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11th February 2018, 12:16 PM
#31
Re: Instrument enquiry
When on weather reporting ships Thomas. Had to repor.t on wave period and height of sea and swell. Cannot recollect any instrument for doing this. However for wind speed according to the Beaufort scale was supplied with a hand held wind anemonoter. Apart from other instruments supplied such as hydrometer and barograph.sea and swell heights were estimated by the observer. Would have been nice at the time to have an instrument for doing so. Who knows maybe some of us were unlucky. One thing I never encountered at sea was a bubble sextant used by aircraft. Thinking about it I suppose the bubble was to represent the sensible horizon, thus doing away with the dip correction. So then applying the parallax correction to get the altitude above the rational horizon. Any RAF navigators on site could clarify ?? Maybe if your distances off are incorrect could have something to do with air navigation. Maybe a wartime invention same as the US sight reduction tables for air navigation , which proved so useful to merchant ships also. May also be a stick for holding the tongue down by a medic when saying Aaaaaaggggghhhh and looking to see if you had a frog in the throat. Cheers.JWS. PS on the other hand could be to hang the key to the door of the lighthouse or even the outside khazi. JS.
Last edited by j.sabourn; 11th February 2018 at 12:28 PM.
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11th February 2018, 12:57 PM
#32
Re: Instrument enquiry
I personally don,t think its anything nautical. I think its some kind of guitar fender or something a musician would use
{terry scouse}
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11th February 2018, 01:42 PM
#33
Re: Instrument enquiry
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
When on weather reporting ships Thomas.PS on the other hand could be to hang the key to the door of the lighthouse or even the outside khazi. JS.
hi j sabourn
as you state the anemonoter was a hand held aid for telling wind speed, and swell heights where and always will be estimated,by the individual.( but I have seen some absurd aids to small boat seamanship,) and when you and other professionals have not, then they must be ****. I'm not basing my guess because that's all it is, on anything other than its owner being merchant navy etc, and what little evidence there is on the object, but a( guess ) it is.as I have never seen one,
as for a bubble sextant yes I suppose it would represent a sensible horizon, but the compass azimuth mirror being fixed is surely a better tool.
but I have spoken to a couple of guys I know whom do fly and they say that the bubble sextant could do the same job on the horizon at sea just as well a in the air.and as you say there is that possibility of doing away with the dip correction if the bubble sextant was used, I will ask just out of curiosity next I bump into them.
as for the sextant I have a carl zeiss solid metal which I bought nearly thirty years ago and sits on the shelf above my computer station, and since GPS and then DGPS was put on the market for small boats, I never attempt to get it out of its case, sad yes.
as for lighthouses under todays computer technology you would think that there would be a app for receiving that imformation from any lighthouse as they are now nearly totally unmanned and the technology is there and easy to receive
tom
Last edited by Doc Vernon; 11th February 2018 at 06:30 PM.
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11th February 2018, 05:15 PM
#34
Re: Instrument enquiry
The numbers could make it some kind of range finder-for working out distance off from the known height from the object being observed.
Regards.
Jim.B.
CLARITATE DEXTRA
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11th February 2018, 08:17 PM
#35
Re: Instrument enquiry
Originally Posted by
Peter Batt
Hi there,
I hope this is ok to post here. My partners family on her fathers side have spent generation in the Merchant Navy and recently we found a box of instruments that belong to perhaps her grandfather (Walter Simmonds) or father (Howard Simmonds) While I have my head around many of the objects, I have no idea what this item is and would love to know.
Found it lads........................... Google An acker macker gage Terry.
{terry scouse}
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11th February 2018, 09:42 PM
#36
Re: Instrument enquiry
Tried Goog;ling that and more Terry ! No GO MATE!???
Senior Site Moderator-Member and Friend of this Website
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11th February 2018, 09:49 PM
#37
Re: Instrument enquiry
Catching up on all, seems a bit of a poser, if not solved soon I will ask around here.
Would imagine some of the old seafarers' remaining may have an idea.
Keith.
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11th February 2018, 10:25 PM
#38
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12th February 2018, 12:26 AM
#39
Re: Instrument enquiry
Originally Posted by
red lead ted
Found it lads........................... Google An acker macker gage Terry.
Hi Ted.
Your close, it's a Mongoley hook, an instrument by which retired naval officers measure their old boys with.
Cheers Des
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12th February 2018, 01:18 AM
#40
Re: Instrument enquiry
Could be a sky hook, to hang your Norwegian balls and fenders on. Or maybe an 80 knot gunsight for shooting tiger moths down. Or a personal device for a bomb aimer on the old Dakotas. Whoever gets the nearest answer gets 2 licks of the lollipop, 3 licks if hit the target. With or without the toilet light on. JWS.
Last edited by j.sabourn; 12th February 2018 at 01:25 AM.
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