British unknown equipment...

[LizardKing]

Hello all! So i was presented this bizzare item and i have no idea of what it's use might be! Here is the story in case it helps! My friend just found this in a pile of stored items that belonged to his grand father! During the German invasion in Greece his grandad was stationed in a British instalation somewhere in the mainland so when the evacuation began he was told to gather as much equipment he could and flee the country alongside the British forces! So he took this one (at least this is the only thing that he managed to take and we know about it) and many rations of food! I quess it's use is for some kind of map reading and calculating positions with the help of the stars maybe... Again we have no clue so any help is welcomed (as always...) !! I quess it was meant for military use because there are no dates on it.... What do you think?

[GasMasksUK]

I have a nearly identical one at home, my father who is in the Ordnance Survey gave it to me several years ago. I'll phone him up tomorrow and I'll post whatever he tells me on here. Its a piece of surveying equipment for sure though

Thanks

Danny

[LizardKing]

Thank you very much mate!!!

[KMMorris]

Looks like a sextant for combined land and sea.
Morris

[kradman]

It doesnt look British Army from the markings and maybe not even Military ?

[37Webbing]

It doesnt look British Army from the markings and maybe not even Military ?

No, but does not rule out military use.

It looks like precession engineered equipment for.. well making maps? Measuring exact distances over land?
A kind of land surveyor / cartographer equipment?

[LizardKing]

I have no clue... I'm waiting for an expert to solve this...

[sirio]

It is a telescopic alidade. It's a topographic instrument to draw maps directly in the field, over a tablet. This one is made in Italy, Officine Galileo, Milan.

[GasMasksUK]

Just off the phone to my father, as Sirio has already said its a telescopic alidade. The one I have was used in conjunction with a wooden tripod that allows a flat table top to be screwed onto, forming a table.

Thanks

Danny

[LizardKing]

Nice!!!! Thanks guys!!! Is this one supposed to have a wooden flat table top too or it could be used on it's own to draw maps?