Only in 11th century, compass is used for navigation, first on land and then on water. First compasses were made of lodestone but later a magnetized steel needle is used as a main part of a compass.

Facts and History of the Compass. HistoryOfCompass.com is place where you can read all about invention of the compass including its history, inventors, making process, types, interesting facts and other information.

Compass History - From First Magnetic Compass to Modern Compasses. Oldest compass invented was a magnetic compass. Its first role was to help people find precious stones and build houses according to feng shui.

History of the Magnetic Compass. Magnetic compass was invented in China between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD, in the times when the Han dynasty ruled. It was used at first as a tool for geomancy - in feng shui, and only later as an instrument for navigation and orientation.

The history of gyrocompass started in the mid to late 1800s. The first model was created the French inventor Jean-Bernard-Leon Foucault in 1852. After it followed several failed attempts in the form of gyrostat made by mathematical physicist and engineer William Thomson (1st Baron of Kelvin) in 1880, and Arthur Krebs' early gyrocompass that ...

The creation of the first solar compass happened during 1833 when United States Deputy Surveyor William Austin Burt tried to survey unsuccessfully the territory of Michigan that was rich in iron ore.

Two main types of the compass are magnetic compass and gyrocompass. First one has a magnetic element (needle or a card) that aligns itself with magnetic lines of Earth's magnetic field to point to the magnetic poles of the Earth.

Compass Facts - Information and Facts about Using a Compass. From the first magnetic compass, compasses improved in material and quality. They differ according to their purpose. Some are used for navigation, some for orientation and some for astronomy.

Manufacturing of compasses changed throughout the history from the simplest to the more complex. First compasses, made in China, were just lumps of lodestone, a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite, which were suspended by the thread and used for geomancy.

How a Magnetic Compass works? Compass is a simple instrument that is used for navigation and orientation. It has a magnetic needle or a card that works as a pointer to magnetic North of the Earth because the magnetized needle aligns itself with the lines of the Earth's magnetic field.