ALPHABETICAL LIST OF IDENTIFIED
MANUFACTURERS
NOTE: The following list comprises the
manufacturers'
names of the compasses exhibited here who could be identified.
Other exhibits still lack identification. We also added some
technical
terms.
- A -
PROFILE - ASKANIA is a German company (Askaniawerke AG). For
more information click
HERE.
(see also cat. AERONAUTICAL COMPASSES, BAMBERG / Friedenau)
This compass features a NATO Stock Number (NSN): the figure 6605 stands
for
Marching Compass and the figure 12 for Germany.
The other figures are a code for the manufacturer and the
specification. It was issued the German Army (Bundeswehr) created 1956
but may be already before to the German Border Protection troops
(Bundesgrenzschutz) created 1951. Compare with the Breithaupt model
CONAT below.
A very similar model was already in use during the late 1940's/early
50's in Belgium's and Netherlands' Armies.
Belgium's Army (ABL = Armée Belge / Belgisch Leger) used
compasses made after Askania's name
change to
BODAN. On one face, there is a logo with the letters W and V in a
circle
above the German city's name of BIELEFELD where there probably was a
plant. This compass featured double graduation: degrees and mils.
(Click on picture for enlarged view)

 |
This compass bears the logo consisting of three intermingled triangles
representing the three "A"s of the company's name "AskAniA" (right). In
the lid is the plant's name BODENSEEWERK (Lake Constance facilities)
engraved.
Belgium's compass :
(Click on picture for
detailed view)
|
The company's
name with three upper case "A"s (AskAniA) on a Dutch Army compass.
Placed above an elongated oval, it looks like a crown.
(Click on picture for
enlarged view)
Picture Ted Brink / LINKS, Military compasses
Technical Data
- Dimensions (folded): 70 x 70 x 18 mm
- Weight: 140 gr
- Ruler: 100 mm
- Divisions (Germany): 6400 mils
- East-West stripe like on the Bézard compasses. On Warsaw
Pact
compasses (see FPM), this stripe is always oriented along the
North-South axis. |
PROFILE - French clock and watch maker. The
Maison
J. AURICOSTE which manufactures mainly clocks for the navy
but also luxurious and pilots watches has been existing since 1854.
This clock maker built at the beginning of the 20th century a compass
based on a patent (1902) by Johann von Bézard, the inventor
of the famous compass.
This French version appears in an advertisement in a newspaper dated
1915 (in the midst of WW I). Two different boxes are known: one without
any picture and one showing the flags of the main countries at war with
Germany (without the USA). One was produced before and the other during
WW I.
The main features of the Bézard patent are reproduced. The
only visible difference with the Original Bézard compass as
manufactured in Germany by LUFFT is in the shape of the arrow's rear
part in the lid and in the rose (compare with the pictures in
The Bézard Compass)
 |
 |

The value of the magnetic deviation at this time (9 degrees West) was
taken into account by glueing the paper pointer onto the magnetised
metal plate askew by this angle.
The paper pointers and the pointer frame under the crystal were covered
with a luminescent paint |
Technical
Data
- Diameter: 46 mm
- Weight: 35 g
Materials:
- case: wood
- lid: aluminium
- bezel: nickel (?) |
Advertisement (1915) found in the VONIN papers
(Click on picture for
enlarged view)
 |
The box' lid with the flags of the allied countries
(before the U.S. declared the war to Germany): France, Great-Britain,
Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg and Russia
 |
User's Instructions
(copies can be
ordered)

(click to view
page 2) |
(...) |
PROFILE - The company
LEMAIRE
was part of the BAILLE LEMAIRE Fils & Cie group which
had built cars at the turn of the 19th century (1898-1905).
This company filed under this name a patent (no. 1.041.917,
issued on
June 3, 1953) for an improved version of the
well-known compass called
Modèle
1922. It doesn't seem though that this design was ever built.
Three sights

|
Level function

(Click on drawings for enlarged views)
|
This
compass was based on the Modèle 1922 with
transparent capsule but it featured in addition a downward
hinged
mirror that automatically came to rest at an angle
of 45° like the one made by the Swiss RECTA system.
This patent was completed (no. 62.195 issued on
Decembre 29, 1954) by a system that allowed the measurement of
slope angles (level). This project was apparently not successful. About
at the same time, the French Army commissioned the German compass Bézard. Its special
version called BUK (Bézard- Universalkompass)
had already been offering these functionalities since the
1930's. This decision may have been one of the reasons for the decline
of the French compass industry. It is possible that the German industry
offered this product at very low price after WWII.
|
PROFILE - BARIGO is an anagramme for
Barometerfabrik
Richard
GOES. German company
founded 1929 with facilities in Schwenningen which produces mainly
barometers.
The Online Compass Museum doesn't possess more precise information
about this company.
Your help is needed. If you can contribute to this project, please send
us an email (see CONTACT).

