Dietzgen Prismatic
posted by William Hudson at
4:30 PM
About
The Compass Collector is Bill Hudson. He has been slowly collecting old compasses for several years now, and has focused on military, survey, and scouting compasses.
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3 Comments:
i just received this prismatic compass for christmas and was wondering what you could tell me about it. how old, etc. it is 3 inches in diameter and has a leather case with a strap. the case says dietzen, but the compass only says:
"U.S. ENGR. DEPT.
E.D.C.O. 5990
thanks
By
Anonymous, at 6:18 PM
Hi;
Without seeing it I wouldn't be able to tell you, and even *with* seeing it, I probably would only be able to give you a rough idea.
However, if it resembles mine above, then it is probably from the first half of the 20th century. Perhaps as early as the 1930s, or as late as the mid 1950s.
If it has the reddish colored paint on the numerals, be careful to not allow it to be broken, and don't let kids handle it, as the paint is radioactive. Its fine as long as it is encapsulated in the compass like that.
If it does not have that paint on it, then that places the date of manufacture later, perhaps within the latter half of the 20th century.
The inscription "U.S. Engr Dept" refers to "United States Engineering Department", which is also known as the "Army Corps of Engineers". You will also see this under the acronym "USED".
"E.D.C.O." probably refers to a department within the USED, but it's not one that I am familiar with.
Basically the USED is frequently brought in for large civil projects (roadways, dams, etc). These compasses are excellent for doing preliminary surveys. It is a very similar design to the "forest cruiser" compass used by land management people to estimate the density of forests.
What you have is a variety of survey compass, that was used for a variety of rough survey work.
By
William Hudson, at 3:51 PM
I also have this compass. The "E.D. CO." is Eugene Dietzgen Company. "5990" is the Dietzgen Catalogue number. It is identical to their 6742 Hutchinson's pattern compass illustrated in the 1941 catalogue, except for the radium paint (which is not noted for the 6742).
By
Dan, at 3:17 PM
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