1835 – 1900) designed an
          instrument for graphical levelling. Forester and land surveyor
          Antonín Tichý (1843 – 1923) designed a logarithmic tachymeter.
          Professor of Czech Technical University F. Müller and his successor,
          professor and chancellor František Novotný (1864 – 1918), were
          authors of the first modern Czech textbook of geodesy (Compendium
          geodesy higher and lower, Prague (1884 – 1913). In 1883 brothers Josef (1861 – 1945) and Jan
          (1863 – 1897) Frič established in Prague the family firm which,
          till the beginning of the 1950s, manufactured a full range of
          geodetic instruments and aids including a two-second triangulating
          theodolite 6R. In 1884 / 85 the firm made a small series of mining
          theodolites under the name of DUPLEX. The divided circle used in these
          instruments were made from glass for the first time in the world. The
          firm of Eichler was another important manufacturer in the town of
          Ústí nad Labem in the first half of the 20th century. Srb and Štys
          was a firm founded in 1919 and its successful department of geodesy
          was taken as a base for the national
          enterprise MEOPTA Košíře after 1945. They successfully overcame
          the obstacles caused by World War II and went on to attain high levels
          in European production. In 1961 Czechoslovak technical experts
          learned about the development of new full range of the theodolites.
          Shortly after this announcement production was stopped. The Koula factory manufactured photo reproduction
          instruments and instruments for the evaluation of photographs. Between
          1930 and 1935 the factory supplied semiautomatic and fully automatic
          aerial chambers to the Czechoslovak Army. Hand aerial chambers were
          also produced by the Prague firm HAAGER. Photogrammetry instruments
          were designed and produced by Prague’s
          firms A. LÖSCHNER and V. KOLÁŘ. 
 Ass. Prof. Pavel Hánek, PhDCzech Technical University of Prague
 Faculty of Civil Engineering
 Department of Special Geodesy
 Thákurova 7
 16629 Praha 6
 CZECH REPUBLIC
 E-mail: hanek@fsv.cvut.cz
 Dipl. Ing. Antonín ŠvejdaNational Technical Museum Prague
 Exact Sciences Department
 Kostelní 42
 17078 Praha 7
 CZECH REPUBLIC
 E-mail: antonin.svejda@ntm.cz
 
 
          
          Historical Surveying Instruments from Bohemian Regioan
          1. INTRODUCTIONOn the occasion of the FIG Working Week Prague 2000, „Exhibition
    of Historical Surveying Instruments from Bohemian Region" is taking
    place in the National Technical Museum in the period of 15.5. - 15.7.2000
    within the action Prague 2000 – European City of Culture. The authors of this contribution, who are also the
    authors of the exhibition topic, informed the scientific public about the
    history of manufacturing of surveying instruments in the Czech lands at the
    XXI. FIG Congress in Brighton (Hánek, Švejda 1993). The exhibition is
    complemented with a production of photogrammetric instruments and tools. The
    focus of the exhibition is – in accordance with the economic and political
    development of the Czech state – the time of the rule of Emperor Rudolph
    II and the turn of the 19. and 20. centuries. Besides the National Technical
    Museum, an organiser of the exhibition, the exhibits were borrowed also from
    collections of the Technical Museum Brno, the Technical University Ostrava
    – the Faculty of Mining, the Departments of Geodesy of the Faculty of
    Civil Engineering, CTU Prague, and also from the private collections. The part of preparation was a verification of surveying
    instruments quality in accordance with the international standard ČSN
    ISO 8322 (1996), with a completion of parameters, which have already been
    nearly forgotten. The verification was an objective of some diploma works
    conducted at the Department of Special Geodesy and defended at the Faculty
    of Civil Engineering, CTU Prague. The short review is listed in the
    conclusion of this contribution. 2. HISTORY OF PRODUCERS2.1. THE RUDOLPHINE AGEOne of the peaks of the science flourishing, the part of
    which was also a surveying instruments production on our territory, is the
    period of the reign of the art-loving Renaissance ruler Rudolph II. (1552
    – 1612). In 1583, he moved his seat to Prague, which became a significant
    European metropolis, attracting specialists of all fields. At the imperial
    court, the notable scientist and doctor Tadeáš Hájek from Hájek, known
    also as an author of the first triangulation of the Prague’s area, was
    working. Due to him the renowned astronomers Tycho de Brahe and Johannes
    Kepler, who also cooperated on the instruments construction, came to Prague.
