- K -
PROFILE - Swiss company located in Aarau (more
information
HERE).
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(Click to enlarge)
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Model
designation (?)
Technical Data:
- Dimensions: 73 x 65 x 19 mm
- Weight: 162 gr
- Divisions: 6400 mils (Swiss Army),
- Material: aluminium
- Fluid needle damping, luminous paint markings, no possibility of
adjusting for a different magnetic
declination
- Scale (on casing side): 1:50.000 (6 km)
- Production year: probably 1940's.
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Compass model in use within the Polish Army (Wojsko Polskie, W.P.) and
probably developed on the basis of the French
Modèle
1922.
The letters K and M stand for the inventor's initials, Colonel Mikołaj
Kulwieć, born March 24, 1890.
It is also known in Poland as the „Kulwieć compass“.
Kulwieć had spent some time in France as a member of a military
mission, which maybe explains why his compass ressembles so much the
French Modèle 1922.
It was first produced by
G.
GERLACH (S/No. 0001 to approx. 9000, the first 4000 being
marked
M.K. 32)
and later by
Z. JEZNACKI
(until
S/No. 20,000?). The initials were probably interverted because of a
possible confusion with the German designation
Marsch-Kompass.
A user's instruction was added only from 1938 on („Busola
kierunkowa
wzór K.M. Opis i uźycie“, marching compass K.M.,
description and use).
Its advantages were its large diameter and simplicity of utilisation.
Drawbacks were the lack of degrees divisions (it features only mils)
and its heavy weight (200 gr). For comparison: a Bézard
large model weighed only 160 gr. Solely the british Mk III compass was
heavier : 260 grs, example :
T.
G.
Co. Ltd. London.
(
Cited after the Fundacja Kosciuszki's website - see LINKS).
GERLACH
Below: the early version M.K. 32: 
(Picture courtesy A. Andersen)
|
The reflecting
characteristics of the GERLACH compass interior surface (see picture
below, left) were much better than the JEZNACKI model (below, right).
(Click on the picture for enlarged
view) |
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 80 x 72 x 17 mm
- Weight: 200 gr
- Mirror: polished inner surface of metallic lid. It has a sighting
opening made of two partly overlapping circles, so that two convergents
edges form a continuation of the lubber line engraved vertically. |
JEZNACKI
 |
 |
User's
Instructions (1938)
(Click on the pictures for enlarged
views) |
PROFILE - Ed. KOEHN was a Swiss clock maker.
The Internet Compass Museum
doesn't possess any other data concerning this company. Your help is
needed.
Ed. KOEHN built a
Verner's
pattern compass called
Mk VII
(see exhibit made by
French
Limited, F-L, for a Verner's pattern Mk VIII compass).
Picture at right: advertisement in the
French original issue of P. Dériaz' manual Guide
de poche pour l'emploi de la boussole sur terre published in
1917. It was translated into English and adapted under the title The
prismatic compass and how to use it (see Prismatic
compasses)
Click on the picture for enlarged view
(Click on pictures for
enlarged view) |
 |
 |
Technical Data
- Diameter: 54 mm
- Depth: 21 mm
- Weight: 150 gr
- Card material: mother-of-pearl
- Date: 1915
The compass card must be locked by hand. |
PROFILE - Max KOHL AG (Adorferstr. 20 in Chemnitz) was a German company
established 1908. It produced mainly instruments for schools and
universities laboratories as well as measuring equipment for fabric
manufacturers (notice issued by the Leipzig stock exchange). Its code
during WW II was "hap".
 |
Wehrmacht marching compass
(Click on the pictures for
an enlarged view) |
Technical
Data
- Diameter: 54 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 60 g
- Case: Nickel
- Lid: Aluminium with "broad nose" (s. below) and 4 rivets at the hinge
- Thumb loop: brass
- Ruler: 60 mm, klappbar
NOTE: see lid shape comparison under Breithaupt |
(Click on the pictures for
an enlarged view) |
Marching compass, WW II |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 75 x 55 x 20 mm
- Weight: 80 g
- Case: Bakelite
- Side ruler: 50 mm |
Export catalogue (c. 1920-1930) |
The Chemnitz plant |
A Max KOHL AG share (1940)
(Picture courtesy Benecke
& Rehse) |
PROFILE - German company (more information
HERE). K&R is the successor of WILKIE and produces the same high quality compasses.
