- S -
PROFILE - Italian company (optical instrumente). This compass
was most probably made for Salmoiraghi by a compass maker (compare with
FENNEL).
PROFILE - Former German manufacturer located in
Berlin, Wilhelmstr. 48 -
Mathematical and survey instruments, theodolites,
tachymeter, drawing tools, measuring instruments.
(Quoted from the
Directory
of
living physicists, mathematicians and astronomers
by Fr. Strobelm Leipzig, 1905).
Picture at right: a cylindrical cross staff head made by S.
& V (
Photograph
by Hendrik Niztschke - click to enlarge).
|
|
Compass with folding alidade
(apparently the rear part of the sighting device is missing on this
item)
|
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: ... mm
- Divisions: 360°
Signature on the horizontal arm:

(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)
Pictures
by La-Belle-Collection |
Signature on cover:
|
(Click on the picture for a detailed view)
The capsule is made of two glass disks: the upper one with a red line
is a bezel and can be locked with a lateral screw. The lower one bears
the divisions (0 à
180°). The needle's tips are bent upwards.
|
Technial
Data
- Dimensions: 94 x 70 x 20 mm
- Divisions: 2 x 180°, no cardinal points
- Weight: 230 gr
- Transit lock: automatic when closing
- Double-sided metallic cover
- |
PROFILE - Former French company (for more information click
HERE).
The drawings are copies from catalogues dating back to the early 20th
c.
TROUGH COMPASSES
Very sensitive and precise instruments used for aligning land
surveyors'
plane tables.

(Picture by LEVECHER -
Click for enlarged view) |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 215 x 110 x 28 mm
- Weight: 465 g
- Material: Mahogany
- Graduations: +/- 30°
- Transit lock: actuated by the closing of the lid.
- Manufacturing period: 19th century |

|

(Click on pictures for
enlarged view) |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 154 x 40 x 15 mm
- Weight: 110 gr
- Material: Bakelite
- Needle lock: lever at one end of the case.
- Manfufacturing period: ca. 1930 |
This device is an
artillery
level
(called sitomètre in French). It was invented in 1910 by
Gilbert GARNIER, a French oficier (1874-1964) while working at the
Ateliers de Puteaux (APX). It is called sitogoniomètre
because it combines a sitometer and a compass. This device is used to
aim pieces of
artillery (setting of the elevation angle) at a target.
Description and use: see 'Note Technique' J.39469 35, issued by the
Ministère de la Guerre (French War Department) July 16, 1929
(copies in French can be ordered).
A short description and user's instruction is also to be found in
MORIN's catalogue (see copy in the
French
article)
Sitomètre
Modèle (Mle) 1911 designed for the French 75 mm cannon
(model 1897).


The upper window is the light entrance for the scales
(Click on the pictures for
enlarged views) |
There were four
different models vith various azimut scales (seen through the large
viewer):
two in angular mils (500 and 800), one in grades (1000) and a special
one in 553 mils to measure the ammunition's side drift when shooting.
Figures in top row in mils
 |

Elevation scale as seen through the small square viewer located at the
left end on the casing's side
Divisions range on right hand scale:
+250/-250.
This instrument must be held verticaly by the lanyard holder. The
bubble shows the horizontal line. |
Drawing:
longitudinal cut view showing the internal structure

(click for
enlarged view)
Drawings : Note Technique (1929) and MORIN catalogue (1930) |
Technical
data
- Dimensions: 63 x 41 x 8 mm
- Weight: 40 gr
- Table:
. left col.: range of the 75 mm cannon (1-6km)
. center col.: elevation angle
. right col.: parallax |

