Fine Antique English Nautical Walker’s Excelsior IV Patent Log with Stand

A scarce nearly 200 year old English William IV Period rosewood and mahogany sewing stand work table with beautifully aged warm rustic patina. circa 1830s Combining sophisticated e...

A visually striking smaller scale vintage WWII era maritime salvage ship's binnacle pedestal with compass by Sestrel Henry Browne & Son. circa 1940s The beautifully aged heavily patinated polished brass binnacle housing a high quality marine navigational instrument, having an enclosed brass bowl English Sestrel compass...

Log o solcometro contamiglia nautico in ottone a forma di harpoon, signed T. Walker's Patent Harpoon Ship Log A 1 London , from the second half of the 1800s. It is an ancient nautical instrument, very rare and with a characteristic shape, which measured the distance and speed of a ship. Veniva gettato fuori bordo e trascinato dietro la nave stessa; ruotando grazie alla sua elica, trasmetteva il numero di giri fatti su se stesso ai tre quadranti realizzati su una placca in metallo smaltato posta al centro del log; i quadranti riportavano le misurazioni in miglia da 0 a 100 in decine, da 0 a 10 in unità, da 0 a 1 in quarti. I dati venivano poi letti ogni ora per ricavare anche la velocità. Good condition replaced flap perfectly working and mounted on custom-made brass wood base. Measurements length cm 54 - 21.2 in, propeller diameter cm 13 - 5.1 in. The last photo is the gift box. In past centuries, the attempt to measure the speed of ships was severely hampered mainly by the 'unavailability of time-measuring instruments of sufficient accuracy: by throwing a piece of wood overboard from the bow of a ship and measuring the time it took to reach the stern, it was possible to obtain some information about the speed of the ship itself, but with many errors and inaccuracies. The principle of the mechanical solcometer was explained to the Royal Society in 1699 by Robert Hooke, but the first model produced for commercial use was not patented until 1802 by Edward Massey...

Great map of Huntingdonshire Original colour By J & C Walker Published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Co. 1851 Unframed.