    Around 1610, Kepler designed his type of the so-called astronomic telescope,
    which is widely used even in geodesy. Besides these scientists, some
    significant European mechanics were also working at the imperial court. Many
    of their masterpieces soon spread out or were lost in the Thirty Years’
    War (1618-1648). All the collection from the aforesaid period comes from the
    collection of the National Technical Museum (Švejda 1997). The famous Jost Bürgi (lat. Iost Byrgi, 1552-1632),
    Swiss by origin, worked on the Dukes of Hessen court, which belonged to one
    of the prominent European scientific centres. Since 1602 his works had been
    protected by the imperial privilege, a certain precursor of the patent
    protection. In 1604, he became the Emperor’s watchmaker. An instrument for
    perspective drawing, working on the basis of a theodolite, is dated with the
    year 1604, too. In 1609, Jost Bürgi made for the Duke of Hessen a precise
    triangulation instrument, based on the triangles similarity, which is today
    a pride of the collection of the Museum in Kassel. In 1610, J. Bürgi
    assembled, according to J. Kepler, who himself used them, logarithmic
    tables. Even if he surpassed John Napier, he was hesitating with the
    publishing for ten years, so that John Napier had published it before him.
    The Bürgi’s type of ratio compasses from the 17. century is also
    presented at the exhibition. Another eminent creator was Erasmus Habermel (?-1606). He
    is an author of theodolites, the levelling instrument, and the triangulation
    and artillery surveying instruments, which are mostly in foreign
    collections. A part of the world-renowned collection of gnomonic instruments
    installed in the National Technical Museum in Prague (NTM) is the functional
    and by its artistic manufacturing, perfect equatorial sundial clock with
    altimeter. The exhibited collection of mathematical instruments (ratio
    compasses, mason’s levels, compasses and drawing instruments), fabricated
    for the Emperor’s physician Franciscus Paduanius from Forli, also comes
    from Habermel’s workshop. A decoration of the exhibition is the gilded brass
    theodolite with the azimuthal sundial clock and an extensive set of
    mathematical functions (e.g. goniometric functions, lengths of triangles
    sides) coming from the years 1608-1613. The author is Heinrich Stolle, a
    co-operator of aforesaid J. Bürgi. The mentioned instruments were, for their purpose,
    certainly rather exceptional. Nevertheless, the surveying practice itself
    reached excellent results, which is an evidence of the high level of the
    commonly used instruments. The construction of the unique water tunnel (the
    so-called Rudolph’s Tunnel), finished after eleven-year-work in 1593, is
    an excellent example. The straight tunnel, with a diameter of (0.7-1.5) x
    (3-4) m approximately, traverses mostly natural rock, 43 m under the surface
    at maximum. It is 1.1 km long with an elevation of the ends of only 1.12 m.
    The tunnelling was performed from both ends simultaneously, on the route
    there were 4 vertical shafts, sunk from the surface. (Note: the tunnel is
    running near the building of NTM). Outstanding engineers of that age
    gathered at the tunnel construction. Just before the tunnel finishing, a
    clerk of the court office Issac Phendler drew for the Emperor’s
    information a front view map at a scale of 1:540 (Hánek 1994). A modern
    copy is presented at the exhibition. 2.2. PRODUCTION OF THE 18. CENTURYThe events of the Thirty Years’ War brought on our
    territory, little by little, an economic collapse, an emigration of many
    intellectuals and an overall decline into the provinciality, which also
    affected fine mechanics. In the following years only small surveying,
    mapping and drawing tools or unique pieces, manufactured on commission, were
    produced in small workshops. This period is at the exhibition represented by
    the mining instrument, the so-called schinzeug, the all-circle astrolabe, or
    the telescopic drawing board (sketching pad), designed by Reitzenstein. It is good to remind at this place that it was just an
    imperial engineer Joseph Christian Willenberg (1676-1731), at whose
    initiative and request from 1705, the Estates School of Engineering in
