autocollimatorn.
/ˌɔːtə(ʊ)ˈkɒlᵻmeɪtə/, U.S. /ˌɔdoʊˈkɑləˌmeɪdər/, /ˌɔdəˈkɑləˌmeɪdər/, /ˌɑdoʊˈkɑləˌmeɪdər/, /ˌɑdəˈkɑləˌmeɪdər/ An instrument that uses the principle of autocollimation, e.g. to measure parallelism or alignment.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instrument for distant vision > [noun] > telescope > other telescopes
polemoscope1668
finder1738
night-glass1758
collimator1825
floating collimator1833
lookdown1865
guiding telescope1897
autocollimator1903
kinetheodolite1941
finderscope1946
satellite telescope1951
scotoscope1964
starlight scope1964
1903 Proc. Royal Soc. 72 193 The observing telescope, with its auto-collimator and attached hydrogen Geissler tube, is exactly as used for the dilatometer.
1946 Symp. Materials Gas Turbines (Amer. Soc. testing Materials) 184/2 The rotation of a lozenge is measured by a Tuckerman autocollimator.
1992 A. H. Slocum Precision Machine Design iv. 158 Both manual and electronic autocollimators are available, although the latter are most widely used.
2007 S.-G. Guan et al. in J. M. Nester et al. Gravitation & Astrophysics 5 An autocollimator (angular detective sensitivity of 0.05 μrad) was used to determine whether the torsion pendulum is in position relative to the source mass.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1903