4 Vintage Surveyors Hand Level Alidades Telescopes Keuffel & Esser Kuker Rankin

Description

4 piece set of vintage surveyor's tools including two hand levels (small telescope with attached spirit level - manufactured by Kuker-Ranken and Sokkisha) and two alidades (a sighting device, designed for use on a plane table - manufactured by Keuffel & Esser Co and Union Instrument Corp).

"The Keuffel and Esser Co., also known as K&E, was an American drafting instrument and supplies company founded in 1867 by German immigrants Wilhelm J. D. Keuffel and Hermann Esser. It was the first U.S. company to specialize in these products. In 1876, K&E started selling surveying instruments. K&E was incorporated in 1889. K&E acquired instrument maker Young & Sons of Philadelphia in 1918 and made it a department of the firm, retaining the brand name for a time. In 1984, Rowley-Scher Reprographics, Inc., a company then based in Washington D.C., acquired K&E's reprographics businesses in Arlington, Fairfax, and Norfolk, all located in Virginia. Keuffel and Esser was acquired by AZON Corporation in 1987." (Source: Wikipedia)

"Kuker-Ranken Incorporated has been a provider of Architectural, Engineering, Construction, Survey Equipment and Supplies Since 1928. Kuker-Ranken was founded in 1928 by W.J. Ranken, Otto J. Kuker, Jack T. Ranken and Harry G. Kimball as a manufacturer of the Kuker-Ranken hand levels for contractors and surveyors. Initially located in Renton, Washington, Kuker-Ranken, Inc. has been in a number of locations over the years. From Renton they moved locations and expanded into architectural and engineering supplies which included blueprinting. In 1978 they added Wild survey instruments to their product line, currently known as Leica Geosystems. Kuker-Ranken was purchased from the founder's family in 1976 by Gary and Sandi Rousseau. Gary and Sandi successfully ran the business for 28 years and is now owned by Robert Lycke." (Source: Datanyze)

"In the beginning, the company was called Sokkisha Company and was founded by a group of 13 people. It started with manufacturing transits in a small workshop in Tokyo in 1920, At first limited to the Japanese market, Sokkisha began to develop precision measuring instruments and quickly became a popular manufacturer in Japan. The worldwide expansion started with the United States. The American company Lietz became the exclusive distributor for Sokkisha instruments in the 1970s. In 1984 Sokkisha took over Lietz and became the world's largest manufacturer of surveying and measuring instruments. In the early 1990s, Sokkisha started a corporate identity project to improve and expand the company's global marketing. The result of this project was a new brand name: Sokkia. In 2008, Sokkia became a fully wholly owned subsidiary of Topcon." (Source: Wikipedia)

Condition

Good Overall - Gentle wear commensurate with use/age

Dimensions

Frames - 11" x 1.5" x 6.25" / Scopes - 1.25" x 1" x 5.25" (Width x Depth x Height)