Читать книгу The Sperry Gyro-Compass - Sperry Gyroscope Company - Страница 7

The Santa Maria carried Columbus to the new world.

The Ideal Compass

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F you were to conceive of a compass which would be free from all the troubles and errors found in most compasses, which would relieve you of all the worry and care the present compass requires, a compass which would be accurate and reliable, a compass which would be the Ideal Compass under all conditions, you would undoubtedly conceive of a compass that had the following characteristics:

 1.It must point True North.

 2.It must free you from the necessity of making calculations and corrections.

 3.It must free you from compensating the compass for errors.

 4.It must free you from the burden of swinging the ship, or otherwise taking the deviation of your compass.

 5.It must not be influenced by inherent magnetism of the ship.

 6.It must not be influenced by any change in the character or disposition of the cargo.

 7.It must not be influenced directly or indirectly by any temperature changes.

 8.It must not be influenced by the roll or pitch of the ship.

 9.It must not be influenced by any weather conditions.

 10.In the event of failure, or error, it should give instant warning.

Comparison of the Magnetic Compass with the Sperry Gyro-Compass

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Let us compare the Magnetic Compass with the Sperry Gyro-Compass and determine which more nearly approaches the Ideal Compass.

True North

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The Magnetic Compass

The Mag­ne­tic Com­pass does not point to True North, it points to Mag­ne­tic North, which is about 800 miles from the True North Pole.

The Sper­ry Gyro-Com­pass

The Sperry Gyro-Com­pass, which is not a Mag­ne­tic Com­pass, and is not af­fect­ed by a mag­ne­tism of any sort, and de­rives its di­rec­tive force from the earth’s ro­ta­tion, points True North. It does not point to the Mag­ne­tic North Pole.