SURVEY & ARTILLERY (cont'd)

Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- D -

DARLEY

PROFILE - This dip needle compass was made by a U.S. manufacturer located in Melrose Park, a suburb of Chicago.

(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)		 Technical Data
- Diameter: 85mm
- Depth: 27mm
- Weight: 260gr
The cotter pin at the end of the chain is used as a stop for the needle which is then caught between it and the black foam block.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

DELCROIX

PROFILE (DRAFT) - Paul Guillaume DELCROIX was a French officer (for more information click HERE)
He developped two compass systems. The first one, when he was a captain, was part of an instrument patented in 1892 (no. 224.290) and called Règle topographique - boussole rapporteur (topographical ruler - protractor compass). It was presented during the 22nd meeting of the 'Association française pour le développement des sciences' (French association for the development of sciences). This description is to be found in the association's meeting minutes published in 1893 in the review LA NATURE (on line accessible on the website of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers).
Delcroix published in 1894 the corresponding user's instructions. We don't know whether this instrument was built in large series and issued to other users than the French Army's survey units.

His other development was a smal hand-held marching compass (see this category).


Drawing : User's instructions 		Patent - figures (click on the picture for an enlarged view)

 Functional description: see patent and users' instructions

Technical Data
- Dimensions (fully opened): ... x ... x ... mm
- Weight: ... gr
- Compass: easily removable for separate use
- Divisions: 400 grades
- Mirror: it is covered with a layer of platin, half transparent, has millimeter lines and can be tilted
- Scales on sides:
. left: 1/80,000, 1/40,000e and 1/20,000
. right: metric scales (1/10,000 and 1/100,000 for military and foreign maps
- Users' instructions: in short on two papers glued on the instrument's rear face and in a comprehensive manual (27 pages, copies can be ordered)
View from above (sun shield flipped backwards) and mirror detail view

 		 Side views
(Click for enlarged view)



Left hand side



Right hand side

(Pict. Jaypee - priv. coll.)		 View from aft to front (w/o the mirror)
Excerpt of the users' instruction:
"Echelles des écartements des courbes pour l'équidistance de 1/4 de millimètre de la carte d'état-major et des cartes topographiques en général, ceci pour les pentes usuelles de 1/2 à 10 centièmes en passant par la pente connue de 1/64."



(Click for enlarged view)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

DESOMBRE

PROFILE - Capitaine Desombre was a French officer. He designed in the late 19th c. an instrument called Boussole guide pantométrique which was manufactured by HOULLIOT. The first item was sent to him on October 25, 1893 in St-Quentin (France)*.



(Click for enlarged views)

Technical Data
- Diameter: 58 mm
- Depth: 23 mm

The very precise and exhaustive booklet (64 p.) can be ordered (ORIGINAL copies!)




* HOULLIOT's Archives
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

DIETZGEN

PROFILE - U.S. manufacturer (more information HERE) - Visit also the Virtual Survey Museum (see LINKS).



(Click on the images for enlarged views)

Pictures courtesy Starla Ryer
 Brunton transit pocket compass made by Dietzgen

Technical Data
- (See BRUNTON)
- Levels: two tubes
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

Dip (Needle) Compass

Description - Instrument also called inclination compass. It was used to measure the vertical force of the Earth's magnetism. Very precise scientific instruments allow to draw maps of equal inclination (isoclinic).
Picture at right: Instruments made by Brunner and used for establishing the isoclinic map of Spain
(Magnetismo Terrestre, Madrid 1919 - Picture courtesy David Montón Farrioli)
This type of compass was also hold vertically by a large loop and used and hence to detect metallic ore in the ground, especially in the U.S. during the Gold Rush period. See also DARLEY above.
Compare with A. Weber's magnetic probe made by FES. 



(Click on the pictures for enlarged views) 		Technical Data
- Diameter: 97mm
- Depth: 19mm
- Weight: 215gr
- Wooden case (octogonal)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

DQL-x / DQY-x

DQL and DQY are the root designation of the compasses built by the Chinese manufacturer HARBIN Optical Instrument Factory (for examples go to CHINA).

