STEP #11 - I costruttori

In 1618 English Mathematician Edmund Gunter adapted the quadrant with an invention that came to be known as the Gunter quadrant. This pocket sized quadrant was revolutionary because it was inscribed with projections of the tropics, the equator, the horizon and the ecliptic. With the correct tables one could use the quadrant to find the time, the date, the length of the day or night, the time of sunrise and sunset and the meridian. The Gunter quadrant was extremely useful but it had its drawbacks; the scales only applied to a certain latitude so the instrument's use was limited at sea.

Quadrante di Gunter

Quando il savoir-faire inerente il quadrante si diffuse in tutta Europa, vennero sviluppati modelli sempre più elaborati e decorati; era un vanto dei manifattori riuscire a costruire strumenti più belli e performanti degli altri, dando prestigio alla propria bottega. 

Un grande costruttore inglese fu John Bird, che realizzò questo meraviglioso quadrante fisso in ottone