MARCHING COMPASSES (cont'd)

- C -

CAMMENGA

PROFILE - See the company's history and a compass description on Cammenga's own website.
Standard lensatic compass of the U.S. Army since 1992.
See also BRUNSON, Stocker & Yale ('SandY'). Was also manufactured by Superior Magneto.



Stamp in lid : 97-08-39
(encoded date?)
Model M-1950*
Technical Data

- NSN: 21-26460-02E
- Case: aluminum and brass
- Dimensions: 75 x 57 x 28mm
- Weight: 150 g
- Luminescent markings: Tritium paint
* Evolution of model M-1938
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

CASELLA

(Go to Survey Compasses)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

CHINA

PROFILE - Chinese company: Shanghai Yonghong Instrument
(No further information available for the moment - Your help is needed.
Shanghai Yonghong Instrument -or its successor- is kindly invited to contact us.)

We display in the table below two are adaptions of a BREITHAUPT model called COKIL (see below) built under license.
- Type 5-1 was the standard compass in the Army of the People's Republic of China.
- Type 6-2 is said to have been utilized by the Viet Cong troops (North Vietnam's Army) during the war against the U.S.

BREITHAUPT-Signed Chinese Compass
Germany supported the Chinese Nationalists during the 1920s and 30s in their fight to control the Chinese mainland and repel several Japanese incursions. The German Military Mission provided military training & equipment & manufacturing expertise. Germany’s motivation was probably driven more by commercial opportunity rather than ideology. When the Nationalists eventually lost the Civil War with the Chinese Communists in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan they left the manufacturing plant and equipment behind which enabled the People's Republic of China to continue making the compasses. Click HERE for a picture of an instrument built under license of Breithaupt in the 1930s (Picture sent by a visitor).
Under the maker's name are two characters – these stand for “Soldiers”. Under these are a further six Chinese characters. A literal translation of these is:  “26 Year 10 Month” which could be “October 1926”. However, the traditional Chinese method of numbering years was based on the name of the current Emperor and the year of their reign. When China became a republic in 1912 they continued with the tradition but simply called it Year 1 and even today the Republic of China (Taiwan) still uses this system. In Taiwan this year, 2010 is Year 99. Therefore it is likely that the date on the Chinese Breithaupt is October 1937. This was the year before the German Military Mission to China was withdrawn, May 1938. (Source: Robert Thacker)

TYPE 5-1


The signs on the rose read:
- under the red star: Type 51* or production year 1951 ? This can also be read 5-1 = May First which is an important day in the whole socialist world.
- in the clinometer sector:
. company name: Shanghai Yonghong Instrument
. a concealed sign: DEGREES

(Translation: Jen-Wen Chang)
TYPE 6-2


The signs on the rose read:
- Type 62*: logical continuation after 51 or production year 1962?
- Sign in a circle: 
apparently the symbol for "cloud" in simplified Chinese. It can be the symbol or name of the factory where it is made - probably in Yunnan Province. The symbol forms part of the word "Yunnan".

* The Chinese numbers:

Picture courtesy Mandarintools
(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 65 x 62 x 25mm
- Weight: 125gr
- Diameter (compass): 50mm
- Ruler (compass open): 100mm
- Rose with two divisions: 360 degrees and 6000 mils.

Map reader on the reverse side




Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

CREAGH-OSBORNE

PROFILE - Captain Frank Osborne Creagh-Osborne, Royal Navy,  (1867/1943) was Superintendent of Compasses with the British Admiralty and inventor (see his portrait HERE).  His various inventions were built by H. Hughes & Son Ltd, Dent & Co & Johnson Ltd, Sperry Gyroscopes Co., etc.
There exist two versions of a sturdy and heavy LENSATIC marching compass made by SPERRY GYROSCOPE Co. BROOKLYN N.Y.
They look pretty much the same. The main differences can be seen in the pictures below.
See also the categories Wrist and Aeronautical compasses.





(Click on the pictures
for enlarged views)

MARK VII MOD. D1.

Technical Data
- Foldable rifle-type sighting system
- Crown divisions 360 deg. counter-clockwise,
- Adjustable marching course marks
- Adjustable lense
- Case: brass
- Dimensions: 83 x 60 x 32 mm
- Weight: 200 gr
- Fluid dampened compass card

Instructions for use and liquid composition available

Compare with HUGHES'S BLACKER GUIDE COMPASS.