DUPUY

This instrument was designed by a compassmaker lady called Mademoiselle DUPUY who lived in Saint-Maixent where a famous school for  officers was created in 1881. This instrument resembles in many respects the famous Paul PEIGNÉ system. It looks as if it were a basic development later improved by Peigné. Compare with Sanguet's instrument.



(Pictures by Jaypee - priv. coll. -
Click on the pictures for enlarged views)
Measuring an elevation by means of the two sight tabs

Text on brass plate:
Boussole alidade à perpendicule
Melle Dupuy - St-Maixent		 Technical Data
- Dimensions: 109 x 79 x 29mm
- Wooden case 
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- E -

ELLIOTT Bros.

PROFILE - Former British company created around 1800-1804 by Wiliam Elliott (1781-1853). His two sons Frederick Henry and Charles Alfred are the "brothers" in the company's name (more information HERE).
This compass and clinometer system with rotating prism was designed by the British officer Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hebden O'Grady Haly who also was a surveyor.
Both faces (compass and clinometer) were protected by a metallic casing and only a small portion of each dial was visible under the prism. The sideways rotating prism gave view to both scales on compass and clinometer.

At right: ELLIOTT Bros. catalogue (click on image for enlarged view)



The compass face
(compare with Hutchinson)

Pictures by courtesy of N. Godridge -
Click on the images for enlarged views
This instrument featured two folding sighting vanes and a rotating prism.
Engraving on the clinometer face:
Lt. Colonel O'GRADY HALY's Compass Clinometer Patent
ELLIOTT Bros. London 		Technical Data
- Dia: 70mm
- Thickness: 25mm
- Weight: 360grs

Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- F -

FENNEL

PROFILE - Former German company located in Kassel, Königstor 16, created in 1851 by Otto FENNEL (b. 23.6.1826 - d. 1891). His son Adolf (b. 7.3.1860 - d. 1.5*.1953) joined the company in 1871. The name was later changed into Otto Fennel Söhne KG. Fennel manufactured mainly optical and measuring instruments like theodolites. The company was sold in 1968 to Steinheil Lear Siegler AG and the production moved to Munich/Ismaning. Later, the joint venture Theis, Wolzhausen und Führer & Co. located in Baunatal/Kassel near Otto's workshop location, bought the production and selling rights for the Fennel instruments. The name was changed into geo.FENNEL in 1978.
* This date appears in a company description transmitted as a pdf document by geo-FENNEL. On many websites the date indicated is 1.3.1953.



Pictures by courtesy of Fletch Bruno
Click on the images for enlarged views
Technical Data
- Dim.: identical to BRUNTON
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

FPM Holding - Freiberger Präzisionsmechanik

PROFILE - German company located in Freiberg, Saxony (more information HERE).
See also Marching Compasses and Wrist Compasses.


Spiegelkompass (mirror compass - 1957)
(Click on pictures for enlarged views)

On the green model used in the GDR's Army NVA, the logo didn't contain the company's name.
 Technical Data
Dimensions
- Diameter: 68 mm
- Length: 100 mm
- Breadth: 58 mm,
- Serial No.: 63858
- Pendulum clinometer, level gauge, mirror (in the lid).
- Material: aluminium.
The vanes' ends are shaped with opposite hooks so that the compass can be hung on a string in a mine gallery to measures angles.
Geologenkompass
(surveyor's compass, c. 1970)



(Click on pictures for enlarged views)


Clinometer (5 grades) and Level		 Technical Data
- Dimensions: 93 x 75 x 22 mm
- Clinometer (lock at underside), double levels
Markings: FPM Logo and DDR


User's manual (VEB FPM, DDR)


(Pictures courtesy Struck)		 Miner's compass (1965)

Technical Data
- Diameter: 110 mm
- Length: 240 mm
- Depth: 120 mm
- Serial No.: 54515

This compass is used suspended on a string along the axis of mines galleries to measure their orientation.
Click on link for description.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

FUESS

PROFILE - Rudolf FUESS was a German company (more information HERE).
See also category Marching compasses.
This instrument was visibly integrated in an equipment with mirror because the cardinals are printed inverted under the glas window. It could be attached to this equipment by means of a locking mechanism and a small rectangular fitting located on the casing's side. Paper with luminous (radium?) paint was glued onto the needle and on a black bar located under the needle. One half of the black bar is made of black cardboard, the other half is the metallic transit lock lever. On either side of the North mark (NNE and NNW) is a rectangular black paint patch with a dot of luminous paint on the reverse (see pictures below). A disk of plastic on which the company's name is printed is attached with 2 screws to the bottom of the casing.
We don't know by now to which equipment this instrument belonged.



