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National Geographic : 1910 Mar
Contents
THE MOST CURIOUS CRAFT AFLOAT BEGGAR AT MAHUN, PERSIA these are more or less temporary de rangements, and after a certain time the needle recovers its normal direction. Frequently during the so-called "mag netic storms" there are electric currents .generated in the earth of sufficient strength to interfere seriously with tele graphing and cabling. Were it possible to substitute some thing else for the magnetic compass it would be a waste of funds, as judged from the "purely practical standpoint," to carry on the extensive magnetic oper ations of the Carnegie Institution of. Washington. However, nothing has been found as yet which "fills the bill" as well as the compass, in spite of its manifest defects. THE "GYROSCOPE COMPASS" The papers have recently had con siderable to say regarding the so-called "gyroscope compass." This instrument is not dependent for the maintenance of its direction upon the earth's magnetism, but is an embodiment of the principle of the spinning top. The spinning is done by an electric motor, a 9-pound wheel rotating about 21,000 times a minute. Just as the axis of the top maintains an invariable direction while the top is in rapid motion, so does the axis of the gyroscope remain unaltered for some time in the direction originally set; this direction may be due north and south, for example. The precise advantage of this instrument is, that it is unaffected by any neighboring iron, and hence this sort of a compass is peculiarly useful on the modern steel vessels and on war-ships. Instead, however, of displacing our old standby, the magnetic compass, it must be regarded chiefly as an adjunct to the 233
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