Object data
wood, brass, iron, lead, silver, glass, mica, paper and gum
height 16.5 cm × width 29 cm × depth 28.6 cm
A. van Emden
Liquid Compass
Amsterdam, Leiden, c. 1860
Inscriptions
- inscription, on the outer ring of the compass: A. VAN EMDEN / AMSTERDAM
- label, on the box: 1085 former inventory label
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-1085
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Liquid compass in gimbals in a wooden box, with accessories.
The liquid is lost and the glass is heavily affected on the inside, covering the compass card completely with an opaque brown layer. The lid of the box is missing. In the base of the box, a locking device for the bowl is installed. Inside the compass bowl, which is weighted with lead, a separate bowl containing the fluid and the compass card is set. The bottom of the inner bowl is flexible, allowing for the expansion of the fluid (alcohol) when the temperature rises. The outer bowl has a round hole with a sliding cap in the base. Over the glass, a pelorus can be mounted. The compass is equipped with a screwdriver, a small bottle that used to contain alcohol, and a small funnel.
Fluid compasses of this kind were designed for use on launches. In his work on navigational instruments of 1883, Frederik Kaiser (1808-1872) describes the disadvantages of liquid compasses that use pure alcohol.1 The inside of the inner bowl was silvered and the compass card was coated with gum, which led to the formation of the brown layer on the compass card, which consists of copper oxide. By 1883, the liquid compasses had undergone several improvements.
Literature
F. Kaiser, ‘De nieuwe kompaslampen en vloeistof-kompassen der Nederlandsche Marine. Met eene plaat’, Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen (1860), no. 1, pp. 241-84; P.J. Kaiser, Theorie en beschrijving der thans bij de Nederlandsche Marine in gebruik zijnde zeevaartkundige werktuigen, 2 vols., Leiden 1883, vol. 1, pp. 98 ff., pl. IX; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1085; J. MacLean, Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis der Nederlandse instrumentenmakerijen in de periode 1781-1881. De firma’s Kleman en Van Emden, Leiden 1976 (Mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum voor de geschiedenis van de natuurwetenschappen en van de geneeskunst ‘Museum Boerhaave’, vol. 152)
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'A. van Emden, Liquid Compass, Amsterdam, c. 1860', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244900
(accessed 23 November 2024 19:24:16).