(Click for enlarged view)


Technical Data
- Diameter: 2 1/2" - 63 mm
- Depth: 4/5" - 20 mm
- Weight: 150 gr
- Divisions: only main cardinals
- Date: approx. WWII
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- G -

GAMBS

PROFILE - GAMBS was a French manufacturer / retailer of optical instruments like microscopes.
Several generations ran the shop located in Lyon. His name appears here on a surveyor's lensatic compass model NT1 made by the Swiss manufacturer WILD.

GANSER

PROFILE - Otto A. Ganser (Vienna, Austria) was the (manufacturer/retailer?) of a M.15-type compass (compare with the M.13 model under Goerz below). A marking on top of the cover reads GOERZ / Bratislava.

Richt-Bussole M.15


Zum Vergrößern Bilder anklicken


Inside the cover: map of the isogons for central & south Europe in Czech language dated Jan. 1, 1926 (check GOERZ for German version dated 1915)

 Technical Data
- Diameter: 140 mm
- Weight: 1107 gr
- Divisions: 6400 MILS, counterclockwise
- S/N: 1107
- Level
- Needle transit lock: lever rotating by 180 deg.
- Adaption of magnetic declination: 1-300 mils.

GeoPriborTsvetMet (in cyrillic letters: see pict below)

PROFILE - Company in the former Soviet Union located in Moscow.




(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)


Pictures Ted Brink (www.collectingmilitarycompasses.tk)
 Technical Data
- Dimensions: 110 x ... x ... mm
- Weight: ... gr
- Divisions: ....

GERLACH

PROFILE - Former German manufacturer of measuring and drawing instruments located in Warsaw, Poland (for more information click HERE - See also Marching compasses)
This instrument features the same design as the U.S. Forestry Compasses (Brunton, Gurley, Lietz etc.), i.e. counter-clockwise 360 deg. divisions (resulting into inverted positions of East and West, in German language) and four quadrants. The city name of the manufacturer's address in Warsaw is indicated in French: Varsovie. Dia.: approx. 98 mm (3"  30/32). The production year is probably coded in the Serial Number: 1929.
Picture courtesy W. Wladyga

GK-2 (ГK-2 in cyrillic letters)

PROFILE - The GK-2 is a mining compass (GK is the abbr. of gornii kompas). It was built in the 1970's by the soviet era export conglomerate Mashpriborintorg (MPI, Машприборинторг) located in Moscow. The logo on this compass was apparently a hand grenade (for MPI's logo see WIKIPEDIA).
The modell GK-2B had in addition a mirror and a sight (see drawing).

Model GK-2B


(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)



The hand grenade logo and the cyrillic letter 3 (latin 'z') which stands for the Russian word zapad, West (see MISCELLANEOUS / Cardinal points)
 Model GK-2
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 115 x 77 x 24 mm
- Diameter: 70 mm
- Weight: 200 gr
- Graduation: 360 deg., counterclockwise
- Deviation adapter: +/- 10 deg on rear face, coin operated,
- Conversion table: alpha (0-90) / sin alpha (0-100)
- S/No.: 8866, date 1974
- Tube level: one
- Clinometer: push-button released
- Transit lock: screw released
- Case: aluminum
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

GOERZ

PROFILE - The German company Carl Paul GOERZ Optische Anstalt was created in 1886 in Berlin (quoted from WIKIPEDIA).
We display below two versions of an artillery compass (WW1 and WW2). See also the improved model called M.15 signed GANSER.
The latter was built by several companies, among them the famous camera manufacturer Carl Zeiss (Jena).
See also Pocket compasses.




Pictures by courtesy of Graham Dalby

 (Click for enlarged views)

Inside the cover, a map of the isogons for Central Europe in German dated Jan. 1, 1915 (check GANSER for Czech version, 1926)


The logo made of the three letters CPG engraved on the cover
 Richt-Bussole M.13 (1915)
Technical Data
- Diameter: 140 mm
- Weight: 1107 gr
- Divisions: 6400 MILS, counterclockwise
- S/N: 364
- Level
- Needle transit lock deactivation: depressing by hand the spring-loaded lever
- Markings: M.13 Richt-Bussole (aiming compass), Wien u. Pozsony (names of Goerz' plants in Vienna, Austria and Pozsony, former Hungarian designation of Bratislava, today's capital of Slovakia, which was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918).


