Posted by Peter Ceresole on September 12, 2003 at 19:04:54 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Compass posted by John Nichols on September 12, 2003 at 18:01:02:
But there is not such a compass that I can find that matches your description from that vintage, they all have degrees
The kind I am thinking of were real toys- junk, really. Throwaways. I doubt that they would have found their way into any self-respecting catalogue of compasses. But perfectly capable of being used in the way described in SW. And great for demonstrating that all lumps of ferrous metal were magnetic, whereas aluminium was not.
At home, after the war, we had a magnetron magnet which was a fierce thing. I remember making a compass by magnetising a needle in that magnet, then coating it in butter and floating it in a saucer of water. That was probably too primitive to be useful in any way... But it was fun.