(Click on picture for
enlarged view) |
 |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions (w/o pouch): 74 x 50 x 18 mm
- Weight: 65 gr
- Material:
. Case: Acrylic
. Pouch and lanyard: leather
- Sighting: trough a square-shaped opening and a metallic mirror inside
the lid
- Highly luminescent film inside the pouch below the compass.
NOTE: Handling the acrylic compass
body outside the pouch is risky when wearing woollen clothes because it
gets very quickly a strong static charge and the needle sticks thus on
the capsule ground, placing the instrument out of function for a long
time... |
PROFILE - British Company (for more information click
HERE)
Chronology of the Barker marching compass models:
1910 - Service Pattern Liquid Prismatic Compass
1915 - Lensatic Compass (for picture of exhibit see
DOLLOND)
1930 - Mk II Liquid Prismatic Compass
1932 - Mk III Liquid Prismatic Compass
1942 - 42 Pattern Liquid Prismatic Compass
1966 - Mk1 Liquid Prismatic Compass (Mk III converted to Mils)
1971 - M-71
1972 - M-72
1973 - M-73 Still in current production
1988 - M-88 Still in current production
Concerning the chronology of the different
Mark
numbers (all manufacturers) please read
Mark
(MISCELLANEOUS/Terminology).
See also Pocket, Wrist, Nautical and Geological compasses.
Current
models
of hand-held
prismatic
compass are the M-73 and M-88. These are
available in combinations of 360 degrees, 6400 Mils, or
even 6000 Mils like the DICI model
used by Eastern Block and Arab countries.
(
All pictures by courtesy of
www.TRADEMARKLONDON.com - see also LINKS)

Model Mk 1
|


Model DICI
featuring the Arabic letter "Jayish" within a triangle, the symbol used
by the Iraqi military during the 1970's
|
|

Model M-73 |

Model M-88
|
Technical data
...
Users instructions: free download from the website
www.trademarklondon.com
Compare with the G-150 compass made by STANLEY |
See also other Barker products made for other manufacturers or
retailers:
- Negretti & Zambra (pocket compass)
- Brown, Lawes Rabjohns (survey compasses).
The (original)
Bézard compasses were built by the German company LUFFT.
They are described in a specific chapter (see THE
BÉZARD COMPASS)
Right: a typical Bézard compass with its leather pouch |
 |

PROFILE
- German compass manufacturer (for more information click
HERE)
During WW II, the company's code name was clk.
(See also category GEOLOGICAL COMPASSES)


Military marching compass
Brass model |
User's manual
(1940, unchanged reprint of the 1928)

This was the typical marching
compass of the Wehrmacht soldiers until 1945. There were several
models: most probably, they were first entirely made of brass (case and
lid) and the folding ruler measured only 50 mm. Because of lack of
material during WW II the products were changed to aluminium. On the
other side, the ruler became longer: 60 mm. All compasses featured 6400
mils divisions, counterclockwise. Numerous other details differ (see
technical data). |
Lid shapes

Technical Data
- Diameter: 54 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 130 g
- Case: brass
- Lid: brass (narrow nose), hinge with 3 rivets
- Ring: nickel
- Folding ruler: 50 mm
|

Military marching compass
Aluminium model |
 |
Technical Data
- Diameter: 54 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 60 g
- Case: nickel
- Lid: aluminium (broad nose), hinge with 4 rivets
- Ring: brass
- Folding ruler: 60 mm
|

This model features the same case and lid shapes as the BUSCH
"Jungendienst-Kompass" which was also manufactured by several other
companies. |

Stamp of the official material control on obverse: letters M P for Material-Prüfungsamt
the letters S and OW (meaning bakelite and the supplier's code). For
more information click HERE. |
Technical Data
- Divisions : counter clockwise
- Dimensions: 75 x 55 x 20 mm
- Weight: 110 g
- Case: bakelite
- Lid: brass (?), black rough paint
The company name appears in the left corner near the mirror hinge
(BREITHAUPT or clk) |

