NEW FRONTIERS IN GYROCOMPASSES

J. M. Slater

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	UNTIL THE LATTER PART OF World War II the gyrocompass existed in a limited number of well standardized forms. In all cases they included a gyro or gyro pair supported with the necessary degrees of freedom relative to the ship deck and constrained by pendulous mechanism so as to constitute a gyro pendulum of a kind naturally tending to oscillate in an ellipse centered on the NS line. Damping was provided so that the instrument settled spirally on the meridian after a few oscillations. Following the teachings of Schuler in his classical memoir [I] the period of oscillation was set at a value, defined in terms of earth radius and surface gravity, aproximately equal to 84 minutes, to avoid disturbances of the meridian indication under acceleration of the ship, which would occur were the period made either shorter or longer than this. Settling time was typically a matter of a few hours after starting up.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 8, Number 3
Pages:	196 - 205
Cite this article:	Slater, J. M., "NEW FRONTIERS IN GYROCOMPASSES", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 8, No. 3, Fall 1961, pp. 196-205.
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