The history of the magnetic compass?

Answer 1

A compass is an instrument containing a freely suspended magnetic element which displays the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field at the point of observation. The magnetic compass is an old Chinese invention, probaly first made in China during the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.). Chinese fortune tellers used lodestones (a mineral composed of an iron oxide which aligns itself in a north-south direction) to construct their fortune telling boards.

Eventually someone noticed that the lodestones were better at pointing out real directions, leading to the first compasses. They designed the compass on a square slab which had markings for the cardinal points and the constellations. The pointing needle was a lodestone spoon-shaped device, with a handle that would always point south. Magnetized needles used as direction pointers instead of the spoon-shaped lodestones appeared in the 8th century AD, again in China, and between 850 and 1050 they seem to have become common as navigational devices on ships. The first person recorded to have used the compass as a navigational aid was Zheng He (1371-1435), from the Yunnan province in China, who made seven ocean voyages between 1405 and 1433.

Compasses were common devices for travelers because they were necessary and practical items. The design of the compass did not change much between the 1600's and the 1800's. The compass also was known as a surveying compass or instrument, which was made by some clock makers. The surveying compass was a solar compass, which was different from the magnetic compass. Some compasses were made with wooden supports at the bottom and brass fittings on top. As with many other articles the emigrants had with them, compasses were made in New England states such as Pennsylvania (Schiffer, 352). Compasses were also imported from France and Germany.