A beam compass is a compass with a beam and sliding sockets or cursors for drawing and dividing circles larger than those made by a regular pair of compasses. The instrument can be as a whole, or made on the spot with individual sockets (called trammel points) and any suitable beam.
Read more about Beam Compass: Trammel Points, Variants
Famous quotes containing the words beam and/or compass:
“What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the ship that will cross the sea,
We plant the mast to carry the sails,
We plant the planks to withstand the gales—
The keel, the keelson, and beam and knee—
We plant the ship when we plant the tree.”
—Henry Abbey (1842–1911)
“Prithee don’t screw your wit beyond the compass of good manners.”
—Colley Cibber (1671–1757)