(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)


Technical Data
- Dimensions: 115 x 105 x 26 mm
- Diameter: 100 mm
- Weight: 600 gr
- Graduation: 6400 mils, clockwise
- Needle damping: by eddy current
Detail view of support: see ZEISS

LEVEL (compare with the French and Swiss systems)


(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)
Pictures courtesy Arthur
The side ruler allows direct reading of distances in kilometers on maps with a scale of 1:20,000
 Technical Data
- Dimensions: 60 x 50 x 22 mm
- Weight: ca. 250 gr
- Optical scale in angular mils:
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

GURLEY

PROFILE - William and Lewis Ephraim Gurley were two brothers (more information HERE).

Technical Data
- Dimensions (closed): 80 x 80 x 28 mm
- Weight: 120 gr
- Graduation: 4 quadrants
- Material: Wooden box in a commonly used shape (see also Busch, Wardale, Morin, S-L etc...)


Click on the picture at left for a detailed view of the dial
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- H -

HAHN

PROFILE - The company's history:
- November 1870: The precision mechanics Arwed and Richard Hahn create a workshop in Cassel (written now Kassel) which will later become A. & R. Hahn, Cassel, Institut für militärwissenschaftliche Instrumente (Institute for military scientific instruments).
- 1910: joint venture with Actiengesellschaft (AG, limited company) Hahn für Optik und Mechanik, located in Ihringshausen/Cassel and with Optische Anstalt C. P. Goerz (Berlin) which was the leader.
- 1927: the company AG Hahn Optik und Mechanik, Kassel, is bought by Zeiss Ikon created in 1926.





Technical Data
- Dia.: 85 mm
- Divisions: 2 x 3200 MILS
- Weight: 262 g
- Material: mostly aluminum
- Manufacture period: approx. 1920-1927

(Pictures courtesy H. Brenner)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

HARBIN

PROFILE - HARBIN Optical Instrument Factory is a Chinese manufacturer located in Harbin, Province Heilongjiang (s. a. CHINA).
(s. their own website HERE). The compass models are designated via the abbreviation DQL-(fig.) and are cheap versions of famous European or U.S. items made by Breithaupt, FPM, Brunton etc.

HART

PROFILE - Joseph Hart was a British manufacturer. He worked 1785 – 1801 from no. 5, Digbeth, Birmingham.

Technical Data
- Dimensions (closed): 160mm square x 35mm deep
- Dial diameter: 145mm calibrated on outer chapter ring to 360°
- Weight: 800g 
- Hand engraved, silvered dial, blued steel needle with gold “N” and “S”.
- Transit lock engages when lid is closed
- Signature: “Hart Fecit Birming. m” (around centre of dial)

(Pictures by courtesy of Trademarklondon.com
Click on the picture at left for a detailed view of the dial)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

HOULLIOT

PROFILE - Former French company located in the Marais district in Paris (more information HERE).
This company manufactured many different compass types for French retailers and exported worlwide but didn't sign his products.
Here are some examples:
1) Berget-type prismatic compass
2) Pocket-type survey compass - Description (excerpt from a MORIN catalogue dated ca.1930)
Survey compass made of brass, with a slide-in lever for measuring slope angles. Double divisions: clinometer on the bottom plate and angles on superelevated ring (level with the needle) for azimuth angles. The transit lock is actuated by a piston sliding through the attachment ring stud.
3) Survey compass with vanes and levels

See also Houlliot's Pocket and Nautical compasses (and also Desombre). Also worth a visit, the equinoctial compasses (with sundial).

1 - Berget system


Below: User instructions



 2)



Technical Data
- Diameter: 62 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 115 gr
- Material: Brass

The museum also possesses a similar item signed by the Italian manufacturer of optical instruments, SALMOIRAGHI but made of aluminum.

 3) System with two tube levels, clinometer and declination adjustment (+/- 30°).


