MISCELLANEOUS

CONTENT:

MAGNETITE - THE MINERAL


(click on the picture for an enlarged view)
This is the stone with which it all began. One could say ''at the beginning was the… magnetite''. It is a black mineral also called magnetic iron-ore. This is the stuff that always points to the same direction and with which the sailors found out how to find their way back home when the clouds hid the sun and the stars. This is how it looks like: black iron ore crystalizing in the cubic system. Its chemical formula is Fe3O4.

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THE VARIOUS DIVISION SYSTEMS - RHUMB, DEGREE, GRAD or GON, ANGULAR MIL

RHUMB

This word with unclear etymology (does it come from "rhombus", the form of the arrows on the picture at right?) designates a subdivision of the circle. The rose of winds being divided into 32 rhumbs, each one equals (360/32 =) 11 ° 5'. The fleur-de-lis (heraldic lily) indicating the North is said to have been copied from Naples' coat-of-arms where the first known european compasses were built during the Renaissance. Naples belonged at that time to the French kings' familly called "maison d'Anjou".

DEGREE

The degree ist the most common division system of the circle. It was first used by Ptolemy in his astronomy book called Almagest. One degree is a 360th of the full circle.

GRAD or GON

(Definitions according to Wikipedia - for more details read the full article)

The grad is a unit of plane angle, equivalent to 1/400 of a full circle, dividing a right angle in 100. It is also known as gon, grade or gradian, gradient or radian. One grad equals 9/10 of a degree or pi/200 of a radian. This is the application of the metric system on the division of the circle : this division system was used for all geodesic measures of France. (see examples like some Modèle 1922 compasses in the category MARCHING COMPASSES or several others (like MERIDIAN or STOPPANI) in the category GEOLOGICAL COMPASSES.
 Compass Rose - This print was parrt of an ancient book by the French cartographer Nicolas Sanson d'Abbeville (1600/1667), re-edited bei TERRES in Naples in 1794.
(Click on the photo for enlarged view)

24 HOURS

Together with a 360 deg. division: see example and explanation under ROSPINI

ANGULAR MIL

Read a comprehensive explanation in the website The real Truth about Mil Dots.
(Definitions according to Wikipedia - for more details read the full article)
(click on the pictures for enlarged views)
The angular mil is commonly used by military organizations. Its relationship to the radian gives rise to the handy property that object of size s that subtends an angle theta angular mils is at a distance d = 1000 s / theta. Alternatively, if the distance is known, we can determine the size of an object by s = theta d/1000. The practical form of this that is easy to remember is: 1 mil at 1 km = about 1 metre (2 pi/6.4 = 0.98 m to be more precise). Another example: an object situated in 2 km distance and measuring 100 mils is 200 metres long.

Comment: In the general case, where neither the distance nor the object size is known, the formulae may be of little use. In practice, sizes of observed objects are known with reasonable accuracy since they are often people, buildings and vehicles. Using the formulae, distances of the objects can be readily calculated without a calculator. In military terms, distances are of course essential for artillery bombardments and estimations of journey times.

The official symbol is the letter "m" with a bar making an angle of 30 degrees across it : . This letter "m" was chosen for the French word "millième" (i.e. "thousandth"). In the angloamerican world, the word MILS ist used (see the BRUNTON compass in the category Geological Compasses).
On older German compasses and their documentation the symbol used was an apostrophe (') or an horizontal bar as exponent. Example: rear side of a German artillery compass - unfortunately without its maker's name (click on picture to enlarge).
On French compasses the following abbreviations were used:
- "D" for degré (degree),
- "G" for grade (grad) and
- "M" for millième (angular mil).