(Click on the pictures
for enlarged views)



MARK VII MOD.E.

Technical Data
- Foldable rifle-type sighting system
- Adjustable lense
- Case: brass
- Dimensions: 85 x 60 x 32 mm
- Weight: 230 gr
- Fluid damped compass card

Instructions for use and liquid composition available

PRISMATIC COMPASS patented together with HUGHES & SON (see below and also wrist compasses). In 1915, Henry A. Hughes took part in a meeting with leaders of the British Army and explained the advantages of this compass (read the minutes in 'Improvements in prismatic compasses with special reference to the Creagh-Osborne patent compass' - Ask for a copy)




Version with azimut circle

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



(Click on the picture for enlargement)
Technical Data
- Folding rifle-type sighting system
- Case: brass
- Dimensions (dia. x depth, casing): 65 x 27 mm
- Weight: 250 gr (0.5 lb)
- Liquid dampened compass card
Fig. published in the patent no. 1148/15
(12 p., copies available)

Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

CRC

PROFILE - Former French company that built (among others) the compass type Modèle 1922.
See also Survey and Artillery compasses.



(Click on pictures for enlarged views)
Technical data
- Dimensions and weight: see Modèle 1922
- Divisions : 400 grades, clockwise
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

CRUCHONS & EMONS

PROFILE - The brand Cruchon & Emons appears on two different compass models which were used during WWI. We guess that this was a Swiss manufacturer but we lack evidence.
C. & E. built mirror compasses (engraved BERNE or PARIS) for the US Engineers Corps.
This pattern was also produced by PLAN Ltd (click on this link for more pictures and a compass description).  
A special lid version was made for Argentina's Army (Ejercito Argentino) featuring the country's coat of arms.
See also the Abercrombie & Fitch version.
Another model (a prismatic Verner's pattern) was engraved LONDON.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

- D -

DELCROIX

PROFILE - Paul Guillaume DELCROIX was a French officer. He designed two compasses patented in 1892 and about 1910 (more information HERE)

He developed at least two different compass systems. The first one when he still was Capitaine was called Règle topographique - boussole rapporteur (see Survey compasses).
The second one was a small marching compass marked Comdt D+ i.e. Commandant Delcroix. It was thus developed at the turn of the century when he had become a Major. It consisted of a square casing on which a sight could be fixed. It also had a lanyard to hold the compass at a certain distance of the eye
A DELCROIX compass was still proposed in the Secrétan catalogue (no. 344, p. 51 - ca. 1920, w/o picture) - but maybe it is still another  instrument?



(Pictures Jaypee - private coll.)
Technical Data
- Casing: aluminium
- Dimensions: ... x ... x ... mm
- Weight: ... gr
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

DEMARIA-LAPIERRE

PROFILE - Former French company (more information HERE) famous at the turn of the century for its cameras.
They  produced like several other companies (see CRC, Lemaire, Secrétan, Morin) a military version of the compass type Modèle 1922.
Sources : Lucien Gratté and website c dans la boîte. See also pocket compasses.

DLM (Modèle 1922)

PROFILE - The three letters DLM stand for Demaria-Lapierre and Mollier. The company was created through the merger of Demaria-Lapierre and Mollier in 1930. DLM continued to produce the compass type Modèle 1922.



(Click on pictures for enlarged views)
Technical data
- Dimensions and weight: see Modèle 1922
- Divisions : 6400 mils, clockwise
This item was issued to Belgian troops after WWII (the abbrev. MG for Ministère de la Guerre has disappeared). It was carried in a leather pouch attached to the waist belt..
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

DOIGNON

PROFILE: former French manufacturer, mainly of nautical compasses (see also the aeronautical DALOZ patent).
A factory in Malakoff (a southern district of Paris) produced this hand-held marching compass (no other information momentarily available).
Description: This instrument allowed for adaption not only of Magnetic North (arrow head with luminous paint) but also of the angular difference between the Lambert projection's North value on the French military maps (indicated by the two letters NL for Nord Lambert on either side of the zero line of the divisions) and the geographical North (NG on the central disk with the cardinal points).
The divided circle rotates by means of the base plate with notched rim. On the right hand side, a 100 mm ruler (bearing the manufacturer's name DOIGNON and the factory's address MALAKOFF) can be attached by means of a dove-tail fitting (tilted by 45 deg.).