See Survey compasses.
Model M1, fluid dampened needle
(Click on the pictures for
an enlarged view) |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions: 75 x 57 x 20 mm
- Weight: 58 g
- Divisions: 360 degrees, clockwise |
PROFILE - German company
(for more information click
HERE)
The objective of the patent H. C. Kröplin filed in 1925 (see
KRÖPLIN's prototype of an 'Armeekompass' and his patent in the
category Pocket Compasses) was to make it possible to set a marching
course on a compass without having to orientate a map or even on a
vertical wall map and to transfer this information into the compass. He
designed for this purpose a card with cardinal points and a (red)
pointer that could be inserted under the transparent compass capsule.
This model was built in a small quantity and provided to a hikers'
organisation called
Wandervogel
(migratory birds). This association had
been created in the late 19th c. but ceased to exist after the nazis
took over power in 1933.
Model ORION
(Click on pictures for
enlarged views)
The pictures shows an improved version of the removable card with all
four cardinal points and a better grid. The original card had only
North and South (West and East are engraved on the cover plate) and the
grid only consisted of 3 lines.
The magnetic declination could be adapted by removing the cover plate
and turning the crystal on which a small arrow is painted so that this
arrow points to the right declination value engraved on then coverplate. |
The 40 mm ruler on the rear face
View folded |
Technical data
- Dimensions:
55 x 50 x 15 mm
- Weight: 70 gr
- Materials: wooden box in a metallic envelope, protection strap in
leather imitation, course setting card made of celluloid
- Needle locking by means of a lever (front face, left, above the
course setting card)
- Capsule painted with luminous compound
Detailled view of the rear face. It is not clear whether the figure 1
under ORION means that this was a first version or the serial number.
Some compasses bear only the words Gesetzlich
geschützt
(protected by law, i.e. registered TM)
.  |
Military model
(without designation)
This model features a mirror and a bezel.
 |
.
 |
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 55 x 50 x 20 mm
- Weight: 87 gr
- Divisions: 6400 Mils counterclockwise
- Sighting: gun type sights
- Ruler: on the right side
 |
PROFILE - (DRAFT) Kührt was a compassmaker in
Nürnberg (Germany) at the time of WWII. Hugo and Arno
Kührt were granted a patent in 1939 for the use of a
transparent plate with a grid in the compass. KÜHRT was bought
by PASTO after WW II.
PASTO produced then the same model than KÜHRT but somewhat
smaller.
The Online Compass Museum knows only of two similar compasses built by
KÜHRT. The respective markings on the lid were:
"Kührt DRP" on the large one and "Kührt II DRP" on
the smaller one.
 |
 |
Hugo and Arno Kührt's
patent no. 682777 (1939)
Technical Data- Case: bakelite
- Dimensions: 90 x 77 x 18 mm
- Ruler: 70 mm
- Weight: 115 g
- Divisions inner scale: 6400 mils, counterclockwise
- Divisions outer scale: 360 degrees, clockwise |
(Click on pictures for
enlarged views)
|
 |
Model
Kührt II
Technical Data
- Case: bakelite
- Dimensions: 80 x 50 x 18 mm
- Ruler: 70 mm
- Weight: 80 g
- Divisions inner scale: 6400 mils, counterclock wise
- Divisions outer scale: 360 degrees, clockwise
User's instruction (copy available - German):
|
Polish officer who developed the compass type M.K.32 (or
K.M.32).
(for more information about Mikołaj Kulwieć, click
HERE
klicken.)
- L -
PROFILE - Former French company. The complete company's name was
BAILLE-LEMAIRE. It was located 26 rue Oberkampf, Paris 11. It existed
from ... ? and disappeared approx. about 1955.
It produced among others the well-known compass called
Modèle 1922 and
about 10 years after WWII a version of it with a liquid-damped
needle in a transparent capsule called "Mle
22/54" (i.e. 1954) just before it disappeared. The French Army
introduced about at this time the German
Bézard
compass. Lemaire filed in 1953 a patent for an improved system
featuring a hinged hanging mirror like the Swiss RECTA (see
BAILLE-LEMAIRE).