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The mil is one thousandth of a radian. The exact figure would thus be 6283. The more practical figure used in the Western world (NATO) is 6400. Such a precision is not achievable on hand-held compasses. The last two digits are thus not indicated. This is the division one can see on the western military compasses (0-64). It used to be indicated counterclockwise on older German Bézard compasses for instance. Until 1933, the zero/6400 marking was at the South cardinal point and 3200 at North. The Soviet Union and Eastern European countries (Warsaw pact) used the lower practical figure 6000. This is the division 0-60 seen on russian, yugoslavian, hungarian, romanian, czech and polish compasses. China, Vietnam and Arab countries use it also.
This division system was used by a French Artillery officer called Emile Rimailho* for the canon which he developed in 1904. It was called 155 CTR (court à tir rapide / short barrel, fast shooting). This canon was the ancestor of the anti-aircraft FLAK canons. This unit is therefore sometimes called in France "Rimailho-millième".

* French officer and engineer (born in Paris 1864, died 1954 in Pont-Erambourg, département Calvados).

Measurement of distances with angular mils

The division in angular mils makes it possible to calculate a distance even when no parameter is known.
The Major Rudolf Gallinger serving in the imperial Austrian Army had known very well the inventor Johann von Bézard during WW I and he wrote in the years 1920-1930 several manuals for "tourists" (see definition) and soldiers. He described in them how to use this compass in order to compuite the distance of an object and the size of objects at known distance.


There are several methods:
- a) moving on a strait line in the direction of the target or
- b) moving sideways from line of sight to the target.

- Method a)
One wants to estimate the distance between a present position A and an objective located in c. One measures first the angle built by two representative points (a and b) located on both sides of c (i.e. s = 91 mils in the figure). One moves then in the direction of c up to a point B which is located at a known distance of A, for instance 100 m and that we call M (for move). One measures there again the angle built by the two points left and right of C (i.e. s' = 99.2 mils). The formula is as follows:
To calculate the distance D (between B and c), multiply the value of the move M (100 m) by the angle s (91 mils) and divide the result by the difference d between both angles (i.e. 8.2 mils.).
D = M x s / d = 100 x 91 / 8.2 = 1100 m.
Add then the value of the first move from A to B (100 m) to obtain distance A-c (1200 m).
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It is also possible to go back from the observation point. One must then substract the moving distance.

- Method b)
In the present case only one additional point is necessary: it should be situated 100 mils sideways of the line of sight (A-B) to the target. One goes a certain distance in the direction of the additional aid point and measure again the angle between c and the target. With these distance measures and angle values, one can calculate the distance to the target with the same formula as with method a).

One can also estimate a distance without computing it. For instance the broadth of a river. The method is as follows: One must draw hereto a sketch with a certain scale. First, chose an easily recognizable object on the opposite bank and take a bearing of it against the next cardinal point. Move then sideways by a certain distance (100 m for instance), at a 90 degrees angle and take again the bearing. The difference between both is the angular value of the line B-C that is to be drawn on the sketch. Since the distance A-B is known, one can measure on the sketch the length of the line A-C at the cross point with B-C.
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- Special devices in compass lids and tools

Some compasses have one or several rulers located besides the sighting slots in the lid (picture right: TELEOPTIK M49 - click to enlarge).
These compasses must be held at a certain distance from the eye, for example 25 cm or 50 cm. To this purpose, the compass' lanyard has a knot at the right place, that you can hold with one hand against your cheek while holding the compass at eye's level with the other hand. The size of the observed objects is also measured in mils.



The Bézard Universalkompass (BUK) had an additional system: attached to the compass was a foldable ruler comprising two halves of 8 cm each, i.e. 16 cm when open. The first 10 cm were also mils and read: 0-20-40-...-200-11-12...!
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Mark (V, VI or 1, 2 etc.)

