circle-dividing engine
Quick Summary
A dividing engine is a machine designed to accurately mark equal intervals, typically on precision instruments. These machines are used for graduating circles, such as those found on surveying instruments, or for marking bars to create scales. They can also be employed for spacing and cutting teeth on wheels.12
Early designs for dividing engines were created by notable figures like Georg Friedrich von Reichenbach and Jesse Ramsden. Ramsden, in particular, developed highly accurate dividing engines capable of working on both circles and straight lines, which were crucial for producing precise instruments like sextants and theodolites used in astronomical observatories.1
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