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 [decorative delimiter] Class of 1879

Vol. III
p311 2767

(Born Vt.)

Frank S. Harlow​1

(Ap'd Vt.)

8

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1875, to June 13, 1879, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Second Lieut., 9th Infantry, June 13, 1879.

Transferred to 1st Artillery, Aug. 11, 1879.

Served: in garrison at Ft. Independence, Mas., Sep. 30 to Nov. 14, 1879, — Ft. Warren, Mas., to Sep. 30, 1880, — Ft. Adams, R. I., to Nov. 14, 1881, — and Presidio of San Francisco, Cal., to Aug. 1, 1883; at the Military Academy as Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Aug. 28, 1883, to Aug. 28, 1885, — and as Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology, Aug. 28, 1885, to Aug. 28, 1887; and in garrison at

(First Lieut., 1st Artillery, July 7, 1886)

Alcatraz Island, Cal., to Aug. 11, 1888, — and Artillery School for Practice, Ft. Monroe, Va., to –––––.

Vol. IV
p307 [Supplement, Vol. IV: 1890‑1900]

Served: On duty at Artillery School, Fort Monroe, Va., to June, 1890 (Honor Graduate, 1890). — At U. S. M. A., West Point, N. Y., June, 1890 to Aug., 1894 (in charge of observatory, June, 1890 to Aug., 1893);​a Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Aug., 1893 to Aug., 1894. — In garrison at Fort Wadsworth, N. Y., Aug.,  p308 1894 to Oct., 1896. — In garrison at St. Francis Barracks, Fla., Oct., 1896 to Oct., 1897. — In garrison at Charleston Harbor, S. C., Oct., 1897 to April, 1899.

(Captain of Artillery, 1st Artillery, March 2, 1899)

— In garrison at St. Francis Barracks, Fla., April to June, 1899. — In garrison at Key West Barracks, Fla., June, 1899 to –––––

Vol. V
p285 [Supplement, Vol. V: 1900‑1910]

Military History. — Served: In garrison at Key West Barracks, Fla., June, 1899 to Aug., 1899; on duty at Fort Terry, N. Y., to Nov., 1899; member of Regimental Examining Board at Fort Monroe, to Jan., 1900; commanding battery at St. Francis Barracks, Fla., to March, 1900; Key West Barracks, Fla., to June, 1900; Instructor, Artillery School, Fort Monroe, Va. (member of board at Fort Preble, Me., July to Nov., 1901),

(Major, Artillery Corps, April 1, 1904)

to Sept. 8, 1904; on leave to Oct. 12, 1904; member of Torpedo Board at Fort Totten, N. Y.,º from Sept. 11, 1904 to June 30, 1906.

Major, U. S. A., Retired June 30, 1906,
disability incident to the Service.

Died Aug. 11, 1906, in New York City: Aged 49.

Thayer's Note:

a The West Point Observatory, founded in 1841 by Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1826: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.William Bartlett (see his AOG obituary, p111) had been one of the pioneer institutions of its kind in the United States; the Academy was the only engineering school in the country until 1824 and was still at the forefront of scientific research. In the 1890's the observatory remained a useful research facility, before the days of serious light pollution which has since doomed most similar small college observatories. Here is Lt. Harlow's own report on the Academy Observatory, in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, III.273 f. (1891):

p273 The Observatory of the U. S. Military Academy
at West Point, N. Y.

Memorandum by Lieut. F. S. Harlow, U. S. A. (in charge).

"The permanent observatory at the Military Academy is provided at present with a Repsold Meridian Circle, a Clark Equatorial, and a Bond Chronograph used in connection with a Howard mean time and a Hardy sidereal clock.

"The circle is •26 inches in diameter, graduated to 2′, and reads directly to 1″ by means of four reading microscopes fitted with micrometers. Each micrometer screw carries two pairs of parallel wires.

"The telescope has a free aperture of •7 inches, a focal length of •81.5 inches, and is provided with five positive eye‑pieces of powers 70, 150, 210, 280, and 350, together with two sun‑glasses, and the R. A. and Declination micrometers. The reticle carries 23 transit wires. For use with the nadir basin a reflecting nadir cap is provided. The illumination of the several microscopes and of the main field is in accordance with the Repsold design.

"Two collimators are mounted on piers in the meridian. Free aperture, •3 inches. Focal length, •38 inches.

The Clark Equatorial has a free aperture of •12 inches, and a focal length of •15 feet. Powers of the negative eye-pieces, 150, 300, 500, and 1200. The declination circle is graduated to 10′, and is provided with two verniers read by micrometer microscopes directly to 10″. The hour circle is graduated to 1m and reads by verniers to 1s. These circles are all illumined by small incandescent lamps in connection with a battery of 4 or 5 bichromate cells. The filar position micrometer has 3 positive eye‑pieces of powers 110, 155, and 210, and the wires are illuminated by electricity.

"The equatorial is also fitted with a 'telespectroscope,' in which two gratings are used, one on speculum metal by Rowland, with •14438 lines per inch, and one on glass by Rutherford, with •17100 lines per inch.

"The electric connections of the Bond chronograph provided for switching either the mean time or sidereal clock, and either p274the meridian circle or sidereal clock, and eitherº the meridian circle or equatorial, into circuit with itself.

"A building is now in process of construction in which we hope to have mounted within a few months, a •9⅝ inch equatorial for photographic purposes, and a concave grating by Rowland, •6 inch, with camera complete.

"In the field observatory we have two transits, a zenith telescope, an altazimuth, and several Stackpole sextants."

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