(Click on the pictures for
enlarged views) |

(For a view of the tools and the case see MINERS'
COMPASS)
|

|
Gimballed miner's compass
Technical Data
- Dimensions (gimbal): 240 x 170 mm
- Diameter: 150 mm
- Weight: 1200 gr
- Divisions: 360 deg
- Precision: 0.5 deg
|
PROFILE : Former French company (for more information click
HERE).
S-L's product range covered almost the whole spectrum of survey
equipment and not only pocket compasses (see this category) Many items
may in reality have been manufactured by MORIN or SECRÉTAN
but it is no longer possible to find out today.
This bakelite version of the famous système du
général Peigné is an exception because
it is signed by S-L - although its description also appeared in the
French major retailer's catalogue Manufrance.

 |
 |
 |
Technical
Data
- Material: bakelite
- Ruler: 170 mm
- Lid locking by means of a notched double pin and a spring loaded
piston
- Divisions: 360 degrees
- Instructions for use: white cardboard, with wood models identical |
PROFILE - Former British compass maker.
"Spencer, Browning & Rust were optical and mathematical
Instrument Makers who worked from 327 Wapping High Street (1784-97), 66
Wapping (1797-1840) London. A partnership between William Spencer,
Samual Browning and Ebenezer Rust who were all apprentices of Richard
Rust."
Cited after Banfields book : BAROMETER MAKERS AND RETAILERS 1660 - 1900
(no more information momentarily available - your help is welcome).
England, early 19th century

|

|
Technical
Data
Markings in dial: Spencer Browning & Rust, London
- Case and lid material: copper
- Diameter: 124 mm
- Depth (with tripod fitting): 48 mm
- Depth (compass alone): 18 mm
- Weight (without lid): approx. 1.3 kg
- Weight (lid): 315 gr
- Divisions: 360 degrees, counterclockwise and quadrants.
 |
PROFILE - Ed. SPRENGER was a German manufacturer
of optical measuring instruments like theodolites. During WWII his
secret code was
cln.
(no other information momentarily available).

This instrument has great
similarities with the following STOPPANI compass |

|
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 90 x 80 x 20 mm
- Weight: 300 gr
- Divisions: 360 deg., counterclockwise
- Precision: 1 deg.
- Material: aluminium
(Photo Houcke -
Private collection) |
PROFILE - former british company (1902-1998) See also marching
compasses. No other information momentarily available - your help is
welcome.

Schmalcalder-type
compass |
The old STANLEY
company's logo

|
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: ? mm
- Weight (w/o lid): ? gr
- Case material: brass
|
PROFILE - (no information momentarily available - your help
is welcome)

|

|
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 95 x 82 x 18 mm
- Weight (w/o case): 580 gr
- Case material: brass or copper. Vanes fold into side slots.
- Magnetic needle is locked by a big flat head screw
- Box material: light wood with felt cushions
- Divisions: 400 grades counterclockwise. Ruler: 70 mm |
- T -

Other examples: see MORIN, RICHER, SECRETAN. |
Modern metallic
instrument of unknown origin but most probably German
(Definition : see MISCELLANEOUS / Glossary)
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 140 x 21 x 13 mm
- Weight: 87 gr |
Military
instrument made by an unidentified manufacturer - probably in Austria
Trough compass for optical sights
The picture at right shows one item installed in a theodolite.
 |

Theodolite made by CARL ZEISS, reused by the Czech armed forces. |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 75 x 21 x 12 mm
- Weight: 35 gr |
- V -
PROFILE - Johann Christoph Voigtländer (b. 1732 in
Leipzig - d. June 27, 1797 in Vienna) was a German compass maker. He is
known to have been working in Vienna as early as 1755. His youngest son
Johann Friedrich Voigtländer created in 1808 a shop for
optical instruments. He founded a subsidiary in Brunswick, Lower-Saxony
(Germany) in 1849. In 1956, the company was sold to the Carl Zeiss
foundation which took also over Zeiss Ikon. Voigtländer closed
on Aug. 4, 1971.
Source: WIKIPEDIA (German)
The Brunswick plant built compasses for the artillery in the early 19th
c.
Original
compass, signed
I. C. VOIGTLAENDER