    Prague was established. This institution, which was a precursor of today’s
    Faculty of Civil Engineering, was founded on the basis of the Foundation
    Charter, issued by Emperor Joseph I and written in Czech. Two-years teaching
    included arithmetic, geometry, practical geometry, the so-called geodesy,
    and military engineering. A distinguished professor of Prague’s
    Engineering School, František Linhart Herget (1741-1800), was the leading
    surveyor and the examiner of united estate cadastre, founded in 1785 by
    Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790). He also issued certificates for the designed
    surveying instruments. 2.3. DEVELOPMENT IN THE 19.CENTURY TO THE HALF OF THE
    20. CENTURYIn the 19th century, connected with the industrial
    revolution and the Czech National Revival, a recovery of surveying
    instruments and tools arouse. It corresponded to the increasing economic
    influence and development of Bohemia within the Habsburg monarchy. The first
    mechanical workshop was founded in 1808 by Josef Božek (1782-1835), who had
    been since 1805 a watchmaker and mechanic of the Prague Polytechnic
    Institute. A successor in his function and the workshop became his son
    František (1809-1886), and also his second son Romuald manufactured
    instruments. They both continued in the manufacturing of individual, often
    unique scientific instruments, including surveying instruments. Above the
    average, in comparison with other European production, works signed by the
    name Spitra excelled. Three generations of the family (František, Václav
    Michal and Otakar) were working in Prague since 1820 till the end of the
    century. Roughly since 1840, another outstanding master, Mathias Richard
    Brandeis (-ys; 1818-1868), was manufacturing surveying instruments. After
    his death, the firm Haase & Wilhelm overtook his workshop. At the
    exhibition these very producers are represented by the extensive collection
    of angular and levelling instruments, topographic sets diopters and a
    heliotrope. In 1890, there were in Prague, the centre of production,
    twenty-four workshops producing surveying instruments, at the end of the
    century there were even four dozens. As for the quality, the company Strejc
    & Dušek was the best among producers of drawing sets. From the
    designers and producers outside Prague, the most remarkable one was Karl
    Gangloff (1809-1879), a head forester in Rožmitál under Třemšín. He
    was an author of many tools and aids for the so-called forestry geodesy,
    various types of dendrometers and planimeters in particular. In the first
    half of the 20. century, the company Eichler, whose production is at the
    exhibition represented by a universal theodolite, had its seat in Ústí
    upon Labe. Many Czech specialists designed individual instruments
    – often for companies in Vienna. To name at least a few: the hypsometer
    designed by a distinguished professor at the Prague’s Polytechnic, Karel
    František Edvard Knight Kořistka (1825-1906), the instrument for
    graphic levelling by Professor František Müller (1835-1900) or the
    logarithmic tachymeter by an outstanding forester and railway surveyor Dipl.
    -Ing. Antonín Tichý (1843-1923). Professor of Prague’s Czech Polytechnic, František Müller
    and his successor, the professor and rector František Novotný (1864-1918),
    became authors of the first modern Czech textbook of geodesy (very quality
    four-parts unfinished Compendium of Higher and Lower Geodesy, Prague
    1884-1923). 2.3.1. COMPANY J. & J. FRIČIn 1883, a turning point in the hitherto production of
    surveying instrument arouse, when brothers Josef (1861-1945) and Jan
    (1863-1897) Frič founded in Prague „the Shop for the Precise
    Mechanics". The area of interest and a creative invention of both
    brothers were very broad. Besides the designing and the production of
    manufacturing instruments for an equipment of their own shops, they also
    constructed a polarizer and an analyser, and also a bareoscope for the
    indication of the sugar juices density. They also designed machines for the
    division of circles of surveying instruments, for grinding of lenses, and
    many other constructions. Their participation at the General Land Exhibition
    in Prague in 1891 ended with a big success. After 1906 the enterprise J.
