SURVEY & ARTILLERY (cont'd)

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- D -

DARLEY

PROFILE - Former US company located in Melrose Park, Suburb of Chicago.


Dip compass

(Click on the picture for enlarged view)		 Technical Data
- Diameter: 85 mm
- Depth: 27 mm
- Weight: 260 gr
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.

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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)
The compass 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)

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DIETZGEN

PROFILE - For information concerning this compass manufacturer and many others not listed here, visit the Virtual Survey Museum
(see LINKS).

Dip (Needle) Compass

(see also DARLEY above)



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

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- F -

FENNEL

PROFILE: Former German company located in Cassel (Hesse).
Although bearing no maker's name, it is highly probable that this item was manufactured by this maker because of the typical clinometer's shape. Voigtländer also produced identical instruments.



Engraved on reverse:

S. Bloch - Strassburg 1/2

The declination (handwritten in the lid) corresponds to Strasbourg (in German) for the year 1914. The figure for 1913 is still visible.

 Technical Data
- Diameter: 68 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 175 gr
- Serial-No.: 102

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FPM Holding - Freiberger Präzisionsmechanik

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


Spiegelkompass (mirror compass - 1957)
(Click on pictures for enlarged views)
Technical Data
- Material: aluminium
Dimensions
- Diameter: 68 mm
- Length: 100 mm
- Breadth: 58 mm,
- Serial No.: 63858
- Clinometer, level gauge, mirror (in the lid). 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.

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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

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- 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.

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: ... g
- Divisions: ....

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

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GOERZ

PROFILE - (draft) Carl Paul GOERZ Optische Anstalt was a German company in Berlin (see WIKIPEDIA).
This artillery compass type was built by several companies, among them the famous camera manufacturer Carl Zeiss (Jena).



(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

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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 g
- Graduation: 4 quadrants
- Material: Wooden box in a commonly used shape (see also Busch, Wardale, Morin, S-L etc...)

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- H -

HUET

PROFILE - Former French company located in Paris (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.



(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)

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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 top and bottom picture 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 picture for enlarged view)

Technical Data
- Diameter: 100 mm (4")
- Depth (casing): 17 mm
- Weight: 207 gr

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- K -

KERN

PROFILE - Former Swiss company (for more information click HERE - see also in the category MARCHING COMPASSES).
This instrument 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.



(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
- ...
- ...

Manual (in German language) is available.
Ask the curator for photocopies.

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K&R (Kasper & Richter)

PROFILE - German company located in Uttenreuth (Bavaria). For more information click HERE.
(see also category MARCHING COMPASSES).



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 donated to the Online Compass Museum by K&R.

(Click on 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 scale

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KEUFFEL & ESSER

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



(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 by A. Sancho Urbina - private collection)

NORTH is indicated by a fleur-de-lis and not by a star.
(Click to enlarge)

User's instructions

 BRUNTON TYPE POCKET TRANSIT


(Click to enlarge)

Technical Data
- Case: aluminium
- Divisions: 360 deg., counterclockwise
- Dimensions: 75 x 70 x 30 mm
- Weight: 235 gr

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.

Copies of the user's instructions can be ordered (see SHOP).



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

(Pictures G. de Villèle - priv. coll.)
 Model name 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) reminds of the new system of numbering for the sections (640 acres, one mile square) in a township. This system was a creation of 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.

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).

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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)

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CONT'D