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Hadley's Quadrant: This English-made sextant is said to have belonged to Jogn Kimberly, who was probably born in Guilford in 1777.
The sextant was independently invented by Englishman John Hadley and American Thomas Godfrey in 1730. The instrument has several forms, including the "octant", "quintant", and "quadrant", and the sextant proper, all of which are commonly referred to as sextants.
Sextants were used to determine the position of ships at sea by measuring how far above the horizon a celestial body such as a star is.
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