    & J. Frič produced a polarimeter for sugar content indication,
    which was accepted as the official standard in the USA. The family led enterprise of the Frič Brothers was
    during its existence producing the whole assortment of surveying, mapping
    and cartographic instruments and tools, including the prestigious
    triangulation theodolite 6R with the screw micrometers and reading by
    estimation up to 2˛ , and special instruments for the measuring of the dam
    deformations and the tunnel constructions. The enterprise closed down after
    its nationalization at the beginning of 1950s’, when it was within the
    national enterprise Metra switched to another production. In 1884/1885, a small series of mine theodolites DUPLEX,
    in which for the first time in the world a divided ring of glass was
    utilized, was produced. The horizontal ring with 130 mm in diameter was made
    up from the 8 mm thick mirror glass. At the upper edge it was divided with
    diamond chisel by 1° , the numbering was engraved with the pantograph of
    Milanese type with 25x reduction. The engraving was filled with graphite
    powder. The ring was illuminated with a burner through a small window at the
    bottom of the ring cover. The angle minutes were read directly, by estimate
    30˛ , by means of two opposite microscopes with 24x magnification, with the
    optical axis bent by a prism. The theodolite was universally usable for
    angular measurements (astronomic connections at the surface, and
    polygonization and steep measurements under the surface), but also for
    levelling. The Frič Brothers posed themselves 17 conditions for the
    construction of the repeating instrument with fine settings. Many of them
    are commonplace today (e.g. folding tripod, fixed and flexible fastening,
    nadir and zenith centering, reversible telescope with a visor illumination
    of a viewing field, covering of rings and other parts, and a possibility of
    the complete rectification of all mechanical axis relations). The Duplex had
    a height, including the setting level, of 28 cm and the width of 21 cm,
    which is roughly half of the usual sizes of that time. For easy targeting in
    vertical planes, two telescopes of variable lengths were chosen. The axis of
    the telescope for very steep measurements went through the concave turning
    axis of the top and insertion telescope with the reverse levelling tube and
    it was in the objective part (on the opposite side of the vertical metal
    ring with verniers) rectangular bent. A description of the construction was
    published in 1886 in the prestigious journal „Zeitschrift für
    Instrumentenkunde“ (Frič J. & J. 1886). At the exposition in Brussels in 1888, another remarkable
    novelty was presented, a hanging mining measuring compass of Kassel type
    with a vernier needle. Lateral oscillations of the knife needle were dumped
    with a friction mica disk so effectively that it might had been at the both
    ends equipped with verniers. The compass was divided into the traditional 24
    hours, the smallest section of the ring had the value of 2m, a
    section of the vernier 10s, i.e. 2˘ 30˛ in the sexagesimal ring
    division into 360° . On the basis of the brilliant idea of Prof. F. Nušl, the
    construction of astronomic-geodetic circumzenithal instrument for definition
    of geographic coordinates by the method of the same heights was solved out.
    The advantage compared to astrolabes was, among others, a vertical division
    of the picture and a placement of the mercury horizon in the centre of the
    instrument. In 1932, the impersonal micrometer, according to the design of
    Prof. E. Buchar, was constructed. In 1970s, the construction was further
    improved by the Research Institute for Geodesy, Topography and Cartography (VÚGTK
    in Czech, now located in Zdiby), which is producing the instrument under the
    name 1000/100. The same staff constructed other astronomic instruments –
    the so-called diazenithal and radiozenithal instruments. It is obvious that all mentioned surveying instruments
    are presented at our exhibition. 2.3.2. ENTERPRISES SRB & ŠTYS AND MEOPTAIn 1919, shortly after the formation of independent
    Czechoslovakia, the optical-mechanical enterprise Srb & Štys was
    founded in Prague. The company was rapidly developing mainly thanks to
    military commissions. The new enterprise introduced the modern system of
    factory production and gained a number of excellent mechanics from the
    Frič Brothers Company. Since 1923, the whole range of surveying
    instruments and tools (rods, planimeters, clinometers, pantographs, sets of
    drawing instruments) was being produced. The instruments for special purposes, e.g. for the water
    level measuring, were also produced. Among the most successful constructions