This item was issued to the French colonial troops. Markings in the pouch flap
- Unit's stamp: 3e Battaillon / 15e R.T.A. (3rd Batt., 15th Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens). The unit's coat-of-arms is not recognizable. For more information about this regiment and a picture of the 1st R.T.A.'s coat-of-arms, see in the French part of WIKIPEDIA the entry for the R.T.A.
- written by hand with black pencil, left of the stamp: n° 4 / 10e Cie (no. 4, 10th company).

NOTE: The provisional official users' instructions (called notice in French) call this compass type a Modèle 1922 but the instrument that was called Mle 1922 until after the Second World War is entirely different. We consider (but this still has to be substantiated) that the company DEMARIA-LAPIERRE (see above) won in this year a competition against DOIGNON for the procurement of compasses for the French armed forces. DEMARIA-LAPIERRE's dial design is not only identical with the one of the MORIN pocket compass utilized until then but its protection lid with 60 mm divisions makes the leather pouch and the removable ruler superfluous. Moreover, this compass design was much more heavy and complicated, and thus expensive.






Fitting and ruler

(Click on pictures for enlarged views)

Underside: the two pins for adaption of the magnetic declination and the angular difference between geographic North and the maps' projection North.


Provisional user's instructions
Modèle 1922
Issue Febr. 14, 1923





(Copies: see SHOP)
Technical Data
- Material: brass, black paint
- Divisions: 400 grades, clockwise
- Diameter (rose): 60 mm
- Depth: 20 mm
- Weight: 225 g
- Mirror: glass glued in the lid

NOTE: The instructions describe a compass version with a black paint lubber line on the crystal (a portion of which is in luminous paint) and with automatic locking of the needle in upward position through the closing of the lid.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

DOLLOND

PROFILE - British instruments manufacturer and retailer, now D&A, Dollond & Aitchison (more information HERE).
This system was 1st described in a patent application (no. 1818/1915) and in a patent appproved in 1917 (no. 103.019). It was made by F. BARKER & Son (see catalogue below) and sold by several retailers (like N. & Z.) and signed by them.





(Click on pictures for enlarged views)


The name DOLLOND engraved in the cover can be read through the lens.
Compare with the U.S. model M-1938
LENSATIC compass

Technical Data

- Diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 27 mm
- Weight: 180 gr
- Card: ivory (orange colour due to radium compound - still highly radioactive!)  

Description published in a F. Barker & S. catalogue dated 1926:

Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

DOMATIC

PROFILE - Items probably made by the West German company WILKIE for a retailer (may be for the Austrian Market - no other information momentarily available).
These compasses feature a fluid dampened needle with "winglets" and the cover top side bears a design made of  NATO stars which are the are typical logo WILKIE's products. See also DUROPLAST and TfA.







(Click on the pictures for  enlarged views)
Technical Data
- Dimensions:
. Black case: 65 x 62 x 18mm
. Transparent plate: 11 x 65 x 20 mm
- Needle: fluid damping
- Markings: DOMATIC,
- Users instructions in 4 languages:
 English, German, French & Dutch).
- Divisions: 360 deg. and 6400 mils.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

DUROPLAST

PROFILE - Probably made by WILKIE (no other information momentarily available).




(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)
 
This compass features a foldable holding lever like the older Stockert models ('Tourist', etc.) but the fluid capsule with "winglets" and the box' design with NATO-stars are typical signs of WILKIE's products. This item could be the result of a cooperation especially made for a company producing the new synthetic material called DUROPLAST, successor of the Bakelite.
See also DOMATIC.
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 67 x 56 x 18mm
- Weight: 85 gr
- Needle: fluid damping
- No markings: the name DUROPLAST only appears in the users instructions.
- Divisions: 360 deg. and 6400 mils. The dial was also available with black figures on white ground.
- Mirror and protective cover made of a single one sheet of metal.

Users' Instructions available in German, English and French
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

- E -

ESCAPE COMPASSES

The Escape Compasses are presented in a specific category (click on the link for access).

ESCHENBACH

PROFILE - German company (for more information, click HERE). The 1986 catalog (8 p., copy available) displays several very simple pocket and marching compasses as well as so-called special compasses for car, ship, hiking and scuba diving (wrist) compasses. Some are displayed here under the names WILKIE, DUROPLAST, DOMATIC. However, two instruments are sufficiently special to merit being described here.
See also Pocket, Survey and Wrist compasses.