4) Model with mahagony case and side vanes




(Pictures by courtesy of Michel Collignon 
Click on the images for enlarged views)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

HUEL

PROFILE - French officer, inventor of a plane table system with compass.

HUET

PROFILE - Former French company located in Paris (76, boulevard de la Vilette - momentarily no other information available).
The instrument shown below is called Modèle 26 M.57 which means that it is a version modified in 1957 (this French numbering system corresponds to the U.S. and British designation Mark 1, 2 etc.) It is marked Boussole topographique (i.e. survey compass) but together with the abbreviation M.G. for Ministère de la Guerre, which means it was issued to the armed forces by France's War Department (and probably also Belgium's).
The exact positioning of the divisions ring's inner black line in front of the needle was made possible by means of a prism attached to a swivelling fitting. The latter is stiffened on this item compared with the original design built by CRC. The compass's line of sight is represented by another black line drawn opposite to the knurled screw. The magnetic deviation could be adapted to a half degree. The corresponding scale features divisions from 20° West (occidt) to 5° East.



The models 26 and 26 M. 57

(Click on pictures for enlarged views)		 Technical data
- Dimensions: 111 x 97 x 30/80 mm
(prism fitting folded / erected) 
- Weight: 295 gr
- Divisions : 400 grades, clockwise
- Luminous markings on the base frame's left beam:
fore: one arrow; aft: three dots.
- Prism for precise needle observation
-Transit lock (half circle-shaped lever) and divisions ring lock (knurled screw head)
- Below at left: detail view of the needle in the capsule.
At right: Drawing in the booklet L'Orientation by Cptn. H. Seignobosc, Berger-Levrault, 1952 (photocopies avlbl.)

 





...
This is maybe the ancestor of all French sitomètres but this one features no compass.

Technical Data
Dim.: 59 x 47 x 9 mm


On the rear face are 2 rulers: one in centimeters and the other for measuring distances on French military maps (scale: 1/80,000).
Modified version (1923/24) of the artillery level system called sitomètre.
Abbrev.: M.G. = Ministère de la Guerre
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

HUTCHINSON

PROFILE - British design (probably late 19th c.) of a prismatic compass. It appears in the F. Barker's catalogues from 1909 on.
This exhibit is signed Major Hutchinson's Improved - A & N.C.S.L.

Further hand engraved markings on top and reverse give some indication about the owner who probably served during the Boer War:
- Upper side: "M. Portal - B.B. Police (?) - Fort Calevanes (?) S. Africa"
- Reverse: "Maurice PORTAL - Heath (?) Rgt"
This instrument type is also called a 4 in. (10 cm) prismatic compass in P. Dériaz's Manual (1917), pic. at left, 2nd row.
(see also M1918)



Markings on both sides



(click on picture above and below for enlarged views)
.		 The fleur-de-lys (North symbol, as seen through the window above the protection glass facing the figure 180 deg (printed inverted to be read through the prism):

  The compass as shown in the BARKER catalogue (1909)


(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)

Technical Data
- Diameter: 100 mm (4")
- Depth (casing): 17 mm
- Weight: 207 gr
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- I -

Inclination Compass

See DIP (NEEDLE) COMPASS

- J - 

JAPAN

PROFILE -  Japanese surveyor staff compass from the late Edo period , circa 1850-1868 .  It is gimballed and has a fixed socket.



(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)

Pictures by courtesy of J. Armstrong		 Technical Data
- Dimensions (dial diam. x height, vanes folded down): 3-3/4 x 8/12  inches (95 x 215 mm)
- Weight: 1 lb.-12 oz  (780 grs)
- Cardinal points: 12 rumbs (see RELIGION / Chinese tradition)
- Engraving on the rear face in pre-1868 Kanji script: probably the a maker's name. 
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

JONES, Thomas

PROFILE - Thomas JONES (1775-1852) was a British manufacturer. He worked 62, Charing Cross, London from 1810 to 1850. He was apprenticed to and worked for the famous Jesse Ramsden (quoted from the Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers, 1850-1851 - by Gloria Clifton). He built in 1811 for the inventor Captn. H. Kater (see below) the first "prismatic compass". In fact, this instrument featured a mirror and a lens. A real prismatic compass (i.e. with a magnifying prism) was patented by Schmalcalder in the following year.
See also Barker in this section.