    we can name the nice triangulation theodolite with screw microscopes with
    reading precision by estimation of 1˛ ; the school theodolite Th Š; the
    theodolite TN 25; and the technical levelling instrument NN 25. A
    two-pictures distance-measuring adapter was also very popular. After 1945, on the foundation of the geodetic department
    of the Srb & Štys Company, the national enterprise Meopta Košíře,
    which adopted the manufacturing programme, was established. A lot of
    designers from the old firm started to work in the newly established
    enterprise, e.g. A. Holý, Höger, A. Dvořák, who during the short
    time caught up a delay, caused by the war and reached a solid European
    standard. In the catalogue from 1961, the modernized version of theodolite
    TH 30 with metal rings and readings by verniers of 30˛ , but also a
    construction of the theodolite Meopta T1c from 1955 with glass
    rings and reading by simple optical micrometer enabling estimation of 2 mgon
    (2cc). For the army it was equipped with a periscope. In the
    catalogue there was also a balloon (meteorological) theodolite, a
    topographic set, a base-measuring bar, a construction levelling instrument
    NK 30x with a glass minute ring, an older small (the so-called pocket)
    instrument KNK 8.8x, and the novelty MN 10x. There were also a plotting
    cartographic set and plates there and a very popular triple pentagon. In 1961, the Czechoslovakian professional public was
    acquainted with the development of a quite new series of theodolites with
    very good function and design. (Type MT 0, magnification 15x, reading of 5c,
    MT 10, 28x, 1c, MT 11 with an automatic index of vertical ring,
    MT 20, 28x, 10cc, and MT 30, 34X, 1cc). The series was
    complemented with school and compass theodolites and of course with a
    complete line of accessories. None of these instruments was used in
    practice, because already in 1963 the production was suddenly abolishes and
    delimited within the Council of Mutual Economic Help; the enterprise with
    the new production programme was incorporated into the enterprise ZPA. The
    situation in the production of levelling instruments was slightly better.
    The new type MN 20 with a micrometer, designed for the accurate levelling,
    and the building type MN 10 were developed and their production launched.
    The last produced model was elegant MNK 20 for the technical levelling with
    an automatic adjustment of measuring line by means of a compensator. 2.4. PHOTOGRAMMETRIC AND OTHER PRODUCTIONThe tradition of photogrammetry is on the Bohemian
    territory, which was a part of Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, very rich. After
    the formation of Czechoslovakia, succesful civil firms were established; the
    Czechoslovakian Military Geographic Institute continued in work launched by
    the Military Geographic Institute in Vienna. The enterprise Koula in Prague
    produced quality photogrammetric and photoreproductive instruments. On
    commission of the army in 1930-1935, the enterprise supplied semiautomatic
    and automatic aerial cameras, types A-I-25 and A-II-30, with the size of 13
    x 18 cm, a blind shutter and a focus length up to 500 mm. Besides, there
    were small instruments for a quick pictures evaluation: a sketch master, a
    mirror stereoscope, and a drawing stereoscope. Another Prague’s firm
    Haager supplied the army with a hand aerial camera, e.g. type A-VII-38. The
    other Prague’s companies A. Löschner and V. Kolář also designed and
    produced photogrammetric instruments before the II. World War. The Mahr-Kolář
    rectifier with a bent optical axis leading to the considerable height
    reduction was excellently designed, but it stayed only at the prototype
    level. The Zbrojovka Brno Company produced in 1933 stereoautograph for a
    terrestrial pictures evaluation in dimension of 6 x 9 cm. Prof. F. Svoboda designed and with his co-operators
    constructed the series of geodetic-astronomic instruments at the astronomic
    observatory of CTU Prague. The mirror instrument, the so-called almukantar
    for geographic latitude measuring from 1937, is the most known. After the II. World War there were, besides the
    enterprise Meopta, other small manufacturers. The aforesaid Research
    Institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography constructed electronic
    hydrostatic levelling sets HYNI, controlled by computer, and produced one of
    the first prototype of luminous distance meters, supplied invar steel bands,
    and it has produced an adapted construction of the so-called cirkumzenithal
    till now. Ring tachymetric rules Cirta, polar coordinatographs and
    orthogonal plotting sets were also produced in the enterprise Meopta.
