John Ransome St. John designed a mariner’s compass that would determine local changes in magnetic variation. Although the instrument was complex and largely useless, it garnered a gold medal at the American Institute fair of 1849; a Prize Medal at the Crystal Palace exhibition held in London in 1851; and an English patent (#8785) in 1852.
The inscriptions on this example read "JOHN R. ST JOHN. Inventor-Buffalo, N.Y. U.S.A. 1843" and "Lith. of E. Jones & G. W. Newman" and "128 Fulton St New York."
Ref: "John R. St. John’s Variation Compass and Velocimeter," Transactions of the American Institute (1851): 204-205.
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