FROM THE DALE BEEKS COLLECTION

360 Degree Spinner View - with Zoom Option
(Zoom with your mouse scroll wheel or with the magnifying glass in the spinner menu bar. Unzoom to regain control of the 360 degree spinner).

This is a wonderful Railroad Compass in fantastic condition made by Andrew Meneely in the early 1830s (my best guess 1831 to 1833 based on the early serial number of 266). Railroad Compasses could measure angles independently of the needle, which was a very important development in the history of surveying in America. Please see my Railroad Compass Webpage which describes the development and importance of these neat compasses.

William Young is generally credited with creating the first Improved Compass (aka Railroad Compass) in 1830 or so, as he later received a patent on the approach. Andrew Meneely was one of the very first makers to develop and market his own Improved Compass after Young started selling his Improved Compass. The compass offered here is thus a VERY early Railroad Compass, perhaps made only a year or two after William Young created his Improved Compass.

Interestingly, in addition to saying that his Improved Compasses would measure angles without the needle, Meneely claimed "Angles of elevation can be taken with precisely the same accuracy as horizontal angles." Evidently surveyors would flip the compass on its side and measure the elevation using the inner compass dial measures angles independently of the needle. As you can see from one of the pics below, the tripod/jacob staff adapter is notched so that the surveyor can flip the compass on its side. Very nifty. Note that the Pike Railroad Compass that I sold had the inner compass dial at the North end of the Compass, so Pike's RR compass would not have been able to take elevations like Meneely's.

This compass is in beautiful condition. It either was basically unused or restored by a prior owner (before Dale acquired it). I suspect the compass was restored - the label in the box is a Xerox copy of a post 1840 poster put out by Meneely. Doesn't matter - the compass is simply beautiful.