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A Viameter, which belonged to the late Dr. D'Orleans

Object Status:

Unlocated

Accession Date:

December 17, 1807

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 26

Additional Source Text:

Poulson's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 8 Jan 1808 adds: "an instrument of wheel-work, to be attached to the wheel of a carriage, to ascertain the distance it travels."

Notes:

The Museum's viameter (an early form of the odometer) may have resembled this example said to have been used by John Metcalf (1717-1810) in laying out roads in England in the late-18th century.