34 STADIA EYING [CH.

15
Imagine that aa' and bb' in the figure are parallel rays emanating
from the stadi hairs a and b. Then F is the principal focus through which
these rays pass after emerging from the objective, f is the focal length of the
objec­tive, and the em\manating, respectively, from a and b that pass
undeviated through the optical center 0.

Stadia Rod---··

,
b'
I
------- ---- --· - ---- - - --- 0 ---------------- -- - -----

FIG. 15·2. tadia sight.

t
As all rays from a gint are brought to a focus on the opposite side on the
objective, it follows that if rays from a passing through O and F are
brought to a focus at A, the reverse is true, namely, that rays from A which

As ab = a'b', by similar triangles

i 8

Hence the horizontal distance from the principal focus to the rod is
d = (J/i)s = Ks, in which K = J/i is a coefficient called the stadia interval
f actcr which for a particular inst sighrval factor by the stadia interval.
The horizontal distance from center of instrument to rod is then

(1)
where C is the distance from center of instrument to principal focus. This
formula is employed in computin
15·6. Stadia Constants. The focal distance f is a constant for a given
instrument. It can be determined with all necessary accuracy by focusing .