CECIL E. HANSON COLLECTION
ANTIQUE SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS

AMERICAN TRANSITS

T. F. Randolph - Cincinnati, OH, ca.1880

Serial Number:
Telescope Length: 10"
Diameter of Horizontal Circle: 7"
Needle Length: 5"
Height: 11-1/2"
Weight: 12-1/4 lb
Box: 14"H, 8"W, 11-1/2"D
Condition: Good
Found: April 6, 1965; K&S Inst Lab, Long Beach, CA
CEH Inventory# T30

Excerpted from “Makers of Surveying Instruments of America since 1700” by Charles Smart, 1962, Vol 1, p. 133:

THEODORE F. RANDOLPH (1829 - 1898)

He was born in Ohio in 1829. He died December 26, 1898, in Cincinnati (Obituary in Cincinnati Enquirer, December 27, 1898 reports he died of injuries suffered in falling from a crowded streetcar).

Randolph’s business listed for the first time in 1853 Cincinnati Directory as follows; Randolph, J. F. & Bro. (T. F. & Jas. F.) mathematical instrument manufacturers, N. W. cr. 5th & Walnut.

Company listed for the last time in 1941 Cincinnati Directory with Arthur J. Roedel named as proprietor.

LEADING MANUFACTURERS AND MERCHANTS OF CINCINNATI AND ENVIRONS
International Publishing Co., Publishers - 1886 Boston, Cincinnati, and Chicago, p. 123

T. F. Randolph, Manufacturer, Importer and Dealer in Surveyor’s and Engineers’ Instruments, etc. No. 51 West Fourth Street, Room 31, Carlisle Building. -This gentleman is one of the most experienced and successful manufacturers of surveyors’ instruments, etc., in the country. His experience covers a period of near half a century, and has been established in this line of business in this city for the past forty years. He is a native of Ohio, is the proprietor of numerous patents, has a well-equipped factory, furnished with steam power, and affording employment to a large number of hands. He is the sole manufacturer of Randolph’s new patent telescope compass, patent telescope attachment for common compasses, patent quick leveling tripod, patent sole leather boxes, and patent daisy level. Mr. Randolph’s manufactures have not been exhibited in any fair or exposition since 1874, but in September, 1857, his surveyor’s compass took the first premium at the Ohio State Fair. At the fair of the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute, held in this city in 1858, he was, after a most scrutinizing examination by competent judges, awarded a medal for his theodolite transit, Y level, Dumpy level, and surveyor’s’ compasses. At the United States Agricultural Fair, held at Cincinnati in September, 1860, he was awarded silver medals for a theodolite and surveyors’ compass. He also received first premium silver medals at the Cincinnati Industrial Expositions, 1871-74. Mr. Randolph, in addition to his own manufactures, carries a large stock of imported goods, and also second-hand instruments, which he has put in through repair. All kinds of instruments are promptly repaired. The products of this house are appreciated everywhere by engineers and surveyors, and Mr. Randolph controls a large trade. For twenty years the city was built with his instruments.