The word Mark (or the abbreviation 'Mk') followed by a figure (or the figure alone) appears on numerous pocket and marching compasses from the early 20th century until now.
We have no evidence of pocket compass numbers below Mk. V.
It seems that the first occurrence was a Mark V pocket compass (example: F. BARKER & SON, Short & Mason) with a Singer's pattern card. It was followed during the first World War by a Mark VI design for which there is a precise contemporary description.
The Swiss author Paul Dériaz wrote in 1917 among other books about compasses a manual called in the modified English translation 'The PRISMATIC COMPASS and how to use it'. Here is the description of the Mark VI pocket compass in this booklet:
"This compass is of the watch type with a dial 1 9/32" diameter and has recently been improved. It differs from the Mark V in that the dial is graduated every five degrees instead of points of the compass and figured every 20 degrees."
(He was referring to the Singer's patent design with only 32 points and half points, i.e. only 64 possible angle values in the whole).
"Also the North point is marked by a radium-painted luminous arrow, the E. S. and W. points by luminous letters and every intermediate 30 degrees by luminous dots. Instead of the lubber mark a black hair line is drawn across the glass, near the ends of which are radio-luminous marks, one being arrow-shaped. This instrument is accurate within three degrees."

(Examples of Mk VI pocket compasses: DENNISON , LONGINES, W. TERRASSE, PLAN and an unsigned wrist-top compass).

At about the turn of the century, a much more precise prismatic system called VERNER'S pattern was also numbered Mk V and Mk VI (see examples on the Compass Collector's website). The next higher figure, Mk VII (exemple  Ed. KOEHN). This instrument was equiped with a plunger on its side with which the card's movements could be slowed down. In addition, it featured on the opposite side a card locking lever. It was quickly followed by the Mk VIII (fig. left), the only difference between them consisting in "a knife-shaped clip fixed to the lid so that the act of closing the lid causes the knife to engage in the groove of the sliding screw, and so automatically lifts the dial."  
(Quoted after The prismatic Compass)

In 1932 F. BARKER & SON developed a new compass equiped with a fluid damped rose which was called Mk III and in use until the end of WWII.

At the same time several manufacturers like T.G. Co. Ltd (GLAUSER) but also C.K.C, E.A.C. etc. also produced Mk III compasses. However, when the serial number contained the letter 'B', it meant that these instruments were in fact manufactured by Barker and these other companies were only pretending being a concurrence.

In the last WWII year, GLAUSER produced a square-shaped dry compass called 'MARK 1'  made of black bakelite and in the 1970's a cylindrical liquid damped compass called 'Mk.4'.

From the 7ßis moment on, Barker gave their compass versions the number of the year during which they were developed (Mk-71, Mk-72, Mk-73 etc.). The last development was the Mk-88.
NOTE: For more details concerning all the other Barker models (e.g. pattern 42, Mk IX, Mk X) and their chronology, please visit the excellent website 'www.TRADEMARKLONDON.com' (see also LINKS/F. BARKER).
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GLOSSARY

(tables under construction)
The most efficient method to learn more about these terms is to refer to the online Encyklopedia Wikipedia.
1 - ABBREVIATIONS
BUK Bézard Universalkompass:
- Siehe Spezialartikel über Bézard
- See specific chapter about the Bézard compass
- Voir le chapitre spécifique consacré à la boussole Bézard
DDR - Deutsche Demokratische Republik
- English: GDR (German Democratic Republic, Former East Germany)
- Français: RDA (République Démocratique Allemande = ancienne Allemagne de l'Est)
DBGM - Deutscher Bund - Gebrauchsmuster
- Registered Trade Mark (Federal Republic of Germany, FRG)
- Marque déposée (République Fédérale Allemande, RFA)
DRGM - Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster
- Registered Trade Mark (IIIrd Reich i.e. Nazi Germany)
- Marque déposée de l'Empire Allemand (IIIe Reich, Allemagne nazie)
DRP (a) - Deutsches Reichs Patent (angemeldet): Patente bis 1945
- German Patent (a = applied for): until 1945
- Brevet allemand (a = déposé) : jusqu'en 1945
GST - Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik
- Youth sportive association in the former GDR
- Organisation de jeunesse sportive en ex-RDA
KVP - Kasernierte Volkspolizei (Vorgänger der NVA)
- Military police (predecessor of the NVA)
- Police militaire (ancêtre de la NVA)
... ...
MFR
MFR's S/N		 - Manufacturer, Manufacturer's serial number
- Fabricant, no. de série du fabr.
- Hersteller, Hersteller-Serien-Nr.
NVA - Nationale Volksarmee der DDR
- Armed forces of the former GDR
- Forces armées de l'ex-RDA
VEB - Volkseigener Betrieb (staatl. Unternehmensform in der DDR)
- Government owned company type in the former GDR
- Entreprise nationalisée en ex-RDA

