Permanent adjustment of Theodolite

An instrument is said to in permanent adjustment if it satisfies all the relations among its fundamental lines. The permanent adjustment of an instrument usually gets disturbed after long or prolonged use. So, the state of relationship among different fundamental lines should be checked occasionally and corrections are required to be done, if necessary. The operations are based on the geometry of the fundamental line and thus, may get upset one relation while rectifying other. In order to avoid such possibility, the permanent adjustment should be made in the order.

Adjustment of Vertical cross hair; Adjustment of plate level axes; Adjustment of line of sight; Adjustment of horizontal axis; Adjustment of the axis of the telescope; Adjustment of vertical circle index.

Permanent adjustment of Vertical Cross Hair of telescope of transit The vertical cross hair should lie in a plane perpendicular to the horizontal axis. Test : To conduct a test for this, first the instrument is to be temporarily adjusted on any station and sight a well defined point object at a distance of about 100m. Get the object point bisected on the vertical cross hair . Keeping both the upper and lower plate main screw clamped, swing the telescope in vertical direction. If the point appears to move continuously on the vertical hair, the cross hair lies in a plane perpendicular to the horizontal axis (Figure 21.2a).

Adjustment : If the point object appears to depart from the cross hair (Figure 21.2b), loosen two adjacent capstan screws and twist the cross-hair ring in the telescope tube, so that the point appear on the vertical cross hair. Tighten the two screws. Carry out the test again and make adjustment, if required, until the point traverses the entire length of the hair as the telescope is swung in vertical direction.

Permanent adjustment of Plate Level Axes of transit The axis of each plate level should lie in a plane perpendicular to the vertical axis. Test : In order to test it, one of the level tubes is brought parallel to any two of the foot screws, by rotating the upper part of the instrument (by clamping the lower plate main screw and opening the upper plate main screw). The bubble is brought to the centre of the level tube by rotating foot screws. The level tube is then brought over the third foot screw again by rotating the upper part of the instrument. The bubble is then again brought to the centre of the level tube by rotating the third foot screw. These operations are repeated by rotating the upper part of the instrument in the same quadrant and levelling till the bubble remains central in both the positions. Now clamp the upper plate main screw and open the lower plate main screw and rotating the whole instrument through 180. If the bubble in the plate level remains in the centre, the axis of the plate level lie in a plane perpendicular to the vertical axis. Similar, test has to be carried out for the other level tube also. Adjustment : If the bubble in any level tube gets displaced from centre, bring it back halfway by adjusting two foot screws parallel to it (Figure 21.3) and other half by adjusting the capstan screws fitted at one end of the plate level tube. Rotate the whole instrument through 180 and repeat the steps of testing and adjustment if required till the bubble remains central for all positions of the instrument as it revolved through 360 about the vertical axis.

Permanent adjustment of Theodolite

Permanent adjustment of Line of Sight of transit In a properly adjusted instrument, the line of sight is perpendicular to the horizontal axis. Test : In order to test it., first the instrument is temporarily adjusted on a station and sight a point say, X (Figure 21.4) about 150 m away from the station point with telescope in the direct position. Keeping main screws of both the upper and lower plates of the instrument clamped, plunge the telescope and set another point Y in the opposite direction of the transit. Open the lower plate clamp screw and swing the instrument about the vertical axis to bring X again on the vertical cross hair. Tighten the lower plate clamp screw and plunge the telescope as before; if Y appears on the vertical cross hair, the line of sight is perpendicular to the horizontal axis.

