All About The Mighty Theodolite

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By Carey Bourdier


For many students, the study of geometry is simply one of the classes you take to graduate high school. However, geometry has a huge variety of practical applications and many professions use geometry each day. For instance, engineers and surveyors make use of geometry regularly on their field.

One of the tools often used is the theodolite, and you have definitely seen these before. Surveyors look through these devices and you often see them in the middle of a road making calculations or perhaps at a construction site. The theodolite is an optical instrument that contains a movable or rotating telescope that can be used to measure horizontal angles as well as vertical angles. You can even use a theodolite to help you with leveling tasks and measuring horizontal distances.

Meteorologists make use of a theodolite aside from surveyors, and this device is also used for navigation. The early theodolites were used mainly for surveying tasks. A telescope, compass and tripod were included in its early iterations during the 16th century.

The Ramsden theodolite is one famous theodolite often known as the Great Theodolite, and it is definitely one of the world's most notable theodolites. This theodolite was built in the 18th Century and weighed more than 300 pounds having a base circle of three feet in diameter. Surveyors in Great Britain made great use of the device to make comprehensive maps of the country. This monumental device can be seen at the Science Museum in London.

Jeremiah's theodolite is another notable optical instrument that was used to resolve the notorious border dispute in Colonial America. Two surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, were called upon to establish the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, which became known as the Mason-Dixon Line. The line actually forms part of the border for Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. However, historians speculate that Jeremiah's theodolite was most likely a circumferentor, which is a special type of compass.

A theodolite and an electronic distance meter are comprised with an optical instrument call total station which is used by today's surveyors. These total stations have robotic versions of themselves allowing for remote control. One of its main uses is to survey mines and also for road and building construction.




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