Found this amongst the stuff from my father….. not sure what it is or what is was used for. It is a compass of some kind, but with a limited “arc” of only North plus/minus 5 degrees (also shows South on other end of the needle).
The case appears to me to be made of some kind of material like old bakealite.
There is a stamping on the side that says “F.B.&S. (1932)” and some indistinguishable markings, maybe a plus sign? Also says “M.K. II” and “/|” .
Any one know what this is?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Replies
I don't know, but I'll take a w.a.g. that it could be for a surveyor as they usually are only interested in marking "north" on their work. ???
Buic
The usual reward is a Milk bone, right?
http://www.kitefarm.com/compass_museum/unclassd.htm
"Map Makers' Plane Table Compass
I'm told that this device would be mounted on a plane table in order to properly align the table with magnetic North for accurate mapmaking (Thanks, Jerry, 'cuz I was clueless!). It consists of a heavy, slim, brass case that houses a needle; the case only has enough room for the compass to swing several degrees to each side of North.
"
EDIT: On further review.... it is a CHART COMPASS.
Similar to above, but not intended to be permanently mounted. Stores in a wood slip-top case that is designed to activate the automatic needle lifter when the cover is replaced.
Edited 1/3/2007 7:55 pm ET by PatchogPhil
Well done that man!!An ex-boat builder treading water!
Francis Barker and Sons (1932) Ltd
It's apparently the name of the company after 1932, not the date of manufacture.
What is it I don't know. A compass for folks who don't get very lost?
Joe H
Good catch on Francis Barker & Sons. I googled them and found an antiquities site that specializes in old compasses. Per this site, the arrow is called the "English Broad Arrow". They have no pics of the OPs device, which might imply it is highly collectible.
Got a link to that antiquities site ?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
http://vivisimo.com/search?v%3aproject=vivisimo-com&v%3afile=viv_643%4018%3a0Vrehn&v%3aframe=list&v%3astate=%28root-0-40%29%7croot&id=N347&action=list&
I am presently browsing kitefarm.com compass musseum when your post got emailed to me. Thanks!
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Never seen a device like this, but...
the /| is an arrow, a British govt. symbol marked on military-issue equipment, including rifles, artillery, misc. equipment. The arrow symbol has been in use by the Brit military for many centuries.
My guess is that the compass is a specialty item used on survey expeditions to the Arctic or Antartic. It would be of practical use as one got closer to the magnetic poles (rather than the geographic poles), probably allowing a very accurate determination of where the earth's magnetic flux is focalized.
Much scientific work was done in the first 60 years of the 20th Century to determine exactly where the North magnetic pole was, why is was drifting, and its relation to the aurora borealis phenomenom in the ionosphere. There were military implications: radio communications, navigation, and space exploration.
I actually was wondering myself if this is used at the North Pole.
I did some google searching and also found the name of the company Francis Barker & Son. Saw some military compasses (full 360*) with MK III stamped on it. Comments said MK III was post- World War II.
Like someone said, maybe it is used by surveying to orient their drawings more precisely than a regular full compass.
Maybe it is a nautical device for finding North on a foggy day?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
If I remember correctly the closer you get to the magnetic poles the less effective a compass is. Because, the closer to the point source you get, the more the field is aligned to go into the ground. Which makes the compass want to point at the dirt.
Military equipment was not the only application used for the"broad arrow".English 'criminal deportees',AKA Convicts wore clothes, Govt.Issue, with this imprint prominently displayed.Colonial territories persisted with the practice well into the 20th century.Pacific Islanders referred to it as "the footprint of a chicken".Lapun.
How true...I saw a tree that was claimed for the empire on the outer banks of NC. The bark had grown over the slashes, but was discernable still, 200 yrs after the demarcation.
The slash was an empirical rule to glean the best timber for the British Navy, bein as they cut down all thier best timber already.
The significance was purely of lazy ness, three strikes with the axe, was all that they could muster, being as they hadda swing the damm thing at the indigenious folks and all that.
And followingthe Roman's recent invasion of thier homeland, some bright Brit figgured out that you can't make an eight with a single edged tool...hence the VIII vs. 8
King George was a crafty fellow, he heard of the bounty of timber to be had, and rightly so, he claimed it. If he didn't, we ( us) may have had a Navy that would have rivalled the Empire. Well, can't have that now can we?
" Take the trees and timbers, and ye shall make them paupers"
Not a direct quote , but you get the gist of it...
After the harvesting of the marked timbers, the HMS London began incendiary cannon, into the resin rich Southern Yellow pines, all about the coastal tidewaters of S.Carolina, N.Carolina and the strong hold at Williamsbugh, VA.
