Object data
wood, brass, iron, ruby, possibly agate, mica and paper
(A): height 15.2 cm
(B): diameter 24.4 cm
(C): diameter 21.7 cm
J.M. Kleman & Zoon, after George Stebbing
Pivot and Two Compass Cards
Amsterdam, Portsmouth, 1825
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-877
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Pivot with a ruby head (NG-MC-877-A on a wooden pedestal and two compass cards (NG-MC-877-B and NG-MC-877-C).
One card has a brass cap with the dab for the pivot beneath. The turning of the card is facilitated by the materials used, while the large area of friction of the ruby diminishes tilting movements at the same time. The card, which is damaged, slides inside an outer rim, which is graduated in degrees: this was to compensate for magnetic variation (the angle between true north and magnetic north). The second card (NG-MC-877-C) is of the same type, but the dab for the pivot is made of a red semi-precious stone, probably agate.
The first card (NG-MC-877-B) is a Kleman compass card adapted to George Stebbing’s (1775-1847) patent. The second was an improvement of Stebbing’s patent card by Jan Marten Kleman (1758-1845) himself.
Literature
British Patent, 18/7/1810, no. 3363; J.H. Bolken, ‘Berigt aangaande de kompassen, aan Z.Ed. door het Ministerie van Marine ter beproeving medegegeven, op deszelfs kruistogt met de brik Courier, in de Oostzee, in het jaar 1822’, Verhandelingen en berigten betrekkelijk het zeewezen (1824), pp. 245-59; J.C. Rijk, Generaal Rapport Z.M. Pallas, s.l. 1825, manuscript with 6 appendices in HSM, inv. no. NII (03144), Appendix I, p. 66; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 877; E.G.R. Taylor, The Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England 1714-1840, Cambridge 1966, p. 406, no. 1435
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'J.M. Kleman & Zoon, Pivot and Two Compass Cards, Amsterdam, 1825', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.644042
(accessed 20 September 2024 16:30:24).