AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CARD OF COMPASSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Berry Singer, of Southsea, in the County of
Southampton, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE CARD OF COMPASSES."
Sealed the 23rd November 1861, and dated the 11th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Berry Singer at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th June 1861.
I, SAMUEL BERRY SINGER, of Southsea, in the County of Southampton,
Master Mariner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE CARD OF COMPASSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in forming or coloring the surface of one half of the
card of a black or dark color or shade, and in forming or making the surface
of the remaining half of a white or light color, for the purpose of enabling the
compass to be told in dark and foggy weather without artificial light as well
as by day.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Berry Singer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BERRY SINGER, of Southsea, in the County of Southampton, Master Mariner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Berry Singer, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Berry
Singer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Samuel Berry Singer, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE CARD OF COMPASSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Berry Singer, 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 Samuel Berry Singer, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in forming or coloring the surface of one half of the
card of a black or dark color or shade, and in forming or making the surface
of the remaining half of a white or light color, for the purpose of enabling the
compass to be read in dark and foggy weather without artificial light, by night
as well as by day.
In carrying out my Invention I make compass cards of mother of pearl and
indicate the several points thereon much in the ordinary way, but in addition
I color about one half of the card of the dark or black color & leave the other
half exposed and showing the whole of the mother of pearl, which enables the

page_text: compass to be read at all times when there is the least ray of light, and a
steersman to direct a ship's course thereby at night without the use of an arti-
ficial light, except on very rare occasions. My improved compass card may
be made of other material, either in themselves possessing, or combined, to
form the black and white combination before-mentioned, or may be colored to
produce the different effects.
The annexed Drawing represents in Fig. 1 a compass card formed according
to my Invention, which, so far as it there appears, is the same as other cards,
with the exception of the one part being black and the other part white. In
this illustration the line of demarkation is represented as running east &
west on the card, and the strong contrast exhibited renders such line clearly
visible with the slightest possible light, and enables the steersman to read to
compass clearly, and at times when it might be said to be in the dark. The
line of demarkation may be arranged from north to south, or otherwise, &
the proportions of dark and white parts may be varied or somewhat differently
arranged, but I believe with less effect than according to the arrangement
shown, the object being to display the greatest possible contrast. Instead of
the whole of the one half of the card being dark or black it may be colored as
shown at Fig. 2, showing white north-east and north-west radii; or instead of
or in addition thereto, black radii may be marked on the white ground in
south-west and south-easterly directions, as seen in Fig. 3.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, producing a strong contrast on
the cards of compasses by coloring or forming one part or mass dark or black,
the other part being of a white or light color, for the purposes and as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Berry Singer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
S. BERRY SINGER. (L.S.)