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2 - DEFINITIONS AND DICTIONARY

DEUTSCH ENGLISH FRANÇAIS
Anlegeplatte, Richtkante Ruler règle, réglette
Jungendienst - Paramilitärische, Pfadfinder-ähnliche Jugend- organisation im III. Reich. Der sogenannte Jungendienst-Kompass war von der Fa. Emil BUSCH (Rathenow) speziell für diese Organisation entwickelt worden. Widmung des gleichn amigen Buchs durch Reichspäsident von Hindenburg (1933) :
"Auch das Spiel des deutschen Jungen von heute muß schon Dienst am Vaterland sein!"		 Paramilitary, boy scout type youth organisation in the former Nazi-Germany (IIIrd Reich). The german word DIENST means service in the sense of serving the nation. The BUSCH (Rathenow) Jungendienst marching compass was especially developed for such activities. Organisation de jeunesse paramilitaire en Allemagne pendant les années 1920-1930. Le terme DIENST signifie service au sens de servir la patrie, comme service militaire. La boussole de marche BUSCH (Rathenow) avait été spécialement développée pour ces activités.
Taschenuhrgehäuse mit Klappdeckel. Kann federbelastet sein (öffnet nur bis 90 Grad) oder ohne Feder (öffnet bis 180 Grad). Hunter-type case. There are two systems: spring hunter and snap hunter. The spring hunter opens by depressing a push-button. A snap hunter has no spring, the lid must be opened manually and opens and closes with a “snap” lock. The benefit of the snap cover case is that there is no possibility of straining the hinge pin. The compass case can comfortably be opened to a 180 degrees without a problem. A half hunter has a window with a magnifying glass. Pocket compasses without cover are called open-face. Savonnette
Boîtier de montre de gousset à couvercle articulé. Existe avec ressort (ouverture limitée à 90 degrés) et sans ressort (ouverture à 180 degrés).
Anhänger (an einer Taschenuhrkette) charm (on a pocket watch chain) breloque accrochée à une chaîne de montre de gousset
Sockel gegenüber dem Nullpunkt des Neigungsmessers base in front of zero talon à l'aplomb
Hut cap chape
Diopter vane pinnule
Kimme rear sight cran de mire
Korn, Grinsel (AT) foresight guidon
Dosenlibelle level (round) niveau a bulle (sphérique)
Strich (1) rhumb rhumb
Strich (2) angular mil millième
schräg, mit Fase bevel biseau
Glas crystal verre
Fallmessplatte measurement plate for
dip angle inclination
of rocks		 plateau de mesure de la pendance
Messplatte (Bézard) distance measuring ruler réglette graduée en millièmes pour estimation des distances
... ... stadia
Kristallglas pebble verre en crystal
Kettenglied fetter link maillon de chaîne
... ... éclimètre
Einschwingdauer stabilisation time durée de stabilisation
Lünette (oft drehbar gelagert, auf der ein Teilkreis gedruckt oder eingraviert ist bezel (often rotating, on which the divisions are prited or engraved) lunette (souvent rotative sur laquelle est gravé ou imprimé un limbe)
Markscheiderkompass, Hängekompass miner's compass, to be hung on a string boussole de mineur (suspendue)
Messtisch Plane table Planchette (pour levé topographique)
Röhrenlibelle level (tube) niveau à bulle (tube)
Teilkreis divisions on the limb limbe, cercle divisé
Tourist / Turist tourist / hiker (see note below) excursionniste, randonneur
Trieb drive mécanisme d'entraînement
Kastenbussole Trough compass (also called plane table compass or declinator):
A trough compass consists of a long, narrow rectangular box, covered with glass. Inside the box, at its centre, there is a magnetic needle resting on the pivot. At the extremities of the trough compass, there are (sometimes but not always) graduated scales with zero at the centre and marking up to 5° on either side of the zero line. The trough compass is used for marking the magnetic north line on the drawing sheet of the plane table. In this case, the magnetic needle point to 0° - 0° of the graduated scale and a line drawn parallel to the edge of the trough compass is along the magnetic meridian. A trough compass is also used to orient the plane table with respect to the magnetic meridian.		 Boussole déclinatoire : boussole servant à orienter une carte pour levé topographique. Il se fixait sur les planchettes pour levé topographique.
Définition extraite de l'Encyclopédie Larousse :
Le déclinatoire est solidaire d'une planchette (...). Pour décliner l'appareil, on fait tourner la planchette jusqu'à ce que l'aiguille vienne entre les repères. Dans ces conditions, la graduation zéro de l'appareil ou le quadrillage de la planchette fait un angle donné avec le nord magnétique, et, dans l'étendue d'un petit levé, cet angle restera constant ; l'orientement du zéro se conservera parallèle d'une station à la suivante.
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Note: Tourist
The word tourist (also written Turist in German) designated in English and German before WW II (and also until its fall in 1989 in the former East-Germany - GDR, see medals below) an ambitious hiker, who knew how to use a compass in a landscape without direction panels! The German word Skitour still designates today cross-country skiing.
In its catalogue for compasses for the late 19th century, the BARKER company offered a "HEIGHT RECORDER for Alpinists Automobilists, Aeronauts, Cyclists, Tourists, etc.". (See photo of the same item made by the German Company LUFFT in the Thirties in the category POCKET compasses).

