Dwight's story (see below) about paying $5 for a supposedly "defective"
Brunton with east and west reversed reminds me of a similar story
regarding metric hand tapes. Like cavers, archeologists were the other
group I belonged to who started using the metric system for documenting
sites. Good quality metric hand tapes that could withstand the rigors
of field work were hard to find.
Doug Boyd (PhD), a well-known archeologist from the Texas Panhandle
(Tulia) would stop at every small-town hardware store (on the square of
course) on the slim hope they might have some. In Snyder TX, at the far
back of the store, he actually found a dozen or more still in the
original box, with a hand-written price of something like "$2 each".
He carried the box up to the old owner at the antique cash register and
asked "Are these really only $2 each?" The old man said "Yep" so Doug
said he would buy the whole box. The old feller looked at him closely
and said in a genuine West Texas drawl "Well Sonny, I've got to be
honest with ya' , them tapes ain't riot."
Doug, having been raised in Tulia (unlike Dwight) felt obligated to try
to explain the metric system to the owner, who just said something like
"$2 each, take em or leave em". Doug got years of use out of those
tapes--best deal he ever found.
Logan
On 7/22/2019 4:27 PM, Dwight Deal wrote:
I was a geology student in 1956 and starting to survey caves in New
York and West Virginia. I stumbled on a used Brunton in a pawn shop in
Manhattan. New ones did indeed sell for around $100 at that time.
This one was a reasonable bargain but still, I thought, on the
high-side for a pawn shop item. (I don't remember exactly but in the
$35-40 range) It was, however, in really good (I'd call it "like new")
condition.
I had my wallet out and was about to consummate the deal .
Then I told the guy:
“Wait. This is defective!”
“What!”
“Yes, look at this, they have east and west reversed!”
I think I paid him $5.00 for it. Also came with a nice, new-looking
leather case.
DirtDoc
(If you have never used a Brunton, you may not understand why this is
so humorous. That's the way they are built so they read correctly when
you look down at the compass needle. There was absolutely nothing
wrong with it.)
This has been a major tool of mine for 63 years. I still have this
and it has been used both for surface geology and in many, many, miles
of cave, a lot of it virgin (including Jewel Cave). Used it on the
surface a few months ago to locate some survey corners in Big Bend.
There was no GPS information available.
One of the best bargains I ever made. Buyer Beware!
CC
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