(Photo transmitted by a
visitor
priv. coll.) |
Compass
unsigned but probably made by the Vienna shop
 |
Survey compass,
late 19th c.
Technical Data
Side length: 125 mm
- Depth: 18 mm
- Weight: 700 gr
- Divisions: 360 deg., clockwise
- Material: Messing |
 |
 |
Artillery
compass, WWI
Technical Data
Dimensions: 102 x 80 mm
- Diameter: 60 mm
- Depth (sights upright): 75 mm
- Weight: 280 gr
- Divisions: 6400 MILS, counterclockwise
- Ruler: 100 mm
- Material: Brass, blackened
This compass type was built by severa manufaturers like PLATH (Hamburg)
an HILDEBRAND (Freiberg/Sachsen). |
 |
 |
Artillery
compass, WWI (unsigned)
Technical Data
(see above)
- Pouch: cardboard and linen
Same model as above. Engraved in the corners, the abbr. M.W.B
(Minenwerferbataillon,
mine launcher bataillon) and the figures: 6.
(l.) and 3. (r.). |
- W -
PROFILE - German instrument maker, retailer of compasses
(Gebrüder Wichmann m.b.H., Berlin) built by the Saxon company
now called FPM Holding. Example:
 |
 |
 |
Schmalcalder-type
compass
Technical Data
- Diameter: 75 mm
- Depth (capsule): 16 mm
- Weight: 285 gr
- Manufactured approx. 1920-30
|
PROFILE - Swiss manufacturer (for more information click
HERE.)
The compass model NT1 was used together with a
theodolite.
It was manufactured from
1939 until 1956. A spare point was also carried in a special
compartment in the
leather
case. This item was sold by the French optician
GAMBS (
click on the links to see the
relevant objects).
Compass Model NT1

|

The transit lock screw is
located beneath the capsule.
|

|

The retailer's logo:
GAMBS / Lyon
Technical Data
- Height : 800 mm
- Diameter : 850 mm
- Weight : 280 g
- Divisions: 400 grades
- Precision: 1/3rd grade
- Crystal: ground-glass screen |

WILD compass (catalogue) |
 |

Reading: 37°,3
Count the number of dashes between the first figure at left in the
lower row (30) and the first figure at right in the upper row (210),
i.e. 7 in this example. The tenth value can be assessed by means of the
relative position of one of the divisions in the upper row between two
divisions in the lower row, here approx. 3/10. |
Double prismatic
compass
(see also aiming circle)
Technical Data
- Diameter: .. mm
- Height: .. mm
- Weight: ... gr
- Divisions: degrees or grades |
PROFILE - Former German company (for more information click
HERE).
See also the categories Nautical, Pocket, Wrist-top and
Marching compasses.

Model MERIDIAN PRO with adjustable prism and fluid-filled
thermoelastical capsule |

 |
Prismatic compass (1970's) with double manufacturer
indication: ORIGINAL WILKIE along the West-East-line on the crystal
(like the BÉZARD marching compasses) and
WILKIE W. Germany on the card.
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 99 x 63 x 30 mm
- Weight: 210 gr
- Box level
- Inclination meter with percentage and gradient scale
- Conversion tables for mils/degrees, percentage/gradient and
width/distance (sticker, black on white).
- Material of case and lid: blackened metal
|

