Thread: Whats This

Ok guys and gals spent the weekend up at dads sorting his personal belongings and found this

What is it and what is it for

As it is when taken out of its case


And opened , plus it has a spirt level



Side veiw


Bottom veiw


The case


Ok on the inside face it says W,ottway & co LTD EALING 1913 NO 148 and on the bottom it has a D with arrow in it , And on the case its says harrods 1918

Now it has a peep sight i guess you look thru on the short upright and on the long upright on the left side numbers from 20 down to 0 to the middle counting down by 5 and then goes back to 20 to the bottom , and on the right side itstarts a zero in the middle goes up to the top to 40 by 02,s and the same to the bottom

And also the adjustable thing on the long upright has a wire through it

Hope i explained it alright
Now im guessing it has something to do with the Navy as my grandfather was in the navy

if its what I think it is it can do both range finding AND altitude indications.
(but not both at once)

using curvature of the earth data and a good mapset if you know where you are the height of an object then using that and inputing the angle data it will come up with it you will get your range to target. (good for near the horizon ship-ship/ship-shore artillary/cannon work)

If you know how far you are from something, read off the data from it and input it into the maths it will give you the height.

I wouldnt mind betting that on the scale its got mills and theres a set of markings on the thumb wheel so you can read it off like a micrometer for when you want to be deadly accurate.

most likely its from the survey type corps tho as youd never be able to keep it steady enough for it to be accurate at sea.