The T16 is, together with the T12, one of those instruments from Wild Heerbrugg that does not seem to make sense. It was however used extensively in the US Military so must have had a purpose. To me it does not make sense as it is the same size of the T1 and T2 but not as accurate as either of these two. It is just about as accurate as the much smaller (and more practical) T0. My guess for its wide use in the army would be that it is the only theodolite from Wild that is direct reading (both vertical and horizontal scale can be read at the same time) avoiding confusion. But that does come at a price (accuracy). The T-16 did however come with many accesoires of which many also fit on the T1 and T2.

I do not make it a habit to keep double instruments in my collection but in this case I felt I did not have an option. Both came with compasses although of a different nature. The T16 from Canada came with both the tubular magnetic compass ánd the GAK10 gyrocompass and all accesoires. The GAK10 is a rare instrument and as I only had a new T16 at that time I had to buy it. It did come at a price as it is a very bulky instrument. The bracket for the GAK10 is mounted on top of the instrument, and the tubular compass is used for roughly aligning the telescope with (magnetic) North so that the gyrocompass can be run properly.

The other T-16 comes with a similar story. I was not looking for another T-16 but saw this on a website with a bracket that looked like it would fit my DI10. After some discussion I could even get the tripod shipped expecting that to be one already in the collection. It turned out differently. The T-16 is slightly different from the Canadian one and indicates that the older designs had variations (notably the mirror on the vertical level is smaller). The bracket ultimately did not fit the DI10, my guess is now that it went with an Aga Geodimeter which I do not have... The tripod unexpectedly turned out to be the real catch as I did not have this model in the collection yet. I have now fitted this theodolite with a circular compass which I bought together with another T-16 from the US.

The leather case was obtained separately from the UK. If it is originally Wild I do not know, but it does fit a T16 canister nicely.

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Brooke Clarke

Bennett

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