The internal electronic device

(Click for enlarged views) 
Model "Electronic" (1987)

Technical data
- Mirror type: "unfolding downwards" (similar to the RECTA system)
- An LED (light emitting diode) indicates the marching course set (red push-button on left-hand side must be depressed).

- Dimensions: 90 x 55 x 26 mm
- Weight:135 g
- Side rulers: 70 mm and 3 in.
Older military version of WILKIE's MERIDIAN PRO* model in use in the Netherlands' Army. The compass currently used features a bubble level.

Pictures: Frank Liebau

(* see also section Survey compasses, K&R)
The "Radioactivity Warning" sticker signals the use of Tritium (H3) self-luminescent paint.



(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)

Model MK 9657

Technical Data

- Dimensions: 3 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 1 3/16"
(95 x 62 x 29 mm)
- Weight: 7 3/4 oz. (223 gr)
- Divisions:
. bezel: 6400 mils, clockwise
. card: 6400 mils and 360 deg.
- Precision: 5-10 mils

The new item with bubble level has the NATO Stock No. 6605-17-047-7448

Compare with K&R's proposed successor model
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

FALKE

PROFILE - The Internet Compass Museum doesn't possess any data concerning this company. Your help is needed.
This compass resembles the famous Bézard system in a simplified casing.




(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)


The compass in colonel Schmitt's booklet Karte und Gelände:


Technical Data
- Dimensions: 100 x 60 x 12 mm
- Weight: 55 gr
- Pouch: leather imitation

The Museum possesses 2 such compasses with cardinal points in French and in German. Probably Switzerland, mid 20th c.

The FALKE compass as displayed in a WICHMANN catalogue in the 30's:

Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

F-L (French Limited)

PROFILE -
The Internet Compass Museum doesn't possess any data concerning this company. Your help is needed.
French Limited version of a Verner's pattern compass Mk VIII (see exhibit made by Ed. Koehn for a Verner's pattern Mk VII compass).
A facsimile of the original User Instructions can be ordered. (Click HERE to see a photograph of page one).



(Click on pictures for enlarged view)


Mark VIII: Closing the lid causes automatic locking of the compass card.
Technical Data
- Diameter: 54 mm
- Depth: 21 mm
- Weight: 150 gr
- Pouch: leather
- Card material: aluminium
- Date: 1918
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

FPM Holding - Freiberger Präzisionsmechanik

PROFILE - German company situated in Freiberg (Saxony) (for more information click HERE)
(Click on pictures for enlarged view)


Model (...?)
It was in use with the KVP (Kasernierte Volkspolizei) the police organisation before the GDR army (NVA) was created.


The company's logo features a mine's entrance with two stars over three mountain summits.
The original model hat a bakelite case and an aluminium lid. Later products were entirely made of bakelite and the divisions (6000 mils) were clockwise.

Technical Data
- Diametre (lid): 64 mm
- Depth: 16 mm
- Ruler: 60 mm
- Divisions: 6000 mils, counterclockwise.


Model F52

This model was the compass with which the paratroopers were equipped in the former East Germany's army NVA.

Particular feature:
The marching course setting bar in the middle reproduces the design of the WW II  compasses (see BREITHAUPT above) but there is a major difference:
on  Western (NATO)
compasses, this line is oriented on a  West-East axis while on Eastern compasses (Warsaw Pact), this line follows a North-South axis.
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 70 x 58 x 23 mm
- Weight: 95 g
- Case colour: greyish-green
- Lid: plastic, black, heart shaped
LIDS COMPARED
F58 (left) - F52 (right)

Model F58

Manual of milit. survey of the NVA (East German Army).

:






Technical Data
- as F52
- Case colour: NVA oliv green
- Lid: metallic, olive green, round


Model F65
Series with fluid needle dampening


Particular features:
the division markings are very thin. The capsule body is colourless. The luminous paint dashes on the capsules's outer back face are lackered.


