This Kelvin White compass came off my late father's boat. I found it while rummaging around in his attic. The knob on the front is a spring, pull out sort of a thing. I don't know what it does or supposed to do. ?Maybe it's a lightsource switch? Curious if anybody knows anything about this device. I remember Dad was pretty high end when it came to his boats; he was pretty low end when it came to mowing the lawn.

Nostalgia prods me to install this on a Whaler 190 Guardian hull I am currently rigging out, but this is big, and not flush mount. It also may not be an "outside" compass.

tuff call alan ,too big and not for out side thats not good . keep it near your work area...

That is great! I think it needs to be displayed in your house!!!

Looks like a binnacle compass. You see that mounted on top of the pedestal forward of the wheel on sailboats. The 'spring' is probably a filler opening to put oil in, or used to "swing" the compass, ie. adjust it's magnetic correction.

http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/6493953.html

http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/6493953.html

OMG I jus got a massive headache reading this and I only made it to number 3. My hat's off to you for digging up the patent but now I need a tylenol.

Thank you for this patent information...more technical infor than I can consume in a year; however, very helpful and I appreciate .

Brain injury, Alan? The spring is just a lock. Pull it out, lift up on the hood of the compass and the whole compass will come up out of its base so you can store it below. That compass is way too good for a whaler. Wouldn't work anyways, small fast boats need a deadening mechanism to stabilize the magnetic card during violent motion. Get an electronic one, with a decent GPS you won't use it anyways.