    Currently, reflecting prisms of distance meters and other small tools are
    being produced in the Czech republic. 3. VERIFICATION OF QUALITY AND PARAMETERS OF HISTORICINSTRUMENTSIn years 1996-2000, six diploma theses dealing with a
    verification and completion of parameters of the Czech production
    instruments, mainly from the turn of the 19. and 20. centuries, as well as
    with a determination of their quality in accordance with the Czech
    International Standard (ČSN ISO 8322/1996) were defended at the
    Department of Special Geodesy of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU
    Prague. Even if such a verification of exhibits does not give a precise
    picture of their properties in the time of their practical usage, we presume
    that they can considerably contribute to the classification of collection or
    to the study and analysis of older engineering works yet. The prerequisite of the verification, according to the
    ČSN ISO Standard, is measuring with the tested instrument in two
    different days, always in one series. Regarding theodolites, a series
    consists of measurements of 4 horizontal directions, placed on the whole
    ring in 3 groups without a closure, or a measurement of 4 vertical angles
    measured on points with various elevations, respectively. The result are
    standard deviations sφ of a horizontal direction and
    vertical (or zenith) angle sζ, always for measurement in two
    positions. For theodolites equipped only with the segment of a vertical
    ring, the value sζ relates to the measuring only in one
    position. Levelling instruments are for a determination of the standard
    kilometre deviation skm of double levelling tested on the path,
    long 240 m with stabilized lengths, sight line 20 m. One series consists of
    5 two-ways measuring. The non-typical instruments, e.g. tubular liquid
    clinometer or levelling diopter, were also tested by this procedure. The
    magnification of telescope was determined in the laboratories of the
    Department of Higher Geodesy. The constant of a cross-wires distance meter
    and its addition constant were determined from the levelling of measurement
    on the bases of the known lengths. The accuracy ranges from 0.1-0.2 of the
    unit, 1-2 cm respectively. In depositaries of NTM, the basic set of angular and
    levelling instruments and the so-called universal levelling instruments,
    nowadays called rather tachymeters (theodolites) with a sensitive levelling
    tube, was chosen. The basic parameters of some instruments, chosen from the
    whole set to characterize the given designed group, are shown in Tables 1,
    2, 3 (Hánek 1999). Dimensions, mass weight, index levels sensitivity,
    telescope lengths in the edge positions of focusing etc. are stated in
    diploma theses. Instruments were before the measuring carefully cleaned
    and rectified, according to the original procedures. Because of the shortage
    of original statives, the adapters on Zeiss statives were made. The common
    bars with E division were used for levelling instruments. They were for
    tubular clinometer and levelling diopters complemented with sliding circular
    target, horizontally divided with a contrast colour. The level sensitivity
    was determined from repeated measurements on the rectified rule with
    accuracy of 1˛ approximately. At the cross alidade levels, the level
    sensitivity perpendicular to the sight line is given at the first place,
    after the slash a sensitivity of a longitudinal level or a level placed on
    the telescope fork, follows. The sensitivity of striding levels or levelling
    bubbles of theodolites is in Table 1 given with an abbreviation of location
    in a column „other levels". In Table 2, there are levelling
    instruments with a fixed telescope. The exception is the Spitra’s
    instrument, equipped with the free telescope. Table 1: Theodolites
      
        | Producer | Type | Year | Purpose | Magnifi-cation | Standard deviation ["] | Level sensitivity ["] | Note: Multiplic. constant |  
        | sj | sz | alidade | others |  
        | J.& J. Frič | 6R | 1907 | Triang. | 30x | 5.8 | - | 19.6/93.5 | striding level not measured . | Screw microscope   |  
