Compasses

A collection of dividers and compasses in the Division of Medicine and Science's Mathematics collection.

One characteristic of the compasses in the collection is the variety of ornamentation molded into their metal parts. More often than the instruments on the other pages, compasses were manufactured in the United States, and Americans received patents for adding innovations to the instrument. Several of the objects below were used in schools, and some were even designed to prevent schoolchildren from poking themselves and each other. This page also contains spare parts for compasses.

Search term: *:* Date: 1900s Clear All

Bow Compass with Pencil Point Sold by Keuffel & Esser

This tarnished German silver bow pencil has a ring connecting the instrument to its ridged cylindrical handle. It is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) GERMANY. The disc adjusting the instrument's width is between the legs.
Description
This tarnished German silver bow pencil has a ring connecting the instrument to its ridged cylindrical handle. It is marked: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) GERMANY. The disc adjusting the instrument's width is between the legs. Thumbscrews on the back of one leg and the front of the other permit adjustments to the height of the pencil and pricker points. The instrument has no pencil lead.
The instrument does not appear in K&E's 1892 or 1909 catalogs. K&E sold a similar bow compass from at least 1921 to at least 1936, but that instrument was made in the United States and had bolts in each leg at the ends of the bow screw. Therefore, this object may have been imported before 1892.
References: Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 36th ed. (New York, 1921), 92s; Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 38th ed. (New York, 1936), 141.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
1991.0793.02
accession number
1991.0793
catalog number
1991.0793.02

Drawing Compass

This German silver instrument has a handle and ridged ring at its top. Both legs have screws partway down and thumbscrews at the ends for adjusting the angles of the points. A piece of lead is in the receptacle at the end of one leg. The end of the other leg has a steel point.
Description
This German silver instrument has a handle and ridged ring at its top. Both legs have screws partway down and thumbscrews at the ends for adjusting the angles of the points. A piece of lead is in the receptacle at the end of one leg. The end of the other leg has a steel point. The instrument has no markings. Similar but shorter compasses from Germany are advertised for $2.15 in Keuffel & Esser's 1892 and 1909 catalogs. The instrument is not shown in the 1921 catalog.
References: Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 23rd ed. (New York, 1892), 61; Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 33rd ed. (New York, 1909), 108.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
MA.335340
accession number
305958
catalog number
335340

Bow Compass

This steel-spring instrument has a metal and ivory handle, with a ridged ring around the bottom and the top shaped like a pawn chess piece. A holder with a metal adjusting screw on one leg is missing its needle point.
Description
This steel-spring instrument has a metal and ivory handle, with a ridged ring around the bottom and the top shaped like a pawn chess piece. A holder with a metal adjusting screw on one leg is missing its needle point. This leg is marked with the number 8 inside a circle and an arrow pointing left (toward the 8). The holder on the other leg has a pencil lead and is adjusted with a brass screw. The distance between the legs is adjusted with a metal screw and brass nut. This object does not resemble the ivory-handled bow-pencils sold around the turn of the 20th century by Keuffel & Esser, Dietzgen, Gurley, Kern, or Schoenner.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
MA.335342
accession number
305958
catalog number
335342

Bow Compass with Pen Point

This steel-spring instrument has an ivory handle, a point attached to one leg, and a penholder with adjusting screw on the other leg. The distance between the legs is adjusted with a pin and thumbscrew.
Description
This steel-spring instrument has an ivory handle, a point attached to one leg, and a penholder with adjusting screw on the other leg. The distance between the legs is adjusted with a pin and thumbscrew. The instrument resembles a Swiss bow pen sold around the turn of the 20th century by W. & L. E. Gurley (for $2.00) and by Keuffel & Esser (for $2.50). The manufacturer was probably not Kern & Co. of Aarau, Switzerland, as the Kern instruments advertised in the 1897 Sears Roebuck catalog have a different shape of ivory handle.
References: 1897 Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue (reprint; New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2007), 369; Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 23rd ed. (New York, 1892), 31; Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 33rd ed. (New York, 1909), 63; A Manual of the Principal Instruments . . . Manufactured by W. & L. E. Gurley, 37th ed. (Troy, N.Y., 1903), 289; A Manual of the Principal Instruments . . . Manufactured by W. & L. E. Gurley, 39th ed. (Troy, N.Y., 1906), 289. This instrument does not appear in the 1921 K&E and 1912 Gurley catalogs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
MA.335337
accession number
305958
catalog number
335337

