SURVEY & ARTILLERY (cont'd)

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- S -

SALMOIRAGHI

PROFILE - Italian company (optical instrumente). This compass was most probably made for Salmoiraghi by a compass maker (compare with FENNEL).

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SCHUBERT & VIALON

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
-

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SECRÉTAN

PROFILE - Former French company (for more information click HERE).
The drawings are copies from catalogues dating back to the early 20th c.

 

Surveyor's cross staff head
(octagonal form)



Item with French cardinal points.
See a dial in Dutch language under MISCELLANEOUS / Cardinal points 

Picture above: MORIN catalogue 1930. This item also appears in a Casella catalogue. Surveyor's instrument used to determine right angles. It was available with a cylindric, hexagonal or spherical body, sometimes topped by a compass. MORIN wrote that they only produced such instruments with cylindrical body.  

Technical Data
- Dimensions:  65 x 65 x 162 mm
- Weight: approx. 700 gr
- Sighting: The slots are equipped with horse hairs attached with screws.

For more details, visit the GÉOMUSÉE's website (see address in LINKS)


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

Artillery Level

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

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Miner's compass (signed by SECRETAN)



(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

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S-L (Société des Lunetiers)

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

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SPENCER, BROWNING & RUST

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.

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SPRENGER

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)

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STANLEY

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

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STOPPANI

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

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- T -

TROUGH COMPASS



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

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- V -

VOIGTLÄNDER

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

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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.).

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- W -

WICHMANN

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

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WILD

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

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WILKIE (Wilhelm Kienzler)

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

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WINTERER

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.

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- X -

XBK

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)

 

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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.

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Level (sitomètre) - France (unidentified manufacturer- Lemaire?)

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?).

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France (unidentified manufacturer)

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.

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Y - Z

ZMI / 3Mu in cyrillic letters (italic)

PROFILE - Abbr. name of a company in the former Soviet Union (see B-2)

ZEISS, Carl

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)

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