Click on the picture for an enlarged view of the dial

This series instrument has a transit case like the one below but oval

Technical Data
Dimensions
- Case dia.: 72mm
- Dial dia.: 66mm, white paper dial, Divisions: 360 deg. half degrees.
- Vane height: 56mm
- Weight: 130g
- Case material: lacquered brass

The glass is secured via three brackets.
The sighting optics is made of two distinct parts: a lens and a mirror.

Click on the picture for an enlarged view of the dial
 The red Morocco leather transit case, lined in burgundy velvet



Pictures by courtesy of Trademarklondon.com
 Early example of a prismatic compass manufactured under Schmalcalder’s Patent.

Technical Data
Dimensions:
- Case diameter (without protrusions): 70mm
- Diameter (incl. protrusions): 95mm
- Dial diameter: 82mm, green paper dial
- Case material: lacquered brass
- Weight (compass only): 160g

The sighting optics is made of one magnifying prism.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

- K -

Kasper & Richter

(go to K&R)

KATER, Henry

Henry Kater was a British officer and scientist (more information HERE and in WIKIPEDIA). As an astronomer he was interested in determining with precision the position of the meridian. He had the idea of replacing the rear sight (usually a slotted vane) by a fitting comprising a mirror and a lens above the card's rim to observe the position of the sun in the opposite vane's mirror (see pic at right - The fitting could be removed and placed in an angular compartment of the transit box). The figures were printed inverted on the compass card. Prototypes and a small series were built in 1811 by Thomas JONES (above). This instrument was displayed during a meeting at the Admiralty in 1915 (excerpt of minutes).
The system was patented in the following year by Schmalcalder who further developed it by adding a true prism. The French Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM, Paris) calls a compass made by Morin in the late 19th C. a KATER-type compass although it is a typical Schmalcalder-type with prism and dark filters like F. Barker & Son's. The Imperial Austrian Army also called the standard compass systems "Kater-Kompass" which were then replaced before WW1 by the famous Bézard system.

K+E

 (go to  Keuffel & Esser below)

KERN

PROFILE - Former Swiss company (for more information click HERE - see also in the category MARCHING COMPASSES).
The instrument below also known as a RECTA 85 is the result of a cooperation with RECTA (famous for his matchbox compass) and KERN. It is called a Sitometer in German Swiss (sitomètre in French), i.e. an artillery level. Compare with BÜCHI's model.
Picture at right: Survey compass with tube level, mid 19th c (Copyright Markus Jakob)



(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)
Pictures by courtesy of Jürgen Zieringer		 Artillery level (SITOMETER) 85

Technical Data
- Dimensions: ... x ... x ... mm
- Weight: g
- Tritium illumination, marking: H-3. 6 mCi/C14 90 µCI.

Manual (in German language) is available.
Ask the curator for photocopies.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

K&R (Kasper & Richter)

PROFILE - K&R is a German company (more information HERE). They produce the same high quality compasses than WILKIE whose patents were taken over in 2005.
K&R is currently offering a special version (marching compass without clinometer scale) with a luminous compass card to replace the model utilised by the Netherlands' Armed Forces.

See Marching compasses.
K&R 's website also offers an Expertise Center where you will find all answers on technical questions about the handling of compasses:

 
 
(Access the Expertise Center by
clicking on the  picture above)

Model MERIDIAN PRO with adjustable prism and fluid-filled thermoelastical capsule. This compass is almost identical with a former model made by WILKIE.

This instrument was generously donated to the Online Compass Museum by K&R.

(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)

Technical Data
- Dimensions: 99 x 63 x 30 mm
- Weight: 210 g
- Box level
- Inclination meter with percentage and gradient scale
- Conversion tables for mils/degrees, percentage/gradient and width/distance (underside, black).
- Material of case and lid: blackened metal
- Luminescent ring and disk on the newest items
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

KEUFFEL & ESSER

PROFILE - US Company New York (more information HERE)
See also Pocket Compasses.