Adjustment : If Y does not appear on the vertical cross hair, set a point Z on the line of sight of the instrument. Mark another point

Permanent adjustment of Theodolite

P, one-fourth of the distance from Y to Z, and adjust the cross-hair ring (by means of the two opposite horizontal screws) until the line of sight passes through P. Tighten the diaphragm screws, keeping the vertical hair in that position. Repeat the test and adjustment till X and Y points, before and after plunging, is in the same line of sight of the telescope. The points sighted should be at about the same elevation as the transit. Permanent adjustment of Horizontal Axis of telescope / transit The horizontal axis is required to be perpendicular to the vertical axis. Test : In order to test it, first the instrument (in face left condition) is temporarily adjusted in front of high building or structure on which a well-defined point, say X, can be marked at considerable height. Then opening the vertical clamp, sight at the point X in such a way that the point appears on the vertical cross hair of the telescope. Now, with the horizontal motions clamped, depress the telescope and set a point Y on or near the ground. If the horizontal axis is perpendicular to the vertical axis, X and Y will be in the same vertical plane. Then, bisect the point X again in the face right condition. On depression of the telescope as before, if the line of sight falls on Y, the horizontal axis is perpendicular to the vertical axis (Figure 21.5a). Adjustment : On depression of the telescope (on face right condition), if the line of sight does not falls on Y, but at some other point say Z (Figure 21.5), the instrument requires adjustment. Now, select another point say Q, halfway between Y and Z and at the same level should be marked. The telescope is then focused the point in such a way using upper plate tangent screw that Q appears on the vertical cross hair and then, elevate the telescope until the line of sight is beside X; loosen the screws of the bearing cap, and raise or lower the adjustable end of the trunnion axis until the line of sight is intersects X. When the trunnion axis has been adjusted, the line of sight intersects both X and Q as the telescope is rotated about the vertical plane about the horizontal axis. Raising or lowering the trunnion axis may cause movement of the vertical crosshair away from the point Q. So. After each movement of the adjusting screw, the point Q on the staff should be checked. If necessary, it should be adjusted using one of the horizontal tangent screws. (Figure 21.5).

Permanent adjustment of Axis of the Telescope of transit Test and adjustment: This is carried out by the two-peg method as discussed for dumpy level (Lesson 12). The difference is that: With the line of sight set on the rod reading established for a horizontal line, the correction is made by raising or lowering one end of the telescope level tube until the bubble is centered.

Permanent adjustment of Theodolite

Permanent adjustment of vertical Circle Index of transit The object of this adjustment is to set the vertical circle to zero when the line of sight is horizontal and the altitude bubble is centered. Test : Set an instrument in face left condition and get it temporary adjusted. Center the altitude bubble and read the vertical vernier. Now, change the instrument in face right condition and the vertical vernier after centering the altitude bubble. If the 0 of the vernier scale coincides with the 0 or 90 of the main scale , there is no vernier index error in the instrument. Adjustment : If the vernier does not read zero, loosen it and move it until it reads zero. Care should be so taken that the vernier does not bind on the vertical circle as the telescope is rotated about the horizontal axis.

ERRORS IN THEODOLITE SURVEYING

Instrumental Error Errors due to imperfections and/or non-adjustment of instrument are all systematic, and these can either be eliminated reduced to a negligible amount by adopting appropriate methods. The instrumental errors involved in theodolite surveying are Error due to imperfect adjustment of the plate level in Horizontal angles Error in Vertical angles due to imperfect adjustment of the plate level Error due to line of Collimation not being perpendicular to horizontal axis Error due to Horizontal axis not being perpendicular to the Vertical axis Error due to eccentricity of the inner and outer axis Errors due to lack of coincidence between line of sight and optical axis Error due to eccentricity of vernier Error due to imperfect graduations on the horizontal scale; Vertical index error Vertical hair not being perpendicular to the horizontal axis Error due to defective tripod All of these errors are mostly compensated and minimised by taking mean of the observations. In case of horizontal angles it is the mean of face length and face right condition and in case of vertical angles, it is the mean of telescope direct and reversed conditions.

Personal Errors Personal errors arise from the limitations of the human capability and experience in making temporary adjustment and in taking observations. Personal errors usually prevalent in theodolite observations are:

Error in setting up of the Instrument Error in centring of the Instrument Errors in setting and reading the Vernier Error in ranging pole location or Staff Station Error in Focusing (parallax)

Natural Errors The error due to natural causes are not large enough to affect appreciably the measurements of ordinary precision except settlement of the tripod stand/leg. Error due to settlement of the tripod stand / leg Error due to atmospheric condition