- L -
PROFILE - J. B. Le Roy was an instrument maker (octants,
telescopes, barometers) who worked from 15 Mulcaster
Street, St. Helier, Jersey - about 100 metres from, and in sight of the
local main harbour - in the first half of the 19th century.
This compass has a turned wood bowl and press-on lid.
The bowl interior is painted white, with a black lubber
line. The exterior is painted black with decorative lateral
lines. It has a hand drawn, 64 point maritime
card dial with a brass cap. It is balanced
underneath
(
click on link for pic.)
with sealing wax. The dial is signed around the perimeter of the
central brass cap "J. B. LE ROY - 15 MULCASTER ST - ST. HELIER'S -
JERSEY".
The North Fleur de Lys marker has gold leaf covering the
central plume, and beneath can be seen the compass and dividers symbol
of Freemasonry. The East marker is decorated (
see
Miscellaneous/Cardinal points).
Pictures courtesy
TradeMarkLondon.com
(Click
on images for enlarged views) |
|
Technical
Data
- Dia. (overal with lid): 6-3/64" (155 mm)
- Card dia.: 4.133" (105 mm)
- Height:
. open: 3 - 21/128"
. closed: 3 - 51/64" (95 mm)
- Weight: 528 gr
|
PROFILE - W. LUDOLPH GmbH & Co. KG (Bremerhaven) is a German
company manufacturing nautical and aeronautical compasses (see also
this latter category and
Divers
Compasses). More information
HERE.
Examples of older compasses and sighting devices below:
PROFILE - A.B. (Aktie Bolaget) LYTH is a Swedish company founded in
1861 by Georg
Wilhelm Lyth
(see their website: www.lyth.se).
See also Marching Compasses.
- M -
PROFILE - G. B. Magnaghi was an Italian captain who
designed
an entirely regulated compass system with two reels made of brass on
which was wound iron wire instead of Thomson's (Kelvin's)
spheres.
(Source:
Compass,
Alan
Gurner)
PROFILE - D. McGregor & Co. Ltd were
Scottish Chronometer
makers to the Admiralty (Glasgow, Greenock, Liverpool) throughout the
19th C.
Makers of navigational instruments, and marine barometers.
1868: Silver medal international Maritime exhibition at le Havre
(France), for
binnacles and liquid compasses. The Polar anti-vibration compass, and
standard compass sold to 11 commercial shipping lines and the Argentine
navy, (but not royal navy, who were locked into an arrangement with
Thomson / Lord KELVIN.)
Also dry card compasses of std pattern.
3 compass patents, 1875, 1880, 1893.
Also a pelorus used as a ‘compass verifier’, with
patented enameled dial.
1876: agents for Thomson compass.
(No other info
momentarily available - Thank you for helping us completing
this description)
Thomson-type card in the bowl
(Click to view
dial)
|
All pictures by
Diarios San Cayetano |
Technical
Data
- Dimensions (diam. x height):
280 x 170 mm (11" x 6.69")
- Weight : 9.5 kg (21 lbs)
Markings on the compass card:
- Standard Compass
- Serial No.: 3142
- Latest improved
“Illuminated”.
The lower surface is made of glass. |
Profile - Former French company (more information
HERE).
See also the categories Survey & Artillery compasses, Marching
compasses and Pocket compasses
Opticompas
SRPI
- MORIN (France). Late 20th century.
Bearing compass. Sighting is made from the side through a prism. The
capsule is protected by a soft rubber envelope with sharp angles
representing the winds. By removing a white plastic protection disk
placed under the box, one can look at a map through the transparent
capsule and read the angle values of a second dial (90° offset)
visible from above by means of a magnifying glass.
Model: Opticompas
(Click on picture for
enlarged view) |
 |
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 90 x 90 x 40 mm.
- Weight: 170 g (210 g with protection box). |
- N -
PROFILE - British manufacturer (more information
HERE).
