This small portable transit instrument was made by instrument makers Dring & Fage probably sometime after 1882 when Latimer Clark published his treatise proposing to make this type of instrument as popular and commonplace as the camera.

A label on the side of the instrument, written in ink reads "100". This refers to its position on the RAS list. The telescope was purchased from the RAS (Royal Astronomical Society) in 1984.

A transit instrument is a telescope pivoted on a stand so that it can only move in one plane. Normally this would be aligned north-south so that as the Earth turns, every star visible from the latitude of the telescope can be seen to rise and fall over the course of a year. These types of telescopes can be used to create star charts, since every star can be viewed and so plotted. The time at which each star crosses the north-south line, or meridian gives one co-ordinate, the angle the telescope must point at to see it (its angular height) gives the other. It can also be used to find the time by the stars. This transit instrument has no angle scale so a separate instrument must be used along side this telescope to find the angular height of the star.

Telescope: The telescope tube is 229mm (9 inches) in length with an aperture (diameter) of 32mm (1.25 inches). The eyepieces and fittings are made of brass.

Stand: The stand is made of iron and has V-shaped grooves on whichthe horizontal axis rotates.

Accessories: There is a 127mm (5 inch) striding level and a lens cap.

The lens cap is marked AST0989.1 and can be found via the Whole/Part toggle.