The Washington herald., 1921-07-17
1CERO" COMPASS
SAVES MUCH FUEL
FOR OCEANLIN
Permits Steering Exactly
Straight Course, Says
Its Inventor.

f-
Ttessarch applied to the problems
of Mitigation is, IN the single m
stance OF the gyro compass, pro-
du0iRg enormous savings in ocean
commerce, according to Elmer A
SpRry. inventor and member of the
exseatiye board of the Engineering
Foandation.
Mr.. Sperry is one of n group OF
scientists and engineers headed by
Charies =. Rand. who are seeking
through the Engineering Founda-
tiOns founded by Ambrose Swasey.
to organize American industrial re-
sesTA on a permanent basis.
80 Developed from Toy.
rlle gyro compass. with which
sushz ships as the Mauretania are
abksto steer so straight a course
thsta the saving in the fuel item
aiasse has been found to be the en-
tirk Cost Of the equipment every
fcY hundred hours Of service, was
peTfected as the result of research
wsfehed his three small sons play
Ing Ntith some mechanical toys.
TIE magnetic compass. which
~ NEtAtu III NINA anu " "AS
adaded by all mariners long be-
;ors the cardinal points were
knsWn by any such names as
notthl south. etc. and when ami
msh$ were used to designate direc-
tioDs was an instrument of in
fnpe service. especially when all
shtps were wooden or when wood
predominated IS a building material
90 hHk L.
1slt even then the compasses
dcEiations and variations. Later
the wanderings of the magnetic
meridians commenced to be recog-
nized. and gradually many SEEM
Ingly tnexplicab BILE Inconsistencies OF
the seompass behavior at direren,
points on the globe were explained
and understood.
Worse In Iron ships.
rIsut when magnetic compasses
wste used on iron and steel ships
a snfw set OF conditions came in
that upset all previous caIcuIa-
tIOns and II was found that the
magnetic needle much preferred tC
Content itself by pointing az q
nQrth pole which had been riFetet
into the ship at some point in its
structure than to point at the
eartt's north magnetic pole many
thousands Of miles away: As steel
ships commenced to be used II was
found to be a very difficult task
to- tease and cajole the magnetic
needle into anything that simu-
lated. decent behavior.
FSor instance. az a ship changes
its heading the compass indicates
this change only the day after the
fair. introducing a very serious
menace in the navigation of the
ship. giving a sinuous course, re-
Guiring more time and much fnors
fuel owing to the CONSTANT appli,
cation of helm. helm being known
to- naval architects as a seriou:
sOptce Of retardation of ships.
sAgain. the magnetic compass {.
subject to all sorts of disturbances
by electric storms. local attraction
Of great ore bodies. and the orig,
inaI disposition and shifting Of
eargoes. The latter. without the
least warning. will throw and hold
the compass way out of its Indiea-
tioIE
Gyro Is ExacL
II is in the greatest contrast tc
thdsr performance that we find the
GyTo compass. Here we have in
dications that deal with true geo.
graphical meridians with a high
degree Of precision, tuere being nc
such thing as deviation or varia-
ti0n Magnetism has nothing 70 de
with Tive ,ars not in what mag
nste condition our ship Is In fact
there are no forces known that
WHY disturb properly constructed
gyro compass When the shin
changes its heading even one-tenth
Or degree. not only the master
compass but even the repeaters in
dicste it perfectly and with no time
lag
In consequence quite unsupported
results are being achieved in point
Of saving II is found with a gyro
'"rlpasS that a course can be
steSred so that the wake is as
straight as a RAILROAD track across
ttesdesert- Capt. Rostrand, Of the
iauretania, recently reported thai
the saving in the fuel item aion.
eTualed the entire cost Of tn.
equipment every few hundred hours
Pr service on the large trans-At-
lsptic ships.
rThe research which led up to tn.
Perfection Of the gyro compass wa.
hased upon rather small indiea-
tiea Of phenomenon that was no
tieed in connection with various
Eyfpscopic toys that I got for my
three sons when they ware boy.
and ready to devour- almost too
literally any pfchanfca, device. IN
Following up these clews. through
research ascertatned their law.
checked them up with an enormous
volume Of mathematics that has al
ways more. or less encurnbered
progress with the gyroscope. and
gradually found ways and mean.
whereby they became Of the great
est Service TO our day and genera
tfon"