N&Z produced ship equipment. The pocket compasses
signed
N&Z displayed on this website were generally made by other
manufacturers like Barker or Steward. The case and
telescopic gimbals were much propably supplied by Barker. These models
feature telescopic
gimbals, you pull it out to activate the gimbals (see also Pocket
compasses / Negretti & Zambra).
- The first one was manufactured by
F.
Barker & Son and branded by Negretti & Zambra. It
appears in
the Barker Trade Catalogues of the period.
- The second one is signed on the dial centre NEGRETTI
&
ZAMBRA - LONDON and marked with N&Z's logo on the clamping
ring. Brass case covered in pigskin leather with
leather hinge.
All
pictures courtesy TML
- O -
PROFILE - OBSERVATOR was a Dutch manufacturer (Rotterdam?), created
in 1924, bought by Kelvin Hughes in 1996.
The cardinals in Dutch:
South = Z = Zuid
|
Detailled view of the logo
Pictures courtesy
www.megaherz-org
|
Technical Data
Made in the 1920s/30s |
- P -
PROFILE - French company created in 1963 (more details on this
company's website www.plastimo.com)
The compass in its box |
 |
Model ..xy (1950's ?)
The North mark looks like a simplified fleur-de-lis (three diamonds) on
top of an arrow.
Technical Data
Diam.: ca. 150 mm
Pictures
courtesy Jaypee |
(Photo courtesy Jaypee -
click on pictures for
enlarged views) |
Exploded view of a CONTEST compass
Graphic courtesy PLASTIMO
|
Technical
Data |
PROFILE
- C. PLATH is a German manufacturer created in 1862 (their
website give historical
details only in German). The products are still being
sold under this label but the company's owners changed several
times
since 1962.
Their formerly most famous product
is used as the company's logo, a seaman looking through a
sextant (
pic. at
right).
C. PLATH also produced many compasses like the one
below but also small standard artillery compasses type like our
Voigtländer
as
well as various compass-related tools like peloruses and other bearing
measuring aids.
Picture: front cover of the
booklet printed for the company's 100th anniversary (click for full
view.)
- R -
PROFILE - E. S. Ritchie is a U.S. Manufacturer. Ritchie
patented in 1862 (no. 36,422) a liquid compass system similar to
Francis Crow's
1813 design (GB pat. no. 3,644). Ironically, Ritchie's patent no. is
almost identical to Crow's one, if you add the last two digits (2 + 2 =
4)!
History: visit Ritchie's official website
HERE.
| View
the patent's figures page HERE |
Detail view
(Click
on image
for enlarged view)
|
Technical
Data
A - Bowl
B - Glass plate
C - Pivot
D - Compass card
E - Air-tight vessel
G - Magnets
H - Conic frustrum
I - Elevator
a - Cap
y - Flange
z - Screw |
PROFILE - Former compass maker located in Marseilles already active
during the 18th C. (note: the "x" is to be pronounced).
In the 19th C., his instruments
were signed
Joseph
ROUX, hydrographe sur le
port, à la boussole couronnée.
Picture
courtesy
Jaypee - Musée de la Marine, Marseille |
Detail view
(Click
for enlarged view)
|
Technical
Data
Built 1743
- Divisions : rhumbs - see CARDINALS
|
- S -
PROFILE - Japanese company (see this company's own website:
http://www.nichigosan.co.jp/saura/htm/company.htm).
Its products are also sold by CARAC Co. Ltd. (see pictures of a hand
bearing compasss:
http://www.sailing.dittybag.net/antiques/shbcompass/page_1.htm)
PROFILE - Sestrel is the Trade Mark brand of Henry Browne
& Son who were
important British compass makers. This company was sold to John Lilley
& Gillie Ltd* (products: magnetic compasses MK2000 &
MK2002)
and SIRS Navigation (both in UK) in 1993.
