Antique Surveyor's Pantograph from about 1900.

This fascinating device is a pantometer, a surveying instrument in good condition and in its original wooden box. This item was made in Paris by Ch. Darras circa 1900 and remains in working order. It is made of golden brass and silvery metal, and it can still be used to measure angles in situ. The pantometer that we can see in the images is composed of two parts: two metal cylinders with the same diameter. At the top of the instrument we can see a brass knob and a screwed hole where a metal piece can be connected. All the instruments component parts can be properly stored in the original solid wooden box, as sturdy as attractive. The case bears artisanal dovetail joints, delicate and strong, and preserves the original hinges and shutting hooks. It also shows some woodworm marks, already treated. Inside the box there is a metal plate with the manufacturer or distributors name: CH. DARRAS 129 FAUB. ST. MARTIN PARIS_XE. Evocative and precise, this stunning antique pantometer deserves to become part of a good collection of turn-of-the-century technical instruments. Measurements: Width: 3.5 in / 9 cm. Height: 6.6 in / 17 cm.History of the Pantometer The pantometer is a topographic surveying instrument resulting from the combination of a grooved angle-measuring device and a graphometer. The angle-measuring device was already known in the 16th century, when it eventually substituted its predecessor, the Roman groma. It is thought to have been invented by Athanasius Kircher who talked about it in his work Ars Magnesia. The pantometer is composed of two metal overlapped cylinders: the bottom one shows two grooves, one of them with a vertically-disposed thick hair in the middle. The top cylinder bears an engraved scale from 0 to 320 degrees; one of the grooves matches the 0. By moving the cylinders and working with the grooves, the nonius (Vernier scale), the leveling wheel and the compass, the pantometer makes it possible to measure angles for determining elevations, distances, etc.