The lid with a big upper case A
appears from 1944 on.
The notice to infantry-men
(Heeresmitteilung,
June 5, 1944) indicates how to use the new A-marked
compass with clockwise divisions |
User's manual (January 10, 1945)
 |
Technical Data
- Divisions : clockwise
Comment: on this model, the needle axis is concealed behind a black
patch with a white (previously luminous?) bar. This design is also to
be found on the F58 and F52 compasses later manufactured by East-German
Freiberger Präzisionsmechanik (FPM).
Modern versions in Polish and Russian language also exist.
|

 |

Comment: this compass (called COKIL) was and still is being
manufactured in China. Different versions were isssued to the Vietcong
troops during the US vs. Vietnam war and to the People's Republic of
China's Army
(see CHINA, models 5-1 and 6-2). |

Technical Data
- Serial-No. (hidden): 65142
- Diameter: 60 mm
- Depth: 20 mm
- Weight: 150 g
- Case: Aluminium
- Ruler (open): 10 cm
- Clinometer in degrees
- Map reader: 4 scales
- Paint: Wehrmacht verdigris |

On the dial is the registered trade mark abbreviation for the IIIrd
Reich (DRGM) but the cardinal point for EAST is indicated with two
letters: OE, the O being for the German OST and the E for EAST which
would have been unthinkable before 1945. |
On the exterior
faces is a scale for slopes which is also to be seen on the French
PEIGNÉ Geological and Artillery compasses (s. this category).

(Pictures
by courtesy of Peter
Spielberg). |
Marching compass
(late 40's)
This type had a transparent capsule and a bubble level.
Technical Data
(same as above)
It has at both ends of the 10 cm ruler a red and a black sighting
device for elevation angle measures. The magnetic needle locking system
was a dedicated lever near the compass rose. |

Model CONAT
Fluid damped compass of the German Armed Forces of the Federal Republic
of Germany (Bundeswehr) since the early 1970's. The patent (no. 1730856
- 1956) described a mirror with automatic locking at 45 degrees.
Patent, Abb. 1-4
 |

 |
Markings in the lid:
The Company's logo, the NATO Stock Number and BUNDESWEHR

Technical Data
(see this company's website)
- Paint: NATO green |
PROFILE - U.S. manufacturer. Read the company's story on her
own website (www.brunsonkc.com).

(Click for enlarged view) |
Standard
M-1950 lensatic compass
of the U.S. Army. Almost identical with the instruments made
by Cammenga, Stocker & Yale (SandY) etc.
These compasses contain (self luminscent Tritium paint (H3)
and are
weakly radioactive.
(For more pictures of M-1950 go to CAMMENGA ???
|
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 75 x 57 x 23 mm
- Weight: 140 g
- Date: 12/62
|
PROFILE - Swiss company (Berne). Büchi Optik was
created in 1871 by Friedrich Büchi.
(see also Survey & Artilllery Compasses).
The Online Compass Museum doesn't
possess precise data concerning this company. Your help is needed.
BÜCHI Optik is kindly invited to contact the Museum's curator.
On this compass is a reference made to a NIEDERMANN patent. Albert
Niedermann patented
this system January 20, 1929 in Switzerland. This Museum has a copy of
the French issue of this patent (no. 728.940, December 29, 1931). He
patented several other systems but no product seems to have been
manufactured on that basis.
Büchi's name was at that time "E. F. BÜCHI, Sons,
Optische Werkstätte, Spitalgasse 18 - Berne".
This patent is interesting since it shows a hinged mirror tilted by 45
deg. downwards so as to look at the compass rose from below. This
system was also used ten years later by RECTA on its matchbox-style
compass and after WW II by the German WILKIE.
(see also category Geological and Artillery compasses).

|

Click on the pictures for
an enlarged view. |
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 92 x 65 x 18 mm
- Weight: 130 g
- Double distance scale:
1:50.000 / 1:100.000 |

NIEDERMANN's Patent:
Fig. 1 on page 3 |

PROFILE
- Former French manufacturer of instruments for hikers
(altimeters, podometers, etc.). His shop was located 89, rue
d'Hauteville - 75010 Paris. The company was created in 1958 and closed
on June 4, 1998.
He filed several patents. One about a new system to attach capsule in
compass casings.
His logo represented a map reader together with his initials H(enri),
B(urnat) and PARIS. It was printed on the SOUTH side of the compass
rose.
He produced at least two different compass types: the one described
below and a pocket compass called 40 XT of which we only have a picture
in the advertisement below.
This ad was printed in a 1977 or 1978 issue of the French hikers
association Club Alpin Français (C.A.F.).
The marching compass resembled (in size and form) the famous French
Modèle 1922 but
it featured many additional functionalities.
(No other data
momentarily available - your help is needed).

