POCKET COMPASSES (cont'd)

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- L -

LONGINES

PROFILE - Swiss watch maker located in Saint Imier. He made Mark VI pocket compasses for the U.S.A. and Great Britain during WWI. At that time,  WITTNAUER was their agent in the U.S.A. Another compass was produced in the 1940's after the Longines WITTNAUER Watch Company (LWWW Co.) was created in 1936.


(Photo Dennis Honor - Click on the picture for an enlarged view) 		Technical Data

- Diameter: 49 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 55 gr
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LONG NECK

Long necks are old pocket compasses whose loop attachment fitting is somewhat longer than on most other compasses.
They were produced in the second half on the 19th. century, maybe earlier. Most of them feature a bar needle and an enamel display (see SIMMS, SPEAR). Extremely rare are the ones featuring a floating compass card (e.g. NO NAME, GB).

LUFFT

PROFILE - German company located near Stuttgart (for more information click HERE)
(For Bézard compasses click HERE).
This company produced in the 1930s a wide range of pocket compasses (see also BUSCH). They were called Schülerkompass (school boy's compass), Wanderkompass (hiking compass), Marschkompass (marching compass) etc. They are displayed here together since their simple cylindrical form constitutes one category.
The product range goes from simple compasses (no. 330) to precise models for military use or ambitious hikers. The latters featured a rotating course setting arrrow. There were several technical solutions: some were directly fitted under the crystal (no. 745 and 1745) and could be set by turning the crystal frame rim. On others, this arrow was on the rotating capsule floor under the magnetic needle (no. 2745).

They featured civil divisions (360 degrees) or military divisions (6400 mils). Some had also radium paint markings for night missions.
One model (no. 2745) ressembles the famous French MORIN model Boussole directrice.



 Tin model 330 (c. 1910)



Side and rear view
(G. LUFFT - STUTTGART)
  		Brass model 330 (c. 1930)



Technical Data (tin model)
- Diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 48 g
Technical Data (brass model)
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Depth: 10 mm
- Weight: 35 g

(The museum's collection also comprises a similar model in the size of the tin model, built in a leather strap
(see Wrist-top compasses)


MARCHING COMPASS no. 1745		 Tin model, WW I
(The compass rose's grey colour is due to the decaying of the paint - it used to be greenish-white)

 


Rear view marking:
EIGENTUM DER HEERESVERWALTUNG
(propriety of the Army's Administration)

This compass is identical with the BUSCH compass no. 3348 RADIA. Since BUSCH also offers in its catalogue BÉZARD compasses (manufactured by LUFFT), we have good reasons to believe that this compass type was made by BUSCH and retailed by LUFFT.
Technical Data
- Diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 65 g
Brass model, 1930



Rear view:
16 JR 41 (16. Jägerregiment)


Technical Data
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Depth: 10 mm
- Weight: 44 g
A version of the marching compass with a cardboard rose in a brass body

 The user's notice
Technical Data
- Divisions 6400 mils, counterclockwise
- Diameter: 45 mm
- Depth: 13 mm
- Weight: 26 g


No. 1950 with glass bottom.


Technical Data
- Diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 47 g
- Divisions: 400 grades
Probably an export version export for France. In the 1950's-60's, the French company MORIN produced the compass type Modèle 1922 based on the same principles: transparent bottom and arrow point on the bakelite rim.

Nr. 1745 S (with swivel case)
This compass dial design also appears in a BUSCH catalog (model Radia).
Model no. 1950 with swivel case like no. 1745 S
Technical Data
- Dimensions: 67 x 54 x 15 mm
- Weight: 83 g
- Divisions: 400 grad/gon
(Click on picture below for enlarged view)



Two different sizes:
 Tourist compass No. 440 D
(the letter D stands for the German word Deckel, i.e. lid)
Concerning the German word "Tourist" in the 1930s and in East Germany (GDR), see Glossary under MISCELLANEOUS.
Technical Data
Brass compass
- Diameter: 40 mm
- Depth: 14 mm
- Weight: 35 g

Model No. 1540
Design differs slightly from the picture
(compare with the MORIN fig. 51 below).		 Technical Data
Material: steel/silver-plated
- Diameter: 35 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 30 g
- Punch inside lid: D 35


Basic model no. 1745
(Compare with MORIN's
"Boussole Directrice"
fig. 1235, next item)
Model no. 2745 D
(the letter D is for the German word Deckel, lid)
S/No.: 36

Technical Data
- Diameter: 46 mm
- Depth: 14 mm
- Weight: 60 g
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- M -

MARINE COMPASS Co.

