Dry Card Compass
date: label: date made
content: ca 1850
name: label: patentee
content: St. John, John R.
notes: label: Description
content: John Ransome St. John designed a complex mariner’s compass that would determine local changes in magnetic variation.This instrument garnered a gold medal at the American Institute fair of 1849, a Prize Medal at the Crystal Palace exhibition held in London in 1851, and a patent (#8785) in 1852.
label: Description
content: The inscriptions on this example read "JOHN R. ST JOHN. Inventor-Buffalo, N.Y. U.S.A. 1843" and "Lith. of E. Jones & G. W. Newman" and "128 Fulton St New York."
label: Description
content: Ref: "John R. St. John’s Variation Compass and Velocimeter," Transactions of the American Institute (1851): 204-205.
label: Description
content: John R. St. John, "Compass for Determining Variations from Local Causes," U.S. Patent 8785 (March 2, 1852).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Navigation
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.314744
label: catalog number
content: 314744
label: accession number
content: 210834
objectType: label: Object Name
content: nautical compass (dry card)
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 1/4 in x 12 7/8 in x 11 9/16 in; 23.495 cm x 32.7025 cm x 29.36875 cm
label: Measurements
content: bowl: 9 1/2 in; 24.13 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 1/4 in x 12 3/4 in x 11 1/2 in; 23.495 cm x 32.385 cm x 29.21 cm