Object data
wood, brass, copper, iron, lead, glass, precious stone, paper and sealing wax
height 19.3 cm × width 17.5 cm × depth 17.5 cm
J.P. Weilbach
Azimuth Compass
Copenhagen (city), c. 1820
Inscriptions
- inscription, on the compass card: I·P·Weilbach // iKiöbenhavn
Provenance
...; Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1820;1 transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-876
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Azimuth compass in gimbals in a wooden box.
The copper compass kettle is weighted with lead inside. The compass card is suspended in a rather peculiar way: a separate set of gimbals is mounted in the bowl, in which a thick axle with a weight hangs like a pendulum. The top of this axle is hollowed out and has a precious stone in the middle. The compass card has a hole in the middle with a bridge across it with the pivot pointing downwards, standing on the precious stone.
Because of the hole in the card, the use of a single compass needle was impossible; this was solved by the use of two parallel needles. The compass card is balanced with red sealing wax beneath. Box and cover bear a stamp of an anchor in a circle.
This compass was bought by the Department of the Navy in Copenhagen in 1820.2
Literature
Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen … 1824, pp. 245-59; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 876
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'J.P. Weilbach, Azimuth Compass, Copenhagen (city), c. 1820', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244690
(accessed 7 June 2024 18:04:58).