Pencil Holder for Drawing Compass

This brass leg for a drawing compass has a screw for adjusting the width of the pencil lead holder. A joint at the top bends to a right angle.
Description
This brass leg for a drawing compass has a screw for adjusting the width of the pencil lead holder. A joint at the top bends to a right angle. At the turn of the 20th century, brass drawing instruments were made for school use, while engineers and draftsmen used instruments made from German silver and steel. This object may have originally been part of a wooden case of drawing instruments. It resembles but is not identical to the pencil point in a case sold for $5.00 by Keuffel & Esser in 1892 and compasses sold for 60¢ by W. & L. E. Gurley in 1903 and 1906.
References: Catalogue and Price-List of Keuffel & Esser Co., 23rd ed. (New York, 1892), 95; A Manual of the Principal Instruments . . . Manufactured by W. & L. E. Gurley, 37th ed. (Troy, N.Y., 1903), 322–323; A Manual of the Principal Instruments . . . Manufactured by W. & L. E. Gurley, 39th ed. (Troy, N.Y., 1906), 322–323.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
MA.335336
accession number
305958
catalog number
335336

Pen Point for Drawing Compass

This leg for a drawing compass has a brass top, which is jointed, and German silver pen points with an adjusting screw. Loosening the screw increases the width of the pen line to be drawn.
Description
This leg for a drawing compass has a brass top, which is jointed, and German silver pen points with an adjusting screw. Loosening the screw increases the width of the pen line to be drawn. At the turn of the 20th century, compasses frequently came with interchangeable legs, one for drawing with pencil lead and one for drawing with ink. The compass to which this pen point belonged may have been part of a set of drawing instruments. Due to its different shape and materials, it is probably not from the same compass as MA.335336.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
MA.335338
accession number
305958
catalog number
335338

Pen Point for Drawing Compass

This leg for a drawing compass has a brass top, which is jointed, and steel pen points with a brass screw for adjusting the width of the pen line to be drawn.
Description
This leg for a drawing compass has a brass top, which is jointed, and steel pen points with a brass screw for adjusting the width of the pen line to be drawn. At the turn of the 20th century, compasses frequently came with interchangeable legs, one for drawing with pencil lead and one for drawing with ink. This part does not resemble any of the compasses advertised in Keuffel & Esser, Dietzgen, or Gurley catalogs from this time period.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
MA.335339
accession number
305958
catalog number
335339

Hairspring Compass

The handle on this metal instrument is connected to the point and can be pulled out of the cylinder that is the compass's main leg. The other leg is screwed to the cylinder with a metal slat.
Description
The handle on this metal instrument is connected to the point and can be pulled out of the cylinder that is the compass's main leg. The other leg is screwed to the cylinder with a metal slat. A screw goes through this leg and can be loosened or tightened to adjust the radius of a circle drawn with the compass. A second screw adjusts the tube that holds a pencil point. Draftsmen used the hairspring compass to precisely draw small circles.
Keuffel & Esser, an American maker and dealer of slide rules and drawing instruments, donated this object to the Smithsonian in 1971. Part of a paper tag received with the object has been lost, but the remaining portion suggests this instrument may have come from Leipzig, Germany. None of the compasses offered in K&E catalogs in 1909, 1921, or 1936 resemble this instrument.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
MA.335261
accession number
306012
catalog number
335261

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