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Buff & Buff Instrument Shops, Boston

Buff and Buff Instrument Shops Boston - Precision Theodolites Transit

Precision Theodolites (Transit)

Buff & Buff Instrument Shop's original color lithograph entitled, Precision Theodolites, was created to advertise one of America's finest nineteenth century inventions, the American Transiting Theodolite. More commonly called the Transit, it was first built by George Louis Buff (1837-1923) shortly after the end of the Civil War. Theodolites had been in use in Europe for many years but George Buff significantly improved the accuracy of the instrument by adding a transiting telescope, a central compass, double horizontal verniers and a vertical vernier. The end result was the creation of the world's most precise surveying and engineering instrument which remained unchallenged until the advent of digital technology in the 1970's.
 
Title: Precision Theodolites (Transit)
Publisher: Buff & Buff Instrument Shops, Boston
Date: c. 1898 - 1910
Medium: Original Color Lithograph
Note: The Buff & Buff Manufacturing Company: George Louis Buff (1837-1923) was born and raised in Giessen, Germany. He immigrated to New York in 1864 and invented the transiting theodolite two years later. His business partner was Christian Louis Berger and in 1871 they opened their manufacturing company in Boston. The partnership of Buff and Berger was very successful in producing transits and other instruments and remained intact until 1898. At this time the partnership was dissolved and the newly created firms of C. L. Berger & Sons Manufacturing Company and Buff & Buff Manufacturing Company went into direct competition with one another. Buff's factory was located in the Boston suburb of Jamaica Plain. The company remained in business until 1982.
  An original lithograph printed in six colors, Precision Theodolites was created to advertise one of America's finest nineteenth century inventions, the American Transiting Theodolite. More commonly called the Transit. Theodolites had been in use in Europe for many years but George Buff significantly improved the accuracy of the instrument by adding a transiting telescope, a central compass, double horizontal verniers and a vertical vernier. The end result was the creation of the world's most precise surveying and engineering instrument which remained unchallenged until the advent of digital technology in the 1970's. This original lithographic poster probably dates from the first decade of the twentieth century. It wonderfully renders both the complexity and beauty of this important surveying instrument. The Davistown Museum in Maine includes both an impression of Precision Theodolites and a Buff & Buff transit in its permanent collection.
 

The Buff and Berger transit is the subject of Milton Estabrook's article, "The Transit, an American Instrument". He writes,

"It is difficult to overstate the importance of the transit to the development of the United States. All of the large engineering projects were laid out and levelled and in fact the lands the creations were built on were surveyed with these instruments. Bridges, tunnels, skyscrapers, runways and even the building the space shuttle was built in was laid out with the use of a transit. Seldom in history has a single device had such an enormous impact on a nation. These instruments exemplify the zenith of the instrument maker's profession and are an art form in and of themselves. They required mastery of a number of disciplines such as: metallurgy, physics, optics, mathematics and extreme precision in machining metals." *
Quotation: Milton Estabrook, "The Transit: An American Instrument", www.davistownmuseum.org/bioBuff.html
  UnMatted
Size: 19 1/2 X 12 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
Buy Now Price: $225.00 US
Condition: Printed on thick wove paper and with full margins as published in Boston by Buff & Buff Instrument Shops around the above date. Bearing the title and publisher's address along the lower margin. A small repaired tear (bottom margin) not intruding into the imagae, else a finely printed impression with full, unfaded colors and in excellent condition throughout. Precision Theodolites represents a striking and important original example of American instrument history.
Subject: George Louis Buff (1837-1923), original color Lithograph, Precision Theodolite (Transit), Christian Louis Berger, Buff & Buff Manufacturing Company, the American Transiting Theodolite, American instrument history, Buff & Buff Instrument Shops, surveying and engineering instruments.
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Original Color Lithograph by Buff & Buff Instrument Shops, Boston.

Precision Theodolites Transit Original Lithograph by The Buff and Buff Manufacturing Company
Precision Theodolites (Transit)

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