Technical Data
- Dimensions: 70 x 58 x 20
- Weight: 68 g


Model F73
Marking: DDR on the capsule bottom




Technical Data
(Dim. & weight: s. F65)
Particular features:
The divisions markings are broad. The capsule's body is yellowish. On it is the abbreviation DDR (former GDR) and markings to take into account the magnetic deviation (W-20-0-20-E).
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)


Model Universalkompass
Bézard system

Technical Data
- Dimensions: 70 x 64 x 25 mm
- Weight: 150 gr
- Divisions: 6000 mils
- Declination adaption: with coin slot under the base plate
- Built: approx. 1965
- Clinometer: locked when not in use (clutch on lid rim)
- Together with leather pouch and manual


Pouch and user's manual
Model SPORT 3 for cross country orienteering hiking

Technical Data
- Dimensions : 125 x 60 mm
- Graduation : 360 deg
- Step counter
- Production year: 1968


Pouch and user's manual
Model SAT for orientation of satellite antennae

Technical Data
- Dimensions : 125 x 60 mm
- Graduation : 360 deg
- Clinometer: ball
- Declination correction
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

FUESS

R. FUESS was a German company (more information HERE).
FUESS produced during WWII the infantry-men's standard 'Marschkompass'.
During WWII, the company's secret code was 'cro'
See also Survey and artillery compasses.


Catalogue of R. FUESS
(Click for enlarged view)


The company's name on the lid of a Marschkompass. The 1st figure was printed twice :
- 3 and 4 are overlaid

Technical Data
- (see Breithaupt, Busch, Kohl etc.).
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

- G -

GAMMA

PROFILE - GAMMA R.T., now GAMMA Műszaki R.T. (Reszveny Tarsasag, Gamma Technical Corp.) is a Hungarian Manufacturer (created 1920, located in Budapest, produces measuring instruments). GAMMA built probably in the 1930's this Hungarian version of Bézard's small compass model (without mirror).
See also the large Hungarian models made by MOM and generally marked with the code number of the factory: 41. 

 

(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)


The East-West stripe reads GAMMA-BUDAPEST (compare with the original Bézard compasses)
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 2 x 2-25" ( 50 x 60 mm)
- Weight: 70 gr
- Case material: bakelite, black
- Divisions: 6400 mils. (counterclockwise), North = 3200
- Cardinals: in Hungarian
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

GERLACH

PROFILE - Former German manufacturer of measuring and drawing instruments in Warsaw, Poland (for more information click HERE)
This company produced the compass model initially called M.K.32 and later K.M.32 after its inventor's initials, Colonel Mikołaj Kulwieć (for more information about M. Kulwieć, click HERE).
It is also known in Poland as the „Kulwieć compass“.
(cited after the Fundacja Kosciuszki's website - see LINKS)

Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

GKS

PROFILE - The abbreviation GKS stands (according to the heading in the user instructions) for the German word Geländekompass (field compass). When this instrument was built shortly after WWII, the abbr. was still very famous for Geheime Kommandosache ("Top Secret"). This maybe played an important role for the marketing.
 It was made by the former German manufacturer Bellmann & Co. (Belco), located in the same building than the compass' retailer NEUFA Fabrik für optisch-technische Geräte GmbH (both names appear on the user's instructions).
Neufa was created in 1946 and ended business 1970.
Bellmann & Co., located Brauhausstrasse 17 in Ansbach (Middle-Franconia), was created on May 1st, 1945 for the production of plastic (Bakelite), metallic and wooden  items. In the Yearbook for 1950/51, Belco added extruded and pressed items. The company ended business in 1975.
(Source: city archives of Anspach).

 

Small pict.: view through the lens onto the card's rim indicating the bearing value of 200 mils (c.5 deg.) West, corresponding to the magnetic North at that time (1950's)
(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)


The original box
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 84 x 65 x 25 mm
- Weight: 90 gr
- Divisions: 6400 mils. (counterclockwise) and figures 1-12
- The magnetic needle represented on the compass card already points to the magnetic North (MN)
- Front lens for direct reading of the bearing angle
- In the lid: clinometer (long arrow) and adjustable marching course marker (short arrow, scale 6400 mils), both made of plastic. Another model features metallic pointers.
User's instructions - old original version in German and modern version in English with colour photos available

   

(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)
Romer scale marked D.R.G.M.


Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

GLAUSER

PROFILE - J. M. GLAUSER & Sons was a British manufacturer (more information HERE).
The compasses produced (see pic. of catalogue at right) were pocket hunter and wrist versions of the pocket compass Mk VI, a variation of the Mk III marching compass during WWII and a Mk IX (see below).
The Mk.4 compass was designed in the 1950s in answer to a request for a liquid prismatic compass featuring the ability to trap any bubbles inside a double casing pending topping up of liquid, and to easily replace the pivot (see Patent DRAWING - full description available on demand). It was a specialist design, of some interest, rather than a mass produced article.
In 1951, the company received a substantial order for compasses (through J. H. Steward Ltd. of the Strand, London) from the Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition, led by Eric Shipton - a final accolade to a skilled and high-class manufacturer, whose founder had personally designed the Light Mountain Theodolite for E.R. Watts & Son, London, which was supplied to the Mount Everest Expeditions of 1922 and 1924.
Compare with the MARK IV made by SISTECO.



