A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING OR CORRECTING SHIPS' COMPASSES BY
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Middleton, of Hartlepool, in the County
of Durham, Ships' Compass Adjuster, for the Invention of "A NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING OR CORRECTING SHIPS' COMPASSES BY

page_text: points, and quarter points, and time circle, non-magnetic, magnetic,
transparent, or otherwise. The card or disc is placed on a centre witli
clamp screw, and revolves inside a ring made of brass or of any
other suitable substance. The brass ring has two sight vanes, one vane
having silk or thread drawn from top to bottom of it through the centre,
and the other vane is fitted with coloured glass shades, and is also made
available to hold or carry a telescope for distant objects, and it is also
fitted with all necessary object glasses for bringing the sight of any
celestial body down to the eye of the observer to enable him to correct
thereby the card or disc, which is also fitted up with or without time or
latitude circles, with a vane for taking the sun's azimuth, and a tall
moveable vane or sight, which when used is placed in the centre of the
card or disc, and is hinged or not as may be considered necessary, and is
fitted with thread, or silk, or any other material for taking observations
of any object nearly vertical, such as the Polar Star in northern latitudes,
Southern Cross in southern latitudes, the sun on the line, or any other
vertical body or object. The brass ring turns or revolves inside of an
outer ring or bowl, and the whole apparatus is hung in and with all
requisite and necessary gimbles in order to keep the instrument con-
stantly level with an indicator to be attached to the outside of box
enclosing the instrument, in order to register the number of degrees the
ship or vessel heels to port or starboard. The brass ring is cut or other-
wise marked to degrees as a variation circle.
The instrument or apparatus is placed in a portable case made of
metal, wood, or any other suitable substance, and may be fitted on a
tripod stand or in any other form or manner, and also may be fitted up
as a standard binnacle with all necessary lamps or lamp for lighting up
the card or disc and sight vanes for night adjustments; or it may be
applied or adapted to the ordinary compasses used in ships or vessels,
with all necessary arrangements for making them non-magnetic or
otherwise.
The instrument or apparatus may also be used for the purpose of
adjusting the compasses of iron vessels, on an improved system, the
compensators being non-permanent, magnets, thereby preventing the
changes that compasses are liable to in all latitudes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Middleton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, JOHN
MIDDLETON, of Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, Ships' Compass
Maker and Adjuster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Middleton, Her special licence that
I, the said John Middleton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Middleton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING OR CORRECTING SHIPS' COMPASSES BY OBSERVATIONS
OF THE CELESTIAL BODIES AS WELL AS TERRESTRIAL OBJECTS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Middleton, my executors. or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
'Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Middleton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-

page_text: ·
•
officer, or other persons, by taking observations of the celestial
bodies as well as terrestrial objects in all latitudes night or
day, and which I call the " 'polarus." It has a circular card or
disc made of brass, metal, talek, or any other suitable substance. The
card or disc is divided into thirty-two points, half points, and quarter
points, and degrees, non-magnetic, magnetic, transparent, or otherwise.
The card or disc is placed on a centre with clamp screw, and revolves
inside of a ring made of brass or any other suitable substance. The
brass ring has two sight vanes, one vane having silk, wire, thread, or
any other substance drawn from top to bottom through the centre,
and the other vane is fitted with colored glass moveable shades, and
is also made available to hold or carry a telescope for distant objects,
and it is also fitted with all necessary object glasses for bringing the
sight of any celestial body down to the eye of the observer to enable
him or them to correct thereby the card or disc, which may also
be fitted up with or without time or latitude circles, with a tall centre
sight vane, hinged or otherwise, and has a thread, wire, or any other
substance drawn through the centre from top to bottom for the
purpose of taking observations of the sun or any heavenly body nearly
vertical, such as the Polar Star in northern latitudes, the Southern
Cross in southern latitudes, the sun on the line, or any other vertical
body or object. The brass ring turns or revolves inside of an outer
ring or bowl, and the whole apparatus suspended in and with all
requisite and necessary gimbles in order to keep the instrument con-
stantly level with an indicator attached to the outside of the case or box
enclosing the instrument in order to register the number of degrees the
ship or vessel heels to port or starboard. The brass ring may likewise
be cut or otherwise marked into degrees as a variation circle.
The instrument or apparatus may be fixed or placed in any binnacle,
stand, or portable case made of metal, wood, or any other suitable
substance, and may be fitted on a tripod stand or in any other form or
manner; and also may be fitted up as a standard binnacle with all
necessary lamps or lamp for lighting up the card or disc and sight vanes
for night adjustments, or it may be applied or adapted to the ordinary
compasses used in ships or vessels, with all necessary arrangements for
making them non-magnetic or otherwise."
2733
The instrument or
apparatus may also be used for the purpose o

page_text: adjusting the compasses of iron vessels on an improved system, the
compensation being non-permanent magnets, thereby preventing the
changes that compasses are liable to in all latitudes.
JOHN MIDDLETON. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
John Middleton, in the presence of
JNO. WILKINSON,
Clerk to Mr. Wm. Todd,
Sol., Hartlepool.