Help with identification please? german optic?

[Mark Finneran]

This is clearly some form of compass, and suggested as an aid to German WWI indirect fire usage. Does anybody know any detail on this please? Thank you

Mark

[MikB]

A-G Hahn Cassel were specialist suppliers in "Weapons Engineering and War Materials" (nothing like telling it like it is! ). All of what follows is guesswork from what can be seen:

The thing is obviously a sighting compass and has what may be a machined register along the side, perhaps to butt against a matching surface on a fieldpiece or other equipment. It looks as if it's calibrated in Mils or something, because the angle between the 2000 calibration we can see and the 2900 we can interpolate is far less than a right angle.

Sighting appears to be by v-notch and wire, but there's no obvious means of obtaining a precise reading such as by magnifying lens or prism.

It would probably work reasonably on a stable platform where you can turn what is presumably a movable but non-magnetic setting circle to match north on the needle. My guess is it's incomplete - what we can see doesn't look useful enough on its own.

Regards,

MikB

[Mark Finneran]

VMT for taking the time to respond. Do you need more images to delve further?

Mark

A-G Hahn Cassel were specialist suppliers in "Weapons Engineering and War Materials" (nothing like telling it like it is! ). All of what follows is guesswork from what can be seen:

The thing is obviously a sighting compass and has what may be a machined register along the side, perhaps to butt against a matching surface on a fieldpiece or other equipment. It looks as if it's calibrated in Mils or something, because the angle between the 2000 calibration we can see and the 2900 we can interpolate is far less than a right angle.

Sighting appears to be by v-notch and wire, but there's no obvious means of obtaining a precise reading such as by magnifying lens or prism.

It would probably work reasonably on a stable platform where you can turn what is presumably a movable but non-magnetic setting circle to match north on the needle. My guess is it's incomplete - what we can see doesn't look useful enough on its own.

Regards,

MikB