Lensatic model MERIDIAN (1970's) |

|

Picture: reading precision
- Dimensions and weight: as above |
PROFILE - Franz WINTERER was an Austrian officer (for more
information click
HERE).
He developed four different compass models. The models I and II shown
here were for military use. Two smaller ones are described in the
category Marching Compasses.
A similar system was patented in Italy a few years later by
Fernando SCHLACHT.
This exhibit is a Model II export item for Italy. It bears following
markings on the lid:
- R. ESERCITO ITALIANO (Royal Italian Army)
- BREVETTO (Italian Patent no.) 348575
- L'AUTARCHIA Prod.Esclus.Comm.V LA BARBERA - ROMA (model name:
AUTARCHIA - exclusively marketed by V. LA BARBERA, ROME).
The sighting is done using either the
V-shaped notch on the short end of the rifle-type sight's rear part
(which can be erected by 90 degreees) or the slot on the long end. The
front sight element is a thin blade screwed onto the mirror's lower rim
(in line with the slot). The other end of this blade fits into a groove
on the upper face of the casing. In the capsule is a transparent disk
with the words LETTURA CARTOGRAFICA (map inscriptions) on a West-East
axis (The German version of this compass reads KARTENSCHRIFT). This is
similar to the transversal wording on the Bézard compasses.
These words must be placed parallel to the place names on the map so
that the compass rose's North-South axis is parallel to the map's
meridian lines. The capsule ist therefore transparent. On the rear face
is a red grid (squares of 5 mm side length).
The leather pouch has a level in a green metallic tube attached to a
metallic plate on which following text is written: PER CARTE
TOPOGRAFICHE (for land survey maps). Both ends of this plate have a
round cut-out with a scale indication: 1:25.000 - 250 m and
respectively 1:100.000 - 1000 m.
The case has two holes, one of which being designed for a plane table
screw and the other for sticking the compass onto any piece of wood.


(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)

German compass rose with grid, 6400 mils, and zero facing South
(Picture courtesy Ralf von
Wittich) |
Models I and II

Sighting with the small model II through the erected sight slot
Model with WEST-OST bar like on the Bézard
compasses:

(Picture
Zeller)
|
Technical Data
- Case: aluminium
- Dimensions: 95 x 52 x 15 mm
- Weight: 130 gr
- Rulers on case sides with divisions in cm but without figures.
- On both sides of the mirror are scales indicated:
1:100.000 and 1:25.000
- Compass rose graduation: 360 Grad. The figures are displayed on two
concentric circles. Cardinal points in Italian (N O S E). On the German
models, the compass rose displays a 6400 mils graduation with the zero
facing South (see also the remark concerning the change of design "zero
facing North" in the special chapter dedicated to the BÉZARD
Marching compass).
Project of a version with clinometer - Patent no. 131457
(Click on picture below to
open a pdf)
|

Drawing in the User's manual:
The level can be adapted to the compass rose for the clinometer
function.
(Click on the picture for
an enlarged view) |

Clinometer function.
The pouch also features a fitting for tripods. All three parts can
constitute then a single unit. |

Sighting with the compass attached to a simple branch stuck into the
ground. |
- X -
PROFILE - xbk was the industrial code of the Czechoslovakian
optics company MEOPTA during the communist era.
The crossed swords are the symbol of Czechoslovakia's armed forces.
There is also a version with the company name and a five-branched star
(for the soviet troops?)
This compass casing's shape is to be found on the contemporary compass
called
KONUS TRAVEL,
in particular the window in the lid and the clinometer's sights at the
rear side under the lid's hinge.

|
Inscriptions on the lid:
1/6000 (MILS division type)
3991 (serial no.)

Click on picture at left for MEOPTA version (Photo Dr. P. Spielberg)
|
Technical
Data
- Prism (not adjustable)
- Casing: aluminium, military green paint
- Dimensions : 78 x 60 x 32 mm
- Weight: 215 g
- Ruler: 50 mm
- Divisions (marching angle ring): 6000 mils, clockwise
- Card: aluminium, fluid damped, with arrow at North, other cardinals
in Czech language (V - J - Z)
- Clinometer: press-button released, gravity controled wheel,
divisions: 6000 mils (Warsaw Pact system: 1500 for 90 °),
sights on lid's hinge side
Conversion table (self-adhesive) for 6400 mils (NATO) / 6000 mils.
(Warsaw Pact), engraved on the MEOPTA version
Click on the pictures for
details (photo at left: the engraved table of the MEOPTA version)
 |
Sitometer, Germany (unidentified manufacturer- C. Stockert?)