In the former East-Germany (GDR), young sportsmen were awarded specific medals (see Wikipedia in German : Leistungsabzeichen für Jugendliche in der DDR). The Junger Tourist was not at all a young tourist as we understand it today! He or she was someone who could perform a several technical tasks like any girl or boy scout, from putting up a tent to orientate herself or himself with a compass to recognise animals and flowers etc.

Touristen-Abzeichen
(Tourist medal)
 Young Tourist Medal
(early version)

 Young Tourist Medal
(late version)

 Pub sign (THE TOURIST)

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CARDINAL POINTS

THE CARDINAL POINTS IN SEVERAL LANGUAGES

On ancient maps and compasses (see picture at right), North was usually represented with a fleur-de-lis i.e. the heraldic lily. A reason for this could be the fact that the makers of nautical compasses who lived in Naples (Italy)  may have chosen this symbol because it was in the coat-of-arms of the "Anjou Empire"  (i.e. France) whom the Kingdom of Sicily and Naples then belonged (13th C.). The East, which was the sacred direction of Jerusalem, the holy city for Christians, was also indicated, either by the letter E or by means of a cross-shaped symbol even on compasses like the example shown at right (click to enlarge). This information, which only had a religious background, is no longer used on contemporary maps or just for decoration. The most recent that we know of was printed on a Corfu (Greece) tourist map for the year 1990.

Map of Puerto Rico
(drawn South up)



(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)		 Portuguese map
(1590)

 Spanish map
(1583)

 Dutch map
(c. 1700)

 Greek map (Corfou, 1990)

Nowadays, the cardinal points of almost all compasses in the world are written in English (N-E-S-W for North - East - South - West) but at the beginning the abbreviated Latin designations were used by Westerner compass makers:

Latin

North: SE = septentriones
East: OR = oriens
South: ME = meridies
West: OC = occidens


(Picture seattlesbestart)

Arabic

North: shamal, etymology: Sham-al = a statue / god which stood North of Arabia
South: janoub, etym.: janb = side
East: sharq (q = hard k), etym. shoroq = sunrise
West: raRb (pronounce the 1st r like in French and the 2nd like in Spanish), etym.: ghorob = sunset
(source: Yahoo! Q/A - Hakim)

See also category Religion (Islam)


 pts_card_arab   

In the picture above, East is written in the old way with the letter Q for qibla but on the compass dial the letter SHIN was used for both North and East.

