Word: sextant
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...radio compass (a Kolster) contradicted the reports of position sent by Capt. Favaloro, but Capt. Fried followed his compass. All night long he sailed against tumultuous waters. During that night the bridge of the Florida, with all navigating books and instruments, went overboard. Capt. Favaloro managed to keep a sextant. In the morning he took his bearings, radioed them to Capt. Fried. The master of the America calculated them with his own navigating tables. The resulting position tallied with that indicated by the radio compass...
...born in Winchester, Va., 37 years ago. Adventurous at 12, he took a trip around the world, during which he was forced to eat carrots and monkeys while quarantined in the Philippines. He entered the Navy via Annapolis. His services to aviation include the invention of the bubble sextant (giving flyers an artificial horizon), the perfection of the sun compass and the drift indicator. He was flight leader of the MacMillan expedition to Greenland in 1923. Everyone knows the story of his flawless flight from King's Bay, Spitzbergen, to the North Pole and back in 16 hours...
...bubble sextant, unerring guide to the Pole...
...June, 1919, Professor Willson retired from active service and was at once made Professor Emeritus. His contributions to science comprise much material and apparatus for instruction in astronomy, and the invention of several instruments for scientific observations, including a special attachment for the sextant for aircraft navigation, brought out during the war. He was the author of books and papers on astronomy and kindred subjects, and had nearly completed an exhaustive study of the early astronomical records of the Maya people of Central America. On the translations of their almanacs and tables he was a recognized authority...
Perhaps the greatest invention to make for the safe navigation of ocean-going ships since the introduction of the sextant and wireless, has been the gyroscopic-compass. Since the first introduction of the mariner's compass by the Chinese, every ship's compass, however improved the type, has depended upon the magnetic properties of the earth for its direction, and been subject to no end of disturbing forces arising from iron and steel in the construction of the ship itself. Many marine disasters have been caused by local disturbances of which the ship-master himself was not aware. The well...