Inventory no. 35522 - Former Display Label
German GUNNER'S LEVEL, ?HORIZONTAL DIAL and COMPASS
1578
Gilt and silvered brass; with red pigment in the lines engraved on the silvered base. Original case of wood and pasteboard, covered and lined with leather, Signed, "VDALRICVS KLIEPER AVGVST [i.e. Augsburg] FACIEBAT * ANNO * LXXVII * [i.e. 1578]" Inscribed, "KRECHEN A LINGEN".
The main part of the instrument consisted of a sliding sight (movable in the vertical plane and now missing), and a clinometer inscribed, "WERF LAITER ZVN BELER", which, when placed on the barrel of a cannon, would indicate the angle of elevation. Both on the hinged plate supporting the plummet of the clinometer and on the central part of the instrument are engraved tables (in German) of use to gunners, which mention i.a. various pieces of artillery. Above the central part of the instrument is hinged a plate bearing a small compass (with a removable cover), small ?horizontal dial, and a levelling plummet.
Ulrich Klieper (d. 1608) was a clockmaker in Augsburg; the earliest of the many instruments made by him that have survived, is dated 1554.
[57-84/248]
Billmeir Collection
Other narratives:
- Inventory no. 35522 - Epact entry
- Bennett, J. and Johnston, S., The Geometry of War, 1500-1750 (Oxford, 1996)
- The range of mathematics