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Has anyone ever seen an attempt at a comprehensive list of sextant 
manufacturers?  I know that it would be hard to cover the 1700s, and even the 
1800s, but perhaps we could make a collective stab at it for the 1900s?  
(There is an interesting site for surveying instruments at: 
http://www.surveyhistory.org/ that is kind of what I am thinking about for 
sextants, octants, etc.)

I have used Peter Ifland's Taking the Stars as well as Bruce Bauer's The 
Sextant Handbook as a starting point with the list below.  It is ordered by 
country and will eventually get more organized.

Current Sextant Manufacturers (2000)

C. Plath
Hamburg, Germany
Navistar Classic, Navistar Traditional, Navistar Professional

Cassens & Plath
Bremerhaven, Germany
Horizon Ultra, Standard

Freiberger
Eastern Germany (where?)
Drum Sextant

Tamaya & Company Limited
Tokyo, Japan
Spica, Jupiter, Venus (discontinued?)

Changzhou Celestaire Instrument Co
China (where?)
Astra IIIB

Davis Instruments Corp.
Hayward, California
Mark 25, Mark 15, Mark 3



Sextant Manufacturers (1900 and later, now out of the sextant business)

J. Hicks
London, England
Box sextant (1900)

Cary
London, England
4" and 6" (1904)

G. W. Heath
London, England
Hezzanith (1909), 8" Explorer's Kit (1920)

Henry Hughes
London, England
Paget Angle Sextant (1900), Brass sextants (1920)

Kelvin & Hughes
London, England
Huson (1986?)

B. Cooke & Son, Ltd.
Hull, England
The Kingston (1986?)

Francis Barker & Son
England (where?)
Small Craft Precision Sextant (1988)

East Berks Boat Co. (EBBCO)
Berkshire, England
Two plastic models (1986?)

Stanley
London, England
Nautical Sextant (1911)
(Replica sextants may still be made which are not suitable for navigation)

Fuji
Japan
Toyo Sokki (1900?)

Toizaki and Company
Shi Chiba-Ken, Japan
Junior

Asahi Optical
Tokyo, Japan
?

Keuffel & Esser
New York, New York
US Navy Sextant

Bausch & Lomb Optical, Co.
Rochester, New York
US Army A-8A (1942)

Agfa-Ansco
Binghamton, New York
US Army A-10 (1942)

Fairchild Camera and Instruments Corporation
New York, New York
US Army A-10A (1944)

Link Aviation Devices
Binghamton, New York
US Army A-12 (1941)

David White Co.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
US Navy Mark II (1943)

Pioneer Instrument Company
Brooklyn, New York
US Navy Mark III (1937)

Scientific Instruments, Inc.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
US Navy Mark III (1977)

Bendix Aviation, Pioneer Instrument Division
Bendix, New Jersey
US Navy Mark IV (1941)

Kollsman Instrument Corporation
Elmhurst, New York
MA1, MA2 (1956)

Mergenthaler Linotype Company
Brooklyn, New York
Ball Recording Sextant (1944)

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Additions, corrections, and comments are welcomed!

Dan
Daniel K. Allen, Visual Sea
danallen@nwlink.com
www.nwlink.com/~danallen/
Navigate | Calculate | Sail

   

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