It also produced a wrist-top compass (see
this category).
The lensatic compass was most probably invented by F. Barker
& Son in the early 20th c. (for pictures go to
DOLLOND). Lensatic
compasses feature a lens attached to a foldable holder. There are
different holder types: some fold inside the closed compass, other on
top of the lid. The lens holder generally features a (rear)
sight
element,
either a notch or a pin-hole through which the other (fore) sight
element —originally a thin etched line on the cover
window,
later
a metallic wire attached in a slot in the lid— can
be
observed
together with the object being aimed at (compare with
prismatic
compass and
mirror
compass).
Other lensatic compasses feature a sometimes adjustable lens on the
case side (e.g.
Creagh
Osborne,
WILKIE Meridian,
unidentified
German military compass,
GKS
etc.).
NOTE:
Even the best lensatic compasses cannot compete with the high
precision of a prismatic system (2 deg. vs. one half of one deg. like
with the Barker M-88). This could explain why the U.S. soldiers don't
even need Taliban to kill themselves...
F. Barker & Son - 1915
(for description go to DOLLOND)
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LENSATIC - Basic version (go to M-1938)
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M-1938 (modified 1940?)
(go to Gurley, Superior Magneto)
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M-1950
(go to Brunson, Cammenga,
Stocker
& Yale, Lionel Corp., Fee & Stemwedel, Union
Instruments, Miller, Waltham etc.)
|
For training
purposes, the U.S. Army used fold-out guides with a dummy
compass. The black-and-yellow guide doesn't mention any
manufacturer or
production year. The only hint is the verse:
To be "ORIENTED"
you don't
become a JAP*
Simply find your
position on ground and map.
(* Short for Japanese - see WIKIPEDIA, Pacific
War)
There are more such "good" jokes like this one:
An AZIMUTH is not something you
sit on.
Or this one:
Like
ham and eggs your map and your compass go together.
The style of the later version (1968) was much more serious.
See another training (practising) compass in
SILVA.
PROFILE - LEUPOLD is a U.S. manufacturer of optics for rifles.
This compass was made by LEUPOLD & STEVENS INSTRUMENTS, INC.
(Portland 13 Oregon). According to
their history (see this company's own website: www.leupold.com), they
built compasses in the 1950's. This compass looks at first sight like a
standard forestry
compass (compare with
Keuffel
& Esser and
LIETZ)
but it additionally featured a TOWNSHIP PLAT chart (ref. the
cadastral
manual) inside the cover
which showed the numerical order of sections within a township in
accordance with U.S. Public Lands Survey. This special chart was already featured on a compass made by
Keuffel & Esser in the 1930's-40's and called RECON. It also
appears on the CRUISER compass model made by Warren-Knight. Moreover. The device
for magnetic declination adjustment was much easier to use. Two models were proposed: the
smaller SPORTSMAN and the larger and heavier CRUISER compass. Moreover, LEUPOLD proposed a
Schmalcalder-type
forester compass that
could be fitted onto a staff.
(Pict. at right:
LEUPOLD catalog, late 1950's - click to enlarge)
(Click
to enlarge)
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SPORTSMAN
COMPASS
(Copies
of catalog, advertisement and manual can be ordered)
|
Technical
Data
- Outside diameter: 2 1/2 in.
- Thickness: 1/2 in.
- Weight: 4 oz.
- Needle length: 1 3/4 in.
- Material: Aluminum
- Adjusment of magnetic declination is effected by turning a
slotted pinion gear in the case with a coin or a knife
blade (see pic. below)
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PROFILE - LIONEL Corp. was U.S. manufacturer (read the full story in
WIKIPEDIA).
(Picture
by courtesy of ... - Click
to enlarge)
|
LENSATIC
compass model M-1950
Technical
Data
|
PROFILE - LUFFT is a German manufacturer of barometers (see picture at
right, c1930's). LUFFT also
produced pocket compasses and the famous
BÉZARD
compass.
CONT'D
