Object Details
maker
J. White
Description
This is the model that accompanied William Thomson's 1880 application for an American patent for an improved mariner’s compass. The U.S. Patent Office transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1926. This compass has eight short magnetic needles suspended by threads. The card is relatively large, but its central part is cut away. The binnacle has large iron balls designed to compensate for the magnetism of the ship itself. Thomson claimed that his design offered five advantages: greater steadiness of the compass card and diminished wear of the bearings; greater steadiness of the compass in vessels of war during gun-fire; improved method of applying correctors for the semicircular error; improved auxiliary instruments to correct the heeling error; and improved compass card. The inscription reads "SIR WM THOMSON’S PATENT. J. WHITE, MAKER GLASGOW."
Ref: W. Thomson, "Mariner's Compass," U.S. Patent #232,718.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880
ID Number
PH.308557
accession number
89797
catalog number
308557
patent number
232,781
Object Name
Nautical Compass (Dry Card)
Object Type
Patent Model
Measurements
overall: 30.5 cm x 18.5 cm x 15.5 cm; 12 in x 7 5/16 in x 6 1/8 in
overall: 12 1/2 in x 8 in x 7 in; 31.75 cm x 20.32 cm x 17.78 cm
place made
United Kingdom: Scotland, Glasgow
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Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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Data Source
National Museum of American History
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1183799