CHAPTER VIII
THE LATITUDE ERROR

Having explained the necessity for damping the horizontal vibrations of the gyro-compass axle and how the damping force is generated and applied in the Anschütz, Sperry, and Brown compasses, we are now in a position to discuss the various errors to which the gyro-compass is open and how those errors are in practice eliminated, reduced, or allowed for.

The first error to which we shall turn our attention is that known as the latitude error. This error is a direct consequence of the necessity we are under of damping the horizontal vibrations of the compass axle.

It will be recalled that in any latitude other than the equator the compass rests on the north with a slight tilt up or down of the axle, the tilt increasing progressively as the poles are approached and being upwards in northern latitudes and downwards in southern. The tilt acquired in any latitude is perforce and automatically just sufficient to precess the axle westwardly or eastwardly at the rate required at that latitude to keep the axle on the north once it has found it.

Let us suppose, then, that a compass of the early Anschütz type is stationed in some degree of northern latitude. The axle in acquiring the appropriate tilt will clearly disturb the equilibrium between the two sections of the air blast. As the axle tilts its north end B upