US Forest Service Godwin Heliograph

This compact heliograph was developed by Supervisor David P. Godwin of the US Forest Service in 1914-1915, and manufactured by A. Leitz of San Francisco. For technical details on its construction and use, see:

Millar, Willis Norman, "Methods of Communication Adapted to Forest Protection", 1920

Chapter XVIII Heliograph (pp. 169-181) Godwin Forest Service Type Heliograph, which includes two illustrations on prior pages:

Figure 103: Godwin Heliograph with both mirrors (p. 167) and

Figure 102: Godwin Heliograph with one mirror (p. 166).

 

The image above is a preview size - for the full size, go here: Full Resolution Image

 

For other images of Godwin Heliographs, see:

(1) Three photos ca. 1915 of a ranger with a Godwin heliograph (both stowed and deployed) in Lassen Volcanic National Park here: www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/forest-service-photo-album...

(2) Godwin heliograph page in A. Leitz catalog, 1919

(3) 1921 (Oct) Klamath National Forest (Godwin USFS heliograph) Figure 12

(4) 1927 heliograph training class with three Godwin heliographs

(5) 1938 Godwin heliograph at Santiago Peak, CA (Facebook)

(6) Godwin heliograph in California National Forest (now Mendocino NF) (Facebook) in 1923

 

 

There's a nice account by a forester of his use of this heliograph in Idaho in 1917 here: The Forest Service Heliograph by E. Clayton McCarty. He describes using two types. I would expect the "smaller portable heliograph" described in the 6th paragraph to be a Godwin heliograph. and the larger one with two tall tripods would have been the 1906 model US Signal Service design, an update of the original 1888 design to use a six-bladed shutter and azimuth knobs at both ends of the mirror bar.

 

Regarding my contention that this instrument appeared ca 1915:

 

In May 1914, Godwin said: "The standard heliograph instrument is an awkward article to pack and an impossible article to carry on a saddle horse, but investigations are now in progress to develop a much lighter and smaller instrument" ( hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015068570095?urlappend=%3Bseq=73 )

 

In Fall 1915, however, it was in wide use: from: "Forest Protection and Modern Invention", de Coert Dubois, Lumber World Review, Vol. 29, p. 61, Nov. 10, 1915

books.google.com/books?id=n-EoAQAAMAAJ&dq=heliograph&...

 

"D. P. Godewin:[sic - should be "Godwin"] "We have used in California for about three years one regular standard arm heliograph instrument and finally have devised a machine which weighs only one-half of the original machine. We find that the greatest value in the use of it is to patrolmen as they can immedately[sic] get into communication with any lookout points equipped. We are using now about fifty of these."

 

In the Dec. 1912 Supervisors' meeting in San Francisco , Godwin described his early experiments with the heliograph: first reading about the heliograph in Graves' book on fire protection, then securing two from the District office and personally experimenting, then securing six more and stationing them on lookout points in the California NF in the summer of 1912. The results were positive, and he expressed the hope that he would be able to secure a heliograph for every patrol man for the 1913 season, so that they would always be ready to communicate with the lookouts.

Done