Historical Surveying Instruments from Bohemia
by Pavel Hánek and Antonín Švejda
Key words: history of land surveying, production and quality of
the instruments.
Abstract
1 Introduction
On 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 History
One 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
instru ment 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, manu factured 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, PhD
Czech 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 Švejda
National Technical Museum Prague
Exact Sciences Department
Kostelní 42
17078 Praha 7
CZECH REPUBLIC
E-mail: antonin.svejda@ntm.cz
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