Metrologists recently used Leica Geosystem’s new T-Scan to examine a historic artifact from a ship that sank during the Civil War. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recovered the anchor from the USS Monitor from the underwater Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, east of Cape Hatteras in the Atlantic Ocean. The area is home to hundreds of artifacts and archives from the sunken ship.

Together with the Mariner’s Museum and MAGLEV Inc., Leica used the T-Scan to create an accurate 3-D replica of the anchor. At 7,000 points per minute, the hand-held scanner, which is used in tandem with the Leica Laser Tracker, allowed quick data acquisition. The project took two days and created a highly detailed, 3-D computer model of the anchor that can be used for measurement, documentation and archival records.

The Mariner’s Museum has worked with NOAA and the U.S. Navy to obtain more than 1,100 artifacts from the Monitor, with the goal of opening a USS Monitor Center in March 2007. The center would include a full-scale replica of the warship, created with computer models.

For more information, visit www.mariner.org or www.leica-geosystems.com.

 

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