Variation Compass
name: label: maker
content: Adams, George
notes: label: Description
content: In the eighteenth century, scientists began using variation compasses to chart the fluctuation of a magnetic needle in relation to time and such other factors as the aurora borealis. This example is large, heavy, and finely made, but missing two crucial elements: the magnetic compass with rectangular box, and the sighting telescope. The inscription reads “Made by G. Adams-Inst. Maker to the Prince of Wales in Fleet Street LONDON.” George Adams (1709-1772) opened a shop in London in 1734 and was soon an important maker and merchant of optical, mathematical and philosophical instruments. Since Adams received an appointment to the Prince of Wales in late 1757 and, since the Prince became George III in 1760, the time frame for this instrument is quite narrow.
label: Description
content: Ref: Anita McConnell, <i>Geomagnetic Instruments Before 1800: An Illustrated Account of Their Construction and Use</i> (London, 1980), pp. 40-41.
label: Description
content: Adams’ Improved Variation Compass,” in George Adams, <i>A Catalogue of Optical, Philosophical and Mathematical Instruments</i> (London, [1765?]), p. 16.
label: Description
content: George Adams, Jr., <i>An Essay on Electricity</i> (London, 1784).
label: Description
content: John R. Millburn, <i>Adams of Fleet Street. Instrument Makers to King George III</i> (London, 2000).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.319776
label: catalog number
content: 319776
label: accession number
content: 239771
objectType: label: Object Name
content: variation compass