Profile - US manufacturer of ship compasses established 1910 in Pembroke, Massachusetts (more information HERE - under construction).
Very simple pocket compass that was probably part of the survival kit of the US Navy soldiers.
This compass type ressembles the wrist compass made by U.S. Gauge Div. AM&M but is still more simple.



(Click on picture for enlarged view)		 Compass, Magnetic, card, pocket, Type MC-1

Technical Data
- Diameter: 2 inches / 49 mm
- Depth: 1 inch / 26 mm
- Weight: .08 lbs / 35 gr
- Inner width of the foldable strap attachments: 0.2 inch / 5 mm
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MOKO

Profile - Former German manufacturer (DRGM : see MISCELLANEOUS / Abbrev.)
Vesta cases, vesta boxes, or pocket match safes were small portable boxes made in a great variety of forms with snapshut covers to contain vestas (short matches) and keep them dry (Definition: Wikipedia).


Click on picture for enlarged view 		Vesta case



(Pictures petra40cat) 		Technical Data
- Diameter: 48 mm
- Length (with loop): 70 mm
- Depth: 17 mm
- Weight: 29,7 gr
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MORIN

Profile - Former French company (for more information, click HERE).
See also the categories Survey & Artillery compasses, Nautical compasses and Marching compasses

The catalogue for the year 1930 gives a perfect overview of its product range. MORIN specialised in the field of high precision measuring instruments but offered also a large variety of widely used smaller compasses.
The most well known were the so called "boussoles directrices" (Marching compasses) used during WW I. The various items are shown together with the catalogue illustration.

(Click on pictures for enlarged views)


Model no. 9194, fig. 1235
This compass type featured civil (360 deg.), geodesic (400 grades) or military divisions (6400 mils).
This one also has self-luminescent radium paint markings.
There were many different cases for this compass type (metallic and leather). We display some of them below.

Technical Data
- Diameter: 52 mm
- Depth: 10 mm
- Weight: 48 g.




Technical Data (as above)
- Divisions: 6400 mils.
- Case: aluminium, guilloché back plate
(see definition under MISCELLANEOUS).
The Museum also has another one wih a brass case.
- Compass dial: brushed (silver-coated ?) for better light reflectivity. It reflects light in the dark like the mother-of-pearl cards used by british compass makers-
Brass casing with hinged lid
Belgium's Army
 

Technical Data
Special device for horse riding. It was attached to the saddle. It comprises a clip and a compass pocket with a concealed flap on the other side.

Technical Data (compass: see above)
The flap has a magnifying glass so that the rider can read the compass indication while seated upright in the saddle.

Model no. 100, fig. 51

Technical Data
- Diameter: 42 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 35 g
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MULLER & VAUCHER (M & V) S.A.

PROFILE - Former Swiss manufacturer located in Bienne (Biel in German) and Geneva and founder of RECTA in 1897 (no more data momentarily available)
Eric Vaucher was the engineer who designed the famous match-box shaped RECTA DP compass type.

The figure 71481 engraved on the rear face together with the helvetic cross is the patent number dated 1916 indicated on the front face. This patent describes the locking mechanism of the magnet needle with a sliding rod in the pendant activating a lever (see picture below). The needle in the other compasses with French and English cardinal points which were probably made by this company (same design of the bezel with integrated marching course arrow) is locked by means of a cam disk activated by the button in the pendant. This cam depresses then the transit lock bar, pushing the needle upwards.

Version in German with patented transit locking device



(Click for enlarged views)



Detailed view of the transit locking lever end
 Vaucher Patent
no. on rear face





(Click on the drawing for an enlarged view)		 French version



Click on the picture for an enlarged view



English version
(Photo priv. coll.)		 Technical Data
(French version)
- Diameter: 50 mm
- Depth: 14 mm
- Weight: 64 gr

Material:
- German version: alumium
- Fr. and Engl. versions: brass, chromated
- Divisions (german): 4 x 90 deg.

