IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPASSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Levy Johnson Marks, of Newport, Monmouthshire,
Nautical Instrument Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMPASSES."
Sealed the 15th December 1858, and dated the 23rd July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Levy Johnson Marks at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1858.
I, LEVY JOHNSON MARKS, of Newport, Monmouthshire, Nautical Instru-
ment Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN COMPASSES," to be as follows:-
The improvements have for their object the construction of compasses,
especially adapted to be used with ships or vessels which are formed mostly of
iron, and which will also be found more generally accurate, and less liable to
be affected by local circumstances. For this purpose I apply to the card,
in addition to the ordinary needle, several magnets, by preference radiating
from the axis of the card, and at equal distances from each other; those to
the north pole of the card being magnetised north, those to the south being
magnetised south.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Levy Johnson Marks in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEVY
JOHNSON MARKS, of Newport, Monmouthshire, Nautical Instrument Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Levy Johnson Marks, Her special licence that I, the said Levy
Johnson Marks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Levy Johnson Marks, my executors, administrators, 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 IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPASSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Levy Johnson Marks, 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 Levy Johnson Marks, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The improvements have for their object the construction of compasses,
especially adapted to be used with ships or vessels which are formed mostly-
of iron, and which will also be found more generally accurate and less liable.
to be affected by local circumstances. For this purpose I apply to the card,
in addition to the ordinary needle, several magnets, by preference radiating
from the axis of the card, and at equal distances from each other.
But that the nature of these my improvements may be more fully understood,
I will proceed to describe the Drawing annexed, in the various Figures of
which the same letters indicate like parts wherever they occur.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a plan view of parts of a compass constructed according
to my improvements; Figure 2, a section of the same; Figure 3 represents an
upper side view of the card; Figure 4, an under side view; and Figure 5, an
edge view of the card, showing the position in which I prefer to place the
extra magnets. a is the card supported upon a point 6 in the ordinary
manner, and c is the ordinary magnet polarized north and south; d, d, are
extra magnets, according to my improvements, the outer ends of which are
magnetized alternately north or south, as indicated by the letters N and S.
And I prefer that these magnets d be placed on edge, as shown, and that
the partitions e, e, forming the concentric chamber ƒ be formed of iron, and
that that chamber be filled with pieces of iron; compasses thus constructed
are not only adapted for use on iron ships, but in mining operations, and other
situations where they are very liable to local attraction.
Having thus described the nature of my said improvements, and the means
which I have found best in carrying the improvements into effect, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details shown,
as these may be varied; but what I do claim is, the application to the com-
pass "card" of several additional magnets substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Levy Johnson Marks, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine."
Witness,
5
THO. DALTON, Sol.,
Cardiff.
LEVY JOHNSON MARKS. (L.S.)