CONTENT
 |
trademarklondon.com
is the most informative website concerning some technical aspects
like repairing compasses (beware of the painting's
radiation hazard!). Some items are presented on videos. Be sure to
switch the
sound on to hear the descriptions.
Moreover, you can
download free of charge
the
excellent and comprehensive book "TRADEMARKLONDON" (see pics at left,
540 p.) about Francis
Barker's life
and oeuvre.
|
A
typical collection of
BARKER compasses
(Click
on the picture above for a high-resolution enlarged view)
|
 |
Kornelia
Takacs is the author of
the Compass
Chronicles. This book
is a true milestone and a
must for
all compass collectors and whoever is interested in beautiful ancient
instruments.
ISBN: 9780764333965
Size: 8 1/2" x 11", illustrations: 507 color photos, index, 176 p.,
hard cover
(Click
on the pictures for enlarged views) |
 |
A small encyclopedia for
collectors
:
AIRCRAFT
COMPASSES
- The German website
Deutsche Luftwaffe
shows all compasses of the historical German Airforce
(Luftwaffe, 1914-1945) and
many related documents.
- The website
Spitfire Spares
displays British and German WWII
compasses.
- The website
AeroAntique displays Warbird
cockpits and instruments.
- The
Royal Airforce
Museum's
own website also displays many
items with their
data (via Navigator / search : "compass").
- The museum of Polands' aeronautics
Muzeum
Lotnictwa Polskiego offers an
online library but the access is only possible on the Polish version,
the English version is not implemented: first click on
Zbiory
in the pulldown menue, then on
Biblioteka
i Digitalizacja and then on
the red words
Digitalizacja
zasobów ikonograficznych i archiwalnych MLP.
The list comprises numerous works in several European Languages.
- Olive drab displays
US military wrist compasses.
- Check out the
Spazioinwind
website even if you don't speak Italian. Nice
pictures
and interesting data:
Unfortunately
only in Polish language, this book (
see
pict. at left)
is
worth
buying for the
numerous pictures of the
Kosciuszki
Foundation's
compass collection! If you have some knowledge of any Slav language,
you will
discover:
- Johann von
Bézard's life,
- His experience
during WWI,
- the full catalogue
of the Foundation's compass
collection.
-
Compared technical features of
some geological compasses by the Potsdam University (German)
and list of available instruments on the
website of the French University of
Lille
(French).
- The virtual museum
GÉOMUSÉE
displays many topographical instruments (French)
-
Surveyhistory.org
is a
virtual museum
dedicated to
survey compasses
(English)
- The site web.archive.org saved copies of the excellent website
displaying
copies of ancient catalogs etc. called
Surveyantiques.com
(English)
- The website of the
U.S. Geological Survey.
- Virtual
museum
of survey instruments on the
website of
the Russian company GSI (Russian)
- Private collection of
Russian
survey compasses (Russian).
- Museum and Forum:
Theodolite Club (Russian)
- Websites with lots of details about the famous
BRUNTON compasses
but also the fakes
only made for decoration purposes.
- Excellent
Tutorial
to learn handling a Brunton-type survey compass.
- A very good blog about
diving equipment
by Jean
GRÉPINET (French and English)
- Visit this nice collection of
Divers' instruments
(Fr.)
- A small collection of various gauges and compasses:
thescubamuseum.
- Unique collection of
wristwatches with additional compass
(Indonesian)
- Comprehensive collection of
wrist instruments like compasses and depth gauges.
- A good shop for pocket compasses:
THE
BOREAL ARROW.
-
List of
German
company codes
during WW II.
- The website
compasslibrary.com offers
excellent antique
instruments and rare books.
-
RADIOACTIVITY HAZARDS
Concerning the radioactivity in the paint of watches' and compasses'
figures and markings:
Vintage
Watch Straps (find more
information on
www.trademarklondon.com).
- Antique nautical items for sale :
West
Sea Company
- History of the compass on the website of the Hydrogr. Institute of
Italy's Navy (
La bussola magnetica ieri i oggi,
in italian language)
Discover the world of the military sun compasses in the excellent essay
by Malcolm Barnfield
The
Sundial Goes to War on the
website
Sundials
and also in
Dr.
Konrad
Knirim's works about
Military
Time Pieces (
see
picture at right)
- Example:
Lange
&
Söhne - link to watches).
-
EPACT:
Scientific Instruments of
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
-
National Maritime Museum (NMM)
- Smithsonian Institution
- and for all those who miss the good old compass museum displayed on
the website
KITE
FARM (Oregon
Trail) that closed in 2008, you still can visit
it thanks
to web.archive.org.
COMPASSIPEDIA doesn't deal with this topic since a collector (Jeff)
plans to create a dedicated website.
Jeff has been collecting
compasses for over 10 years and has an
array of compasses from the early 1920's to the 1980's. He
literally has hundreds of compasses and photos of New Old Stock (NOS)
and used compasses to include the following companies: AAA Compass,
Airguide Instrument Company, American Parts, Automark Industries
Incorporated, Cobbs Manufacturing, Dinsmore, Germany Auto Compass,
Blackstone Manufacturing Cooperation, Donaldson Manufacturing
Cooperation, Franklin Accessories, Hull Manufacturing Company, Napa,
North Star, Noisom, Peerless, Pilot Compasses, Ranger, Sears, Shell,
Sherrill Instrument Company, Taylor Instrument Company, Thermometer
Corporation (TCA), U.S. Gauge Company, Wilson Freight Forwarding
Company, Western Auto Sports, and the World Auto Compass Company.
In addition, he has compasses that were specially made for automobile
manufactures such as: American Motor Company (AMC), Buick, Cadillac,
Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cord, De Soto, Dodge, Ford, General Motors
Corporation (GMC) (GM), Hudson, International, Jeep, Kaiser, Lincoln,
Mercury, Mopar, Nash, Oldsmobile, Packard, Plymouth, Pontiac,
Studebaker, and Willys.
He has both non-liquid and liquid filled compasses, non-illuminated and
illuminated compasses both hard-wired and battery operated.
Finally, he has miscellaneous compass that fit aviation, marine, auto,
and tank applications.
Jeff can be contacted at:
jjs55belair {A T} yahoo {D O T}
com
Unfortunately
only in Polish language, this book (see
pict. at left)
is
worth
buying for the
numerous pictures of the Kosciuszki
Foundation's
compass collection! If you have some knowledge of any Slav language,
you will
discover:
