Object data
lead, brass, iron, glass, rope and leather
height 93.5 cm × width 8.5 cm × depth 7.6 cm
John Ericsson
Sounding Lead
United States of America, United States of America, c. 1836 - c. 1860
Inscriptions
- inscription, around the tab: ERICSSON’s / X / PATENT
- label, top: 1018 former inventory label
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-1018
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Sounding lead with a strap.
The lead has a glass tube with a brass scale next to it, indicating the depth. The tube is sealed at the top, the bottom can be opened with a tap in a circular open section of the lead. The water force indicates the depth. The scale can be closed off by turning a semi-circular iron tube around the lead. In the bottom, the lead has a hole for taking bottom samples.
The American John Ericsson patented this lead in the United Kingdom in 1836.1
Literature
J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1018; An Inventory of the Navigation and Astronomy Collections in the National Maritime Museum Greenwich, 3 vols., coll. cat. Greenwich 1973, vol. 1, p. 13-1
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'John Ericsson, Sounding Lead, United States of America, c. 1836 - c. 1860', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244833
(accessed 26 April 2024 10:37:14).