(Pict. J. Galasso - Click for enlarged views)

Compass procured for the US-Army by the Engineers Department.
 Technical Data
- Dimensions: ... x ... x ... mm
- Divisions : 360 deg
- Material: Aluminum, dark grey paint
- Fore sight: thin metallic blade in an opening in the lid
- Production date: 1909


(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)

Forestry compass
 Technical Data
- Dimensions: 83 x 75 x 18 mm
- Weight: 190 gr
- Divisions: 360 deg. counterclockwise

The declination adaption range covers plus/minus 32.5 degrees, so that the compass can be used from the farthest point of the East coast to the extreme western end of Alaska.
Compare with the A. LIETZ Forest Service compass.
- Inclination meter in degrees
- Material of case and lid: aluminum, black paint


Keuffel & Esser's version of BRUNTON's famous POCKET TRANSIT COMPASS.
(All pictures courtesy A. Sancho Urbina except below J. Erwin) )


NORTH is indicated by a fleur-de-lis and not by a star.

The User's instructions
Copies can be ordered (see SHOP)

 BRUNTON-TYPE POCKET TRANSIT


(Click on images for enlarged views)

Technical Data
- Case: aluminium
- Division: 360 deg., counterclockwise but also available with 4 quadrants
- Dimensions: 75 x 70 x 30 mm
- Weight: 235 gr
- Table of natural sines on top of some series
(see also Brunton and FAKES)

This item was made approximately in 1943 based on the July 1926 patent. This model was the first Brunton Transit Pocket Compass not designed by David Brunton himself. It was designed by Carl M. Bernegau for Keuffel & Esser. Only the sights show some little differences: the holes are round and smaller than on David Brunton's original patent. Furthermore, the sight in the lid folds towards the mirror.



(Click on the picture for a detailed view of the dial)

(Pictures courtesy G. de Villèle - priv. coll.)
 Model RECON
Keuffel & Esser version of a compass type that was also made (later?) by Warren Knight and called CRUISER. LEUPOLD also proposed two versions of this compass (in 1957?) with a modernized and simplified dial.

The table inside the cover (square with 36 boxes) represents the new system of numbering for the sections (640 acres, one mile square) in a township. This system was created by U.S. 3rd president Thomas Jefferson (probably when he still was Governor of Virginia at the turn of the 18th c.) and designed for the westward expansion. It replaced the more traditional survey system that placed most property boundaries along natural (stream, etc.) topographic features. Read more details in LEUPOLD.

Technical Data
- Casing: Aluminum
- Divisions: 360°, counterclockwise and 4 quadrants
- Dimensions: 90 x 100 mm
- Weight: ? g
- Manufactured: middle of 20th c.
- Correction of magnetic deviation by means of a screw accessible from the underside of the casing (picture: see the comparable LEUPOLD system).

Theodolite 19th C.
Pics Jaypee - priv. coll..
The 1913 catalogue displayed 19pp of compasses:  Mining Compass,Surveying Compasses, Geologist's Compass, Prismatic Compasses, Sight Compasses, Compasses with Clinometer, Boat Compasses, Special Pocket Compasses, Pocket Compasses, Timber Cruiser Compass, Forester Compass.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

KONUS

PROFILE - Italian company



(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)		 Model KONUSTAR
Lensatic-type compass with adjustable lens
The case is identical with WILKIE's MERIDIAN model. The clinometer of the MERIDIAN PRO prismatik model was added. The glass in the lid features a sighting device with a distance measuring system and a small lens allowing for higher precision when taking a bearing of distant objects.

Technical Data
- Dimensions: 100 x 65 x 30 mm; Weight: 305 g
- Divisions: 360 deg., clockwise
- Level: round
- Clinometer: Pendulum system, degrees and gradient (in 3 languages: German, Italian, Spanish)
- Casing material: Aluminium
- Made in PRC (People's Republic of China)


(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)



The capsule's luminosity is also used for the clinometer

 Model TRAVEL
Conventional lensatic-type compass

Technical Data
- Dimensions: 85 x 60 x 28 mm
- Weight: 130 g
- Divisions: 360 deg./6400 mils., clockwise
- Clinometer: two 90 degrees ranges (red and black figures), locked when not in use, visible in complete darkness
- Distance measuring dial (3 scales): 1:25.000, 1:50.000, 1:100.000
- Lid: sighting system with rangemeter
- Side sight for clinometer
- Casing material: plastic
- Made in PRC (People's Republic of China)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Survey compasses)

CONT'D