Bulgarian

Like Russian except for the East which is called (pronounce iztok) instead of BOCTOK (pronounce vostok).


Chinese and Japanese

(Picture at left: classical - right: modern - see also RELIGION / Feng Shui)



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Czech

North = SEVERNÍ
East = WÝCHOD
South = JIH
West = ZAPÁD

Danish


North : norden
East : øst
South : syd
West : vest

Dutch

Like German, except South which is called Zuiden


French

Nord - Est - Sud - Ouest
These letters were also used in most roman languages like Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
Romanian is a little bit different (see below)
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German

Norden - Osten - Süden - Westen

Hungarian

North: észak
East: kelet
South: dél
West: nyugat

India 

North: ...
East: ...
South: ...
West: ...

This compass dial features cardinals (only E, S and W, North being represented by a fleur de lis) both in Urdu and Sanskrit languages.










(Picture The Boreal Arrow)

Japanese (= Chinese)

 (see example in Wrist-top compasses Japan)

Polish

North = PÓŁNOC
East = WSCHÓD
South = POŁUDNIE
West = ZACHÓD


Romanian

Nord,
Est,
Sud,
Vest,

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Russian

(Compare with Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian)

Serbo-croatian (latin and cyrillic)

North: sever
East: istok
South: jug
West: zapad
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Swedish

North: norden
East: öster
South: söder
West: väster

Turkish

The cardinal points in Turkish on an old compass written in the Arabic alphabet. North is marked by a fleur de lis (heraldic lily)

Picture courtesy Kornelia Takacs
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HAZARDS FROM RADIOACTIVE MARKINGS

Like the figures in watches, the cardinal points and some other markings on the dial and the needle used to be realised with a paint made of a compound of radium bromide and zinc sulfide: the radiating radium bromide excites the zinc sulfide which glows in the dark. After some years, the zinc sulfide no longer glows but the radium remains dangerous!
You can find more information about these hazards in the following websites:

- short information about radium.
- Concerning old military watches.
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FAKES AND NAZI COMPASSES

The most common fakes are those of the Brunton Transit compass (renamed Brinton or Bronton and manufactured in India) and the T.G. Co. Ltd London Mark III compass (see these entries). You willl find comprehensive information about this topic on the website gemmary files.



Picture sent by a visitor		 We are frequently asked questions concerning compasses with symbols of ancient nazi Germany, typically an eagle and the cross called swastika. On some, the eagle has fancy feathers (see picture at left) and doesn't resemble the Third Reich's eagle with its strait feathers.
You can also find bakelite Bézard compasses with the abbreviation D.R.P. (see abbr. above) together with these symbols on the casing. Very common are also some on which a few German names were engraved like U-Boot (submarine), LEICA (camera manufacturer), KRUPP (Steel works) and FÜHRER ("the guide", Hitler's unofficial but generally used titel) - even on an equinoctial sundial !
In addition to the discussion of this topic, the website of flagdealer.com displays good pictures of a wonderful example of gross fake. Even the famous Song Deutschland über alles (Germany above all) was changed in Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) but there is a typo: in Deutschand, the letter 'l' is missing.
Ex. 1 : false nazi compass ; ex. 2 : YELLOW SUBMARINE ; to be cont'd...
All these items are fakes and worthless. The nazi symbols were only utilized on stamps and official documents, on uniforms and flags and for aircraft identification but never on tools and instruments.

So please, save your money or make a donation to the Online Compass Museum.