The magnetic declination is indicated by a line of luminous paint on the transit lock bar in the German version. This information appears as an arrow (left of North) on the English version. On the French version, it seems that the dial was rotated by this angle so that the transit lock bar faces magnetic North.
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- N -

NARDIN, Ulysse

PROFILE - Former Swiss clock maker (for more information click HERE)


Open face compass (compare with the hunter case made by BILAND). The needle rotates between the face and an S-shaped transverse bar so that the major part of it is always to be seen. The crystal has a metallic frame.
The letters N and S on the needle had each one two radium paint dots but at different places: at each end of the S but at the lower ends of the N, so that they couldn't be mistaken.
 (Click on picture for enlarged view)

Manufacturer's name and address:
Ulysse NARDIN, LOCLE & GENÈVE



The manufacturer's monogramme reads:
a-B-c (?) where the uppercase 'B' most probably stands for BILAND who has signed a compass showing the same monogramme.
 Technical Data
- Diameter: 42 mm
- Depth: 6 mm
- Weight: 33 g
Two patent numbers are indicated:
76117 for France and 83025 for Switzerland (these numbers have probably been re-used because they now refer to vapour machine systems).
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NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA

PROFILE - Former British Company
(for more information click HERE)

N & Z built large instruments for ships. These small instruments were in reality manufactured by F. BARKER and Son.
(Click on pictures for enlarged view)


Technical Data
The compass is housed in a small, 1.75 inch (45mm) diameter brass hunter case which was originally ebonised; much of this has worn away with age and use but the inside remains original. There is a hanging loop and a working push-button catch. Inside the case there is a nickel plated ring or frame, with milled edge, which slides upwards allowing the compass to swing in its gimbals and releasing the card to search for North. The actual compass is tiny, 1 inch (25mm) in diameter, with a black & silvered card marked Negretti & Zambra London. It consistently sets North. The compass weighs 100 grams, depth closed: 17 mm.
This particular design is called SINGER after its inventor: i.e. the card's northern half is blackened to render readings in the dark easier.
For comprehensive explanations, see THE COMPASS COLLECTOR's website (LINKS).




By pulling a cylindrical support out of the case, the compass card moves freely in the gimbals.
The original compass as shown in a
F. Barker catalogue
The compass card is made of mother of pearl with black paint




Negretti und Zambra's maker punch: N&Z
Three hallmarks on the Sterling case. Passant, Lion face and "P" date stamp for 1910.

(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)		 Technical Data (approx.)
- Diameter: 25 mm
- Depth: 18 mm
- Weight: 25 g
The compass card is the one of the SCOUTING compass model made by F. Barker (see above).

(Photos courtesy Louise Kneller, resalevintageshop)
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NEWTON & Co.

PROFILE - Former British Company. NEWTON & SON William worked 1841–1883, 66 Chancery Lane, London and 1851-1857, 3 Fleet Street, Temple Bar, London. Related to NEWTON John, took over from NEWTON & BERRY located 3 Fleet Street in London (1851-1857).



(Click on the pictures for enlarged views)

Pictures TML
 Technical data
- Diameter: 54 mm


(Click on the picture to view the gimbal)

(Click on the picture for a detailed view)

Pictures TML 		Technical data
- Diameter (compass bowl): 54 mm
- Case diameter: 85mm
- Case height: 55mm
- Dial diameter: 48mm, mother of pearl, SINGER's patent design
 - Weight: 380g
- Case material: wood covered in Morocco leather and lined in green velvet
- Compass bowl moves on gimbals
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P - Q

PASTO - Paul STOCKERT

PROFILE - Former German Company (more information HERE).
See also category Marching Compasses.



(Click on the picture for an enlarged view)		 Technical data
- Diameter: 45 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 46 gr
Very original system: the transparent capsule with an arrow painted on it can be rotated.
The crown is identical with the one of the marching compass models (MERIDIAN included).
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- R -

RUSSIA / USSR

PROFILE - Manufacturer not identified. Most probably military compass.


(Click on picture for enlarged view) 		Technical Data
- Diameter: 49 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 55 g
The crystal features a white (former luminous?) lubber's line and is attached to a bezel that rotates for setting the marching course.
The letter C is the initial of the russian word CEBEP (pronounce SEVER) meaning North.


(Click on pictures for enlarged views)


Conversion scales:
- Top: 1 inch ottom: 25 mm 		Technical Data
- Diameter: 49 mm
- Depth: 12 mm
- Weight: 53 g
- Divisions: 360° clockwise, 600(0) MILS counterclockwise.
Figures and markings: luminous paint. Cardinals, see MISCELLANEOUS
- White lubber's line
- Luminous paper sheet under the skeleton dial
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CONTINUED