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1670239401Code 7453 Pocket CompassSmall pocket and travel compass made of chromed brass, supplied to British army officier during the First World War. Compass in the shape of a pocket watch, equipped with a lid with snap closure with release button inside the ring, the instrument consisting of a magnetized needle free to rotate on a horizontal plane marking the direction of magnetic North. Signed Negretti & Zambra London. Compass card with 8 winds. Diameter 4.5 cm - 1.7 inches, thickness 1.2 cm - 0.3 inches. Excellent condition, fully functional.
Enrico (Henry) Negretti (Como 1817 - London 1879), emigrated to London in 1829, where he attended the London Mechanics Institute, at the same time starting an apprenticeship in a laboratory of precision optical instruments. In 1859 he joined Joseph Zambra (1822-1897), a manufacturer of scientific instruments, and they established the Negretti & Zambra Ltd, with numerous branches in London, and soon they had a good reputation both at home and abroad because of the excellence of their products. In the early years of the company, they limited production to meteorological instruments, or, as they defined them, "philosophical instruments". About in 1857 Negretti & Zambra were commissioned by the British government to investigate about the temperature of the sea along the coasts, to clarify which influence the temperature had on migration and habits of fishes and which were the seasons and temperatures more suitable for fishing. For these investigations, the Negretti & Zambra realized for the Admiral Fitzroy a mercury thermometer that was the most accurate ever made. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, they diversified their products by manufacturing optical instruments such as astronomical and terrestrial telescopes, levels, theodolites, sights, as well as further improvements in barometers and other meteorological instruments. The company passed from father to son until 1946.
The invention of compass is mysterious but it’s well known that magnetite was discovered in the city of Asia Minor Magnesia. Greeks and the Romans didn't know the possibility to use magnetic fields for orient, but this possibility probably was known by the Chinese people: about in 2600 B.C. Hoang-Ti the emperor won Tchi-Yeou the prince using a magic cart, the See-Nan (cart indicating the South), finding the way of escape of the enemy that has been covered by smoke: on this cart there was a rotating human shaped figure with an arm stretched indicating the South (obviously indicating also the North, but the South was the most important cardinal point for the Chinese people). The Chinese people used magnetic fields also for spectacles: throwing magnetized arrows like dice, they indicated south like a magic, amazing the public.
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Antique compasses
Code 7453 Pocket Compass
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