Magnetic compass by John Worgan, 1696

Made:
1696 in London
Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696 Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696 Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696 Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696 Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

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Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Mathematical compass by John Worgan, 1696

Mathematics are essential in surveying and so surveying instruments are also mathematical ones. John Worgan, a well-respected instrument maker of London’s Fleet Street from 1686 to 1714 was the maker of this rare example of a 17th century magnetic compass (a very similar one is attached to a plane table in the Earl of Orrery collection at Oxford). Part of a group of skilled instrument makers, Worgan apprenticed to the famous mathematical instrument maker, Walter Hayes (recorded working in London from 1648 to 1687) who was succeeded by another of his apprentices, Edmund Culpeper, maker of the famous Culpeper type of microscope.

Looking closer at the centre of the compass, it is signed ‘Iohn Worgan Londini fecit 1696’ surrounded by two rings with printed numbers that form a conversion table and correspond to standard land measurements of the time, an easy calculating aid for the surveyor in the field. In the 17th century land was measured in acres which was divided into roods and perches with one acre being the area that could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen in one day. Therefore, this table running from 1 (00625) to 39 (24375) and then from 1 (25000) to 3 (75000) demonstrates that 1 square perch=1/160 acres =0.00625 acres; 39 perches=0.24375 acres etc.

Details

Category:
Mathematics
Object Number:
1994-1285
Materials:
brass (copper, zinc alloy) and glass
type:
magnetic compass
credit:
Tesseract