(Click on picture for
enlarged view)
 |
Advertisement
for BURNAT instruments in the Club Alpin Français magazine


Measuring a vertical angle
(Click on picture for
detail view of clinometer dial) |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 85 x 68 x 20 mm
- Weight: 90 g
- Double face mirror for compass and clinometer reading
- Ruler: 50 mm on hinge
- Clinometer in grade and percent. To measure a vertical angle, one
uses the gun-type sights on the lid consisting of white paint and
a 2 mm pinl)
- Liquid damped compass card with two luminous points at North. The
capsule could be refilled via a special opening (screw on left side).
- Three luminous points were painted on the capsule: one in
the sighting axis, two at 60 deg. on each side.

(Photos - private coll.) |

PROFILE - Former German company located in Rathenow (north-west of
Berlin).
(for more information click
HERE)
The complete official logo was a full circle. On the compasses, it
represented a part of a compass: a flattened triangle (i.e. the point
of the magnetic needle) with the initial letter B in it and a segment
of the compass rose.
There were three different designs. They are shown in a 1935 catalogue
(see pict. below).
All compasses featured a counterclockwise 6400 mils scale.
From 1936 on, they were also produced with liquid dampened needle.

Compass for the paramilitary youth organisation Jungendienst
(see MISCELLANEOUS/Terminology)
Model X (without
mirror)
(see catalogue below and MISCELLANEOUS/Terminology)
 |

Jungendienst compass model XI
(with mirror)
This case's besic design was used for many compasses made
by PASTO, WILKIE and FPM after WWII.

The compass pouch was made of brown fabric (like the famous shirts). |

Technical data
- Dimensions: 70 x 55 x 18 mm
- Weight: 67 g
- Case: bakelite
- Pouch: fabric

BUSCH was deeply involved in equipping the youth organisation
JUNGENDIENST,
that replaced the boy scouts (Pfadfinder) organisation and provided a
paramilitary training although politically differing from the
Hitler-Jugend.
In this organisation's manual ("DEUTSCHER JUNGENDIENST",
1933) it is said that the Jungendienst ompass
was especially developed
for the organisation.
(Compare with the official Boy and Girl Scouts compasses made by Taylor
and U.S. Gauge) |

BUSCH catalogue and user's guide, c. 1935

(Click
to vew page 2) |
This case design was also common:
the BREITHAUPT with map reader and clinometer used it and many China
made products also. The first FPM compass used by the East-German
police had the same form.

Marschkompass II
(marching compass)
(Click on the picture for
an enlarged view of logo and leather pouch) |
The same case but with a fluid capsule

Technical data
- Dimensions: 65 x 57 x 16 mm
- Weight: 70 g
- Case: bakelite
- Lubberline : East-West
- Pouch: leather |

Marschkompass I
(military marching compass)
This is BUSCH's military compass. Two different versions existed: a dry
one (center picture) and one with a fluid capsule (at right) . |

Technical data
- Dimensions: 68 x 55 x 18 mm
- Weight: 130 g
- Case: brass
- Ring: nickel
- Folding ruler: 50 mm
(Click on the picture:
compass open) |

Technical data
- Dimensions: 68 x 55 x 18 mm
- Weight: 75 g
- Case: aluminium
with fluid capsule
- Folding ruler: 60 mm
- Lubberline : North-South
(Click on the picture:
compass open and parts) |
(Detailed
view: click on the picture at right)
 |
 |
Busch-Göttingen
developed for the Bundeswehr (Bw) a marching compass made of plexiglas
with a transparent capsule and height symbols (building, truck, man
standing) for distance assessment on its casing right side. In addition
it had an adjustable declination mark, rubber feet for better stability
on the map and a slot in the mirror for easier sighting at high
elevation angles.
It was probably produced is small quantities at the moment of the Bw
creation (1956).
Its NATO Stock No. was 6605-12-120-1507.
COMMENT: most probably this instrument would have been
very sensitive to static charge like the BARIGO (see above). |
CONTINUED