Strange Compass

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

I have this old compass that I never use, but am curious about.  It is made by Keuffer + Essel, who made a lot of precision equipment like drafting tools, etc.  It's not a good woods compass, because it is rather bulky and heavy.  It takes the needle a long time to settle down.  It is well made, and the big dial could give you some precision, but it doesn't have a mirror, and the "gunsight" on the lid isn't really good to shoot a line with.  There is no fixture on the underside to  attach to a staff.  The strangest thing is the chart inside the lid.  A grid with numbered cells from 1 to 36.  I googled around and couldn't find what it's for.  I assume it's for some kind of point sampling, like to take ore samples, soil samples, or forestry measurements?  Tick off each plot with a crayon as you go?  Maybe one of you know something about this cool old artifact.

[reeleyz]

I found this.

 

"The table inside the cover (square with 36 boxes) is based on the system of numbering the sections in a township, and marks this compass as designed for preliminary land survey use by surveyors or developers."

 

" Cover has township grid, the system utilized in surveying in most areas of the country."

Edited August 1, 2022 by reeleyz

[Gill-T]

I think it’s a Lake Trout finder Pete.