Front lens for lateral reading

(Click on the pictures for
enlarged views) |
Conversion table (reverse):
grades/mils/degrees

Prism and gun-type sight
 |
Technical Data
- Case: aluminum
- Dimensions: 85 x 60 x 26 mm
- Weight: 230 gr
- Ruler: 70 mm
- Crown divisions: 6400 mill., anticlockwise
- Rose: liquid damped (capsule is empty)
- Clinometer: gravity stabilised wheel, divisions 0-100 units

NOTE: the compass card's design (dark disk with a short arrow) is also
to be seen on a WILKIE marching compass built in the 50's/60's. |
This compass was probably built in the late 19th c. or was
used until WWI. It resembles in some way the
sitomètres
produced by BÜCHI and LEMAIRE.
The main difference remain in the device for aiming at and measuring
elevation angles in the shape of two small sighting and viewing tubes.
This item is said to comprise (but we have no evidence) a table of some
French cities with their latitude just like the older sundials. We were
told that this table can be observed through a tiny hole below the
transit loop.
This instrument features on one side:
- a rectangular window in which the value of the azimuth angle shown by
the compass card can be read by means of a prism,
- two tiny tubes which build the clinometer:
In one of them is a reticle (crosshair) like the
Chinese compass displayed
above while the other is a display of the elevation angle shown by the
measuring unit (probably a wheel like the German compass above). We
unfortunately don't know in which unit (percentage or degrees).
NOTE: The description above and
the pictures below were sent by a friendly visitor. We would be very
grateful if some collector possessing such a compass in working order
would contact us and help completing this entry. Many thanks in advance.

The ruler (with divisions from 0 to 6) allows for direct measuring of
distances on the old French military maps whose scale was 1:80,000)
with a precision of 50m (compare with the ROSSIGNOL compass
above).


|
The compass card
(Click to enlarge)

It is secured when not in use. Free movement is only possible when the
push-button beside the square window is depressed.
Angle values can be read in the small side window through a prism.
 |
Technical Data
- Case: copper (?)
- Dimensions: 80 x 41 x 17 mm
- Weight: ? gr
- Ruler: 1:80,000 scale (6km), precision 50m
The clinometer window
Text at right reads:
TANGENTES DES PENTES
(overall slope angle)

Elevation angles can be measured by placing the compass in a vertical
plane. To this purpose, a slot located at the underside allows for
securing it onto a plane surface (part of a gun?). |
This compass is also unique: one can measure distances of up
to one meter by means of the integrated mechanism. One notched wheel
protruding from the casing's side indicates 100 mm. Each full rotation
of it causes a small wheel to advance by one unit. It bears numbers
from 0 to 9 (decimeters). These values can be read through the two
heart-shaped windows on the rear face.

|
The rear face with the two windows
(Click on the pictures for detailed
views)
 |
Technical Data
- Casing material: Nickel
- Dimensions: 80 x 41 x 17 mm
- Weight: 100 g
- Ruler: 50 mm
- Clinometer: 2 x 60 deg.
- Compass divisions: 360 deg. clockwise
- The needle can be locked for transit, but its oscillations an be
manuallly slowed downs by means of an additional lever.
- Serial (or model?) number (rear face, bottom): 1
- Folding sights consisting of two plates: one with a pin-hole, the
other with a square window with a vertical pin.
 |
Y - Z
PROFILE - Abbr. name of a company in the former Soviet Union (see
B-2)
PROFILE - Famous German company located in Iena (Jena in
German).
Carl Zeiss built among other instruments during WWII an artillery
compass like the one we display made by
GOERZ.
See this company's own website.
NOTE: On some of them the company's name is abbreviated C.Z. which
leads some people to believe that this is a Czech product. This is
totally illogical because the cardinal points are indicated in German.
See MISCELLANEOUS for the name of the cardinal points in Czech language.

(Picture
sent by a private collector)
|

Version with abbreviated manufacturer's name
(C.Z.)
(Picture Ted
Brink - collectingmilitarycompasses.tk) |