HENRY
BROWNE & SON, Ltd was
established in (18..?) in
Barking,
London (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. Their “Dead
Beat“ compass design is well dampened and
serves to reduce oscillations. It is reported that this design compass
was fitted to many Allied ships during WW II. Over the more recent
years, there has been a consolidation of British instrument makers and
the firm of Henry Browne & Son has changed hands a number of
times. At last count, it became part of Lilley &
Gillie for what may be the second time.
Another famous SESTREL product is their landing compass (example: see
Aeronautical compasses, Air Ministry 06)
* See the company's story in Wikipedia.
PROFILE - This unsigned item features the same card and fleur
de lys as the compass
made by Fr. Barker during his apprenticeship at Simms'. We assume that
this
compass was a very early model made by this manufacturer. Several other
similar compasses are known that were made at the end of the 18th
century.
Pictures
courtesy G. Tremblay |
Click
on the pictures for enlarged views |
|
Technical
Data
- Diameter : 90 mm
- Height: 70 mm
- Case: 140 mm (cube)
- Weight: approx. 1 lb.
The case is made of metal but the base was cut out and replaced by a
wooden disk fixed with two screws on the side. This disk supports the
pivot. |
PROFILE - SISTECO
Ltd was a Finnish manufacturer. It was bought by SILVA in 1990.
SISTECO built among other instruments this bearing compass
SIGHT MASTER (picture at right -
click to enlarge) and a military marching
compass (see this category).
PROFILE - J. H. Steward Ltd was a British
manufacturer (more information
HERE).
See also Marching Compasses
Tell-tale gimballed
compass
|
Underside
Pictures courtesy Jaypee - priv. coll.
Click
on images for enlarged views
|
Upper side
|
Technical data
- Dimensions (?)
- Card design: SINGER's
pattern (northern half in black paint on mother of pearl)
|
PROFILE - Finnish company (see SUUNTO's own website)
(Picture Jaypee
- click
on the picture for
an enlarged view) |
Technical
Data
|
- T -
Special compass hung above the captain's bunk. This way he can check
the vessel's course while lying in his berth.
Pictures
courtesy Jaypee
(Click for enlarged
views) |
Antique French telltale compass
(Musée de la Marine, Paris)
|
Technical
Data
Brass, paper, wood, glass
Signature: Jean-Charles Chesse, La Rochelle, 1768
|
See
KELVIN.
Definition - A traverse board is a navigation tool
that was
used in ancient times to record the information given by the
compass. In the traditional Navy (sail ships), the helmsman had to
record the ship's course indicated by the compass every full hour
(example at right) or half-hour, i.e. four or eight times. He used to
this aim an hour glass. The traverse board featured hence the
same face (rose of winds) as the compass with the cardinal
points
(see menu: Miscellaneous) and wind areas (16 or 32 like on the item at
r.). The helmsman only had to place small wooden pegs into the
corresponding holes.
Further hole blocks were used to record other parameters like the speed
so as to permit computation of the ship's theoretical position (dead
reckoning) by the officer.
(For more information
read the relevant entry in Wikipedia).
Picture courtesy V. Lepage
(click for enlarged view)
U - V
PROFILE - Former French company (more information
HERE).
See also aneronautical compasses.
 |
 |
Technical Data
- Diameter: 103 mm
- Depth: 45 mm
- Weight (compass alone): 300 g
- Material: Bakelite |
Compass with
sighting vanes (pelorus function) and prism
|
Pictures Lydie & Jaypee
(Click on images for enlarged views) |
Technical
Data
- Dia.: mm
- Height : mm
View with sight folded:
 |
- W -
PROFILE - Former German company
(more information
HERE)
Catalog (1972)
|
 |
Bearing compass
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 75 x 50 x 16 mm
- Weight: 38 gr |
 |
 |
Technical
Data... |
PROFILE - Sestrel is the Trade Mark brand of Henry Browne
& Son who were
important British compass makers. This company was sold to John Lilley
& Gillie Ltd* (products: magnetic compasses MK2000 &
MK2002)
and SIRS Navigation (both in UK) in 1993. 
