History of the Object
The David White Company of Milwaukee Wisconsin were the manufacturers of transits, sextants, current meters, theodolites, levels, compasses, and other engineering equipment, according to the operator's manual of the Willis Pendulum Astrolabe, which was published in 1946 and accompanies a model of the astrolabe purchased by Michigan Tech. The Astrolabe is named after John E. Willis, who invented the device in 1942 while working with the U.S. Naval Observatory. The David White Company had the honor of creating the first prototype models beginning in 1943, completing the testing phase in 1946, according to the booklet that accompanies the Astrolabe at Tech. We know that the type of instrument continued to be developed into the 1960s at least (e.g., the Perkin-Elmer Corporation of Norwalk, CT developed a more portable battery powered model in 1965),
The box that Tech’s astrolabe is stored in is marked with a piece of tape bearing the hand-written label, OLD PRISON SITE | JACKSON MICH, suggesting that Associate Professor H.B. Anderson of the Mathematics Department found and purchased the device second-hand in 1967 when he wrote to the company for more information. Unfortunately, a copy of this letter is not with the device, although the response letter from Edwin A Setzke, Manager of Realist Inc. Customer Services Division and a booklet titled “Supplementary Information for use with the Willis Pendulum Astrolabe” which was sent enclosed with the letter can now both be found with the Astrolabe, along with the owner’s manual which accompanied the device throughout its various ownerships.
A Michigan Tech equipment number is found on the device, and tables and charts accompanying the book are filled in, suggesting that Anderson used the astrolabe in instruction.
The David White Company would continue to make the Astrolabe until 1952, according to the letter from Edwin Setzke. An inscription on the base of the Astrolabe at Tech says that the model was produced in 1952, making it one of the last astrolabes made by the company. The David White Company became Realist Inc sometime between 1952 and 1967. Realist Inc., based out of Menomonee Falls, and continued to make surveying equipment, as well as rifle scopes, projectors, and cameras well into the late eighties. The last word located on Realist Inc. was a brief New York Times article from 1989 stating that the company purchased majority stock of a Swiss company called Ammann Laser Technik AG.