My Dad's Rittenhouse Compass - The Inspiration for This Webpage

My dad acquired a "Rittenhouse" Compass in 1990, and then spent the next year researching and writing an article about Rittenhouse Compasses. I recently found his extensive 1990 Rittenhouse file and decided, after updating his research to the extent possible, to create a website dedicated to Rittenhouse Compasses. Hopefully this website will help collectors understand the different brand names that the Rittenhouses used when making their compasses. The site also pulls together the publicly available selling prices for some of these rare compasses.

The instrument-making Rittenhouses were:

David Rittenhouse ("DR",1732 – 1796) was an American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the first director of the United States Mint. Although not well-known today, David was a celebrity back in the day. To put this in perspective….The first three Presidents of the American Philosophical Society were in order Ben Franklin, David Rittenhouse, and Thomas Jefferson. David was simply a creative and skillful genius, and the surveying instruments he made reflected both his genius and skill.

Benjamin Rittenhouse ("BR",1740 – 1825) was David's younger brother. While Benjamin lacked David's creative genius, Benjamin made some of the most beautiful compasses ever produced in this country. Benjamin formed a number of partnerships over the years, and I treat each one of these partnerships as a separate brand, since the compasses were all signed that way.

David Rittenhouse ("DRN") was Benjamin's son and DR's Nephew. Not much is known about DRN, but he apparently was trained by his father and might have made some instruments with his dad.

I've create separate webpages for David, Benjamin, and each of the known Rittenhouse instruments making partnerships. You can access all of the known brand names below.

Please contact me if you have information to add to this website. If you have something to contribute, especially anything about David the Nephew, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.