Publisher's Synopsis
Description and use of the Wndsn Quadrant Telemeter. The manual describes the techniques to use the instrument's capabilities. Contains the fundamental concepts, as well as advanced tutorials, formulas, and reference tables.
The Wndsn Quadrant Telemeter is a low tech, naked-eye observational instrument for measuring angles via various inputs and sighting methods. In addition, the Quadrant Telemeter is a graphical, analog computer providing functions to directly process or convert the acquired values. The Quadrant Telemeter allows to measure angular size and compute distance, height or depth of object, slope, altitude, or elevation, it provides an inclinometer as well as scales for the computation of sine, cosine, and tangent for a given angle. A tool for makeshift navigation, surveying, and rangefinding, the double-sided Quadrant Telemeter enables the user to do more than merely guessing distances. It works by finding an object of known size, or distance, or angle, and measure with the appropriate scales and utilize the baked-in trigonometry to find the desired value by aligning the provided string across the respective scale. Its purpose is to help navigate using known landmarks or astronomical features, to get a "second opinion" to cross-check values obtained with different means, or in emergency situations when other methods fail or are unavailable. Using the string as a plumb line for the Quadrant, various ways of sighting become possible. The Wndsn Quadrant Telemeter combines a thousand years of civil engineering, surveying, navigation, and astronomy in one durable, low tech, high utility instrument that can be brought anywhere, is self-containing, and independent of external, modern technologies. Inspired by the medieval Kamal, a celestial navigation tool that greatly facilitated latitude sailing, as well as nomography, an almost lost art and science invented in the late 19th century to provide engineers with fast graphical calculations of complicated formulas, and adding an important slide rule principle, the Quadrant Telemeter combines all three techniques in an easy to use and handy measuring and calculating device. Additional elements on the naked-eye Wndsn Quadrant Telemeter come from the sine quadrant, the main scale of the quadrant contains a shadow square and a sexagesimal scale which can be used for performing various trigonometric calculations and taking basic surveying measurements. Mastery of Time and Space is an addendum to the Grimoire Quadrantis Telemetrum which covers setup, history, as well as the functions and tutorials regarding the mastery of space. The addendum explains the functions provided to help master time and date, by observing and calculating the movement of the Sun across the ecliptic, and year. This third edition of the manual, once again revised and expanded, will be of interest to those who want to know what these instruments and the ancient features are all about, to those who have just acquired a Quadrant Telemeter looking for a hands-on introduction to the topic, as well as to the experts who want to push the boundaries of what their Telemeter can do. The novice as well as the seasoned practitioner with practical interest and the teacher looking to demonstrate concepts in tangible ways are equally addressed and will find big picture information as well as detailed explanations. Various additional reference materials have also been included to create a Rosetta stone of trigonometry and a standalone resource for emergency or austere situations. Using a Wndsn Quadrant Telemeter to determine latitude (at night with Polaris), calculate declination of the day with the respective arc, and a measurement of the Sun altitude (backsighting), one can derive at least 18 data points and actually calculate all of them directly on the quadrant.