NewPort News, Va...smoke so thick you can't see, ship wrights, laboring and GLAD that the smoke was shielding them from the burning sun, and oppressive humidity, but that very same cover was to be a portent of what was to come. A Naval barrage, a landing of infantry, defending oneself with your slick and adze, against the uniformed action of soldiers and privateers, that had the benefit of firearms and black powder.
Loads that would not penetrate and kill, just lodge into the cartilage of the reciepient,agonizing pain.
A fellow, named Lucas Blackwell set out to remove the Kings mark on his woodlot( that he claimed?) and fell not by a shot of lead, but by the arrow shaft that was cleaved by his very own tree.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Surveyors still use "blazes." I've found blazes that were 130+ years old. They were generally used for ties to corners that may fall in creeks, or in some cases the tree was the corner, as described in the meets and bounds. The bark on Live Oak, Red Oak, and other species will telegraph damage to the interior. Sometimes a spike or nail was driven into the blaze so the rust stain would be visible when the outer bark was stripped away.
Yeah man..so true. My first wife was a Civil Eng for a Co that did that. We had what were once "Penn-Oaks" these were the trees that William Penn marked as to define "Penns-Woods"
He studiously re'marked HIS trees, as to the survey of the land grant, given to him by George, or the Queen, I ferget. by George. LOL.
Any how, I had a house in Montgomery Co. Just north of philly, and I had a HUGE red oak tree in the yard, It had been marked by Willie as a bound of the county of Phila.and Bucks/Montgomery..and he DID remove the bark scar of the King..They call these, the Penn Oaks, I think that only 3 or 4 still exist.
He claimed the rights to the rest of PA by usurption, being as he had the Delaware river basin tied up and the confluence of the Lehigh/Susqehanna valley..in his pocket.
One hell of a smart man..one hell of a smart man...
Sorry, but I am a history nut.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Thanks for the bit of personal "history."
"Nuts" like you keep history alive for the rest of the people that don't come into contact with it.
Still gives me the willies when I hold a 10,000 BPE hand-axe or read a meets-and-bounds written in 1850.
I think a more elegant title would be "historian."
Write this stuff down, and give it to some relative or friend to preserve.
We need it. The future needs it.
It was because of the kings 'claim' on the tallest trees for use as mast's that Americans came up with a clever alternative.
The ship builders would take four 'skinyer' trees and quarter them and then bind them together with iron hoops. This had an unforeseen benefit in battle. When cannon shot hit one of these masts only one section would be damaged and the mast wouldn't'nt fail.
I'll bet you always win when Trivial Pursuit is played: Bravo!-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
I'll join Pierre in a guess: it would be used together with another compass and a map: use the first to get close to north, then this one for a really accurate reading. The level of accuracy this tool provides obviously would require a way too big tool for all 360 degrees, but if you get close with a small one, this will really fine tune it. Maybe useful for getting the exact deviation between magnetic and true north at a given location? And if it's a military tool as another poster suggested, I'll go slightly further: maybe it was used for laying field artillery pieces. I was around a USMC field artillery battery briefly when I was "in" and when you know you are throwing 100 pounds of HE 10-15 miles downrange, you want to be VERY correct which way that tube is pointing. Half a degree mistake adds up a lot over distances like that. Very neat find!
pretty cool! I was wondering if it was used to calibrate other compasses...neat find!
if you was standing on top of the north pole, would you be looking south, no matter which way you look.
unless you look straight up
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."
~ Voltaire
You'll like this.....
A bear approaches a house from the south, comes in the front door, walks straight through the house and leaves through the back door and continues toward the south. What color was the bear?
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
white fur black skin....
if we are taking indigious... other wise a blond brown bear...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Excellent!
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
so where's my milk bones...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
is the purpose of the good light to see where how badly you stuck yurself with the sharp pencil???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
IMERC,
The purpose of the good light is so I can find the Band Aids without tripping over something causing further bodily injury!
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light
Seen'em many times. Plane table compass. Use the straight side to scribe your "north" (magnetic) arrow. Plot directly on paper mounted on the plane table, from the stadia (distance) and angle (bearing) observations given by the "gunner" (instrument man). Figure in your local correction for "true" north.
Usually used in pipeline and topo work, where a set of plans or site map is available.
The 'gunner' could also be an artillery officer, orienting his map as he sets up a battery of field guns.
Remember the gizmo bears the English Broad Arrow sign, which means that it was definitely manufactured for the British army.
Of course it could be. Gun-layers (before GPS) used plane tables with grid coordinates. The same tecniques were used by surveyors.
Neat item, and I know nothing about it but I can tell you that if you buy a PLS-5 laser you will get a "pendulum" type device with it that is used for creating a reference to a mark on the floor, allowing you to shoot the laser horizontally at that mark. One of your photos reminds me of that device quite a bit, although yours is not made of black ano aluminum.