(Pictures Jaypee priv. coll.)


Above: The screw at the base giving way to the pivot.
Below: a Mk.4 retailed by J.H. Steward

GLAUSER Mk.4 - Liquid Prismatic Compass
Patent no. 821719

Technical Data
- Dim.: 5 1/2 x 4 x 1 1/2 "
- Weight: 11 oz
- Divisions: 360 deg. clockwise
- Production: 1950's
(Full specification available on demand)

Rear side of a Mk IX compass (see Barker):

Note the "B" letter in the serial no.
(Picture scientificcollectables.com)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

GURLEY

PROFILE - U.S. manufacturer (for more information click HERE).



(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)


Later French version featuring a scale for measuring speeds; range: 10 hrs/600 km (arrow at right: 1H = average speed)
(Click for an enlarged view - Picture Laurens)
Lensatic compass model M-1938

Technical data

- Dimensions: 72 x 55 x 20 mm
- Weight: 80 gr
- Divisions: 360 deg. and 6400 MILS
- Evolution of the basic design (compare with the Superior Magneto item)

This instrument featured a dampening push-button on the left hand side
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

- H -

H. B. & S.

PROFILE - HENRY BROWNE & SON, Ltd was established in (18..?) in Barking, London in Essex. They were respected English instrument makers that had been making fine quality compasses, ship's clocks, inclinometers, sextants, and chandlery items for over 140 years.
A Mk III type marching compass was produced and signed either with the abbreviation H.B. & S. alone or together with the words "Trade SESTREL Mark".

HUGHES & Son

PROFILE - British manufacturer. The firm was incorporated as Henry Hughes & Sons Ltd in 1903 and opened a production facility in Forest Gate (read the full story in Wikipedia "Kelvin Hughes / The Hughes connection").
Hughes also produced various marching and wrist compasses based on Creagh-Osborne's patent (see this name in these categories), pocket compasses and a Mk. III.
The instrument displayed here is "THE BLACKER GUIDE COMPASS". It was probably designed by Colonel Stewart Blacker (see Wikipedia) who was an explorer and inventor of the famous anti-tank weapon PIAT. He was with the expedition that first flew over Mount Everest in 1933. This model resembles strongly the compasses designed by Creagh-Osborne and built by Sperry.



Picture courtesy of R. Thacker
Click on the pictures for enlarged views


View of the base
The studs on each side were probably used to lock the compass onto a piece or artillery.
Technical Data
- Diameter: 59 mm
- Length (fore-sight folded down): 77 mm
- Weight: 205 grams
- Engraved markings on the base: A.F.R.W.  GREN. GDS. (Grenadier Guards)
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

- I -

I.O.R. - Intreprinderea Optica Romana

PROFILE - Romanian manufacturer of optics. Built also this Bézard-type compass. For more information click HERE.

Model B1-69



 

(Click on pictures for enlarged views)


IOR's logo

Technical data

- Dimensions: 65 x 65 x 17 mm
- Weight: 145 gr
- Mirror: metallic, square with rounded angles
- Marching direction arrow on lid not painted.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

ISRAEL

PROFILE - Mark III-type compass issued to Israel's Army (Tsahal).








Pictures courtesy Gail & Phil Ralph
(Click on images for enlarged views)


Technical Data
(Data: see F. Barker & Son) - Manufacture date: ?





Pictures courtesy Doug Carter
(Click on images for enlarged views)
Unknown Compass Type/Manufacturer
Technical data

- Manufacture date: ...
- Dimensions: ... mm
- Weight : ... g
Inscriptions in Hebrew at the lid hinge
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

- J -

JEZNACKI

PROFILE - Former Polish company (Warsaw).
For more information click HERE
This manufacturer produced the compass model called K.M. 32 after its inventor's initials, Colonel Mikołaj Kulwieć, born March 24, 1890.
It is also known in Poland as the „Kulwieć compass“.
Back to ALPHABETICAL SEARCH (Marching Compasses)

CONTINUED