Equatorial Sextant
Burt designed and invented the Equatorial Sextant for the purpose of getting an accurate bearing and position of a ship at sea. When the instrument was properly manipulated it was capable, with one observation, of reading off the azimuths, altitude, time and declination. Burt applied the principles of his earlier Solar Compass invention to make this precision navigational aid in using the sun as a reference point. Other compasses of the time used by ship captains relied on earth's north magnetic pole and were not reliable causing ships to go off course. Burt's sextant was not affected by magnetism or iron ore deposits. His special sextant directed ships at sea on course.
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