        | 40x | 4.0 | - |  
        | 60x | 5.8 | - |  
        | J. & J. Frič | 9R | 1910 | Polyg. | 30.0x | 8.5 | 8.9 | 30.6/50.0 | 15.0 levellingbubble
 | 100.2± 0.2 |  
        | J. & J. Frič | 13RN | 1911 | Tach. | undetected | 31.8 | not measured | 22.4/4.1 | - | 100.2± 0.1 |  
        | Srb & Štys | No. 256 | 1927 | Triang. | 26.1x | 3.6 | - | 17.9/16.2 | 5.0 strid. | Screw micr. |  
        | Srb & Štys | THN | 1939 | Polyg. | 23.3x | 10.3 | 7.2 | 34.7/37.8 | 22.0 lev.b. | 100.4± 0.1 |  
        | Srb & Štys | THN | 1947 | Tach. | 20.0x | 14.6 | 8.2 | 53.3/40.6 | 23.6 lev.b. | 100.0± 0.1 |  Table 2: Instruments for determination of elevation
      
        | Producer | Construction | Year of Production | Sensitivity of levelling bubble ["] | Rule [mm] | Magnification | Standard Deviationskm [mm]
 |  
        | Spitra | Tabular Liquid. | 2.half of the 19.cent. | - | 800 | - | 44.5 |  
        | Božek | Levelling diopter | 1838 | 90 | 860 | - | 11.9 |  
        | Spitra | Levelling diopter | 1.half of the 19.cent. | 150 | 320 | - | 19.0 |  
        | Haase & W. | Levelling diopter | 1880-98 | 46 | 310 | - | 18.5 |  
        | J. & J. Frič | Levelling diopter, No 597 | 1899 | 34 | 315 | - | 10.7 |  
        | Spitra | Levelling diopter | The half of the 19.cent. | 25 | - | 10x | 4.3 |  
        | Haase & W. | Levelling diopter | 2.half of the 19.cent. | 16 | - | 8x | 6.3 |  
        | J. & J. Frič | Levelling diopter, No 866 | 1902 | 16 | - | 44x | 1.8 |  
        | J. & J. Frič | Levelling instrumentNo.1541
 | 1908 | 21 | - | 17x | 2.9 |  
        | J. & J. Frič | Levelling instrument, No.3630 | 1918-25 | 20 | - | 28x | 2,6 |  Table 3: Universal tachymetres (with a sensitive levelling bubble)
      
        | Instrument | No. | Year | Alidade Level/ Levelling Bubble ["] | Magnification | Standard Deviation | Multiplic. constant |  
        | alidade l. | lev. bubb. | sj ["] | sz ["] | skm [mm] |  
        | Brandeis | 40314 | 1860-70 | 102 | damaged | 18x | 126 | 30 | not meas. | 100.07 |  
        | J. a J. Frič | 260 | 19./20. century | 58/65 | 17 | 19.2x | 60 | 45 | 12.7 | 99.94 |  
        | J. a J. Frič | 4179 | 1925-30 | 129/142 | 13 | 25.7x | 10 | 17 | 1.6 | no |  
        | Haase & W. | 35658 | 1881-98 | 55/56 | 17 | 11.2x | 102 | 90 | 23.4 | 100.20 |  
        | Haase & W. | 8964 | 1881-98 | 162/162 | 10 | 21.8x | 90 | 36 | 7.9 | 99.98 |  
        | Haase & W. | 8965 | 1881-98 | 32 | 23 | 15.8x | 84 | 60 | 5.0 | 99.50 |  Instruments of the Haase & Wilhelm production do not have production
    numbers; an inventory number of NTM is quoted ReferencesFrič J. & J., 1886: Der neue
    Grubentheodolit "Duplex". Zeitschrift für Instrumentenkunde 6,
    č.7, s. 221-232 a č.9, s.305-308 Hánek, P., 1994: A Renaissance Period Front-View
    Map Depicting the Emperor Rudolph's Adit. Proceedings IX Congress ISM,
    Prague, p. 158-161 The Czech Standard ČSN ISO 8322, 1996: Verification
    of Surveying Instruments Quality in Investment Construction. Part 3:
    Theodolites. Part 5: Levelling Instruments. (In Czech) Švejda, A., 1997: Science and Instruments. In: Rudolph
    II and Prague. Prague’s Castle Administration, Prague. Hánek, P. - Švejda, A., 1998: To
    the History of the Production of Geodetic Instruments in Bohemia. XXI
    Congress FIG, Brighton. Papers from the ad hoc Commission History of
    Surveying, s. 59-67, Papers from commission 1 & 11, p.417-425 Hánek, P., 1999: To the History of Surveying Instruments v Bohemia.
    7. Mine Surveying Conference – Current Problems of Mine Surveying and
    Geology. Association of Mine Surveyors and Geologists, Nový Hrozenkov,
    p.49-56. (In Czech) PICTURES
            
              |  | Brandeis |  
              |  | Frih |  
              |  | Frih Dup |  
              |  | Meopta T |  
              |  | Schinzeu |  
              |  | Spitra |  
              |  | Stolle |  
 Ass. Prof. Pavel Hánek, PhDCzech Technical University of Prague
 Faculty of Civil Engineering,
    Department of Special Geodesy
 E-mail: hanek@fsv.cvut.cz
 Dipl. Ing. Antonín ŠvejdaNTM Praha, vedoucí odd. exaktních věd
 E-mail: antonin.svejda@ntm.cz
 29 April 2000
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