Posted by Mike on December 31, 2007 at 17:33:27:
I have posted this solar compass for a couple reasons. The first reason is that this solar compass is missing some parts and I hoped that some collectors might either have, or be on the look out for these missing parts. It is missing a part that you sight through (where a latitude arc would be on an improved solar compass), I believe the missing part looks like the sight in the scanned image of Burts 1836 original patent (I can email a scan if you like). It is also missing its leveling base and the original box. I am guessing the sight and level base were in the box, and somehow they were separated from the solar compass. This solar compass was found in northern California and likely once belonged to the federal government. The second reason is to disseminate information to other collectors by possibly rewriting the history books on solar compasses, and to let fellow collectors know it exists (since it is just in storage at present). This solar compass, and the support Unfortunately not much is known about either Mr. Nutz or Timpson, although I do have scanned images of their trade labels along with the instrument photos. Leonard N. Nutz is not listed in Smart (but once again thanks to the same fellow collector who has informed me) he is listed in the Cincinnati directories from 1840 to 1843 and in the St. Louis directories from 1848 to 1852. I I can email images of the above mentioned letters/information to anyone interested.
ing documentation that a fellow collector was kind enough to research and supply me, seem to indicate that William Young in Philadelphia did not make the first solar compass as is currently believed. It is more likely Thomas Brown Timpson did, or perhaps a partnership of the both Nutz and Timpson from Cincinnati, OH were the first. There is a certain logic to the first solar compass being made by someone closer to where Burt’s spent most of his career, Michigan. They would need to work out the details and make adjustments and refinements which would be difficult to do from a greater distance.
believe this particular solar compass was made in 1840, and!
is li
y the one referred to in the scanned letter I have a copy of dated April 8, 1841 from E. L. Haines the Surveyor General of Ohio, to James Whitcomb the Commissioner of the General Land Office selling for $140 at the time. This letter is good evidence that this particular solar compass is likely the first solar compass ever bought by the General Land Office. The inscription “For Surveyor Generals Office” and the condition, never used in the field, are both indicators this was a presentation instrument used for evaluation and display, not field use. I also have a copy of an inventory letter from Surveyor General Lucas Lyon dated 1845, and an 1887 Report from a Land Surveyor’s meeting where Mr. Timpson claims to have made the first solar compass. I do believe Mr. Timpson made the first and likely a couple other prototype solar compasses for Burt, they were used in field trials by Burt and his son as indicated in the scanned image of an 1841 letter from William Burt to his son
Alvin where he mentions the solar compasses. I believe this solar compass was likely the first made in commercial production for sale, and is almost certainly the first ever purchased by the General Land Office. As far as I am aware this is also the only surviving example of a solar compass that is not “improved” it is inscribed simply “Burt’s Patent”, all the others I am aware of are Burt’s improved solar compasses (I believe that would make this Nutz compass the oldest known solar compass). And this letter I have a scan of from William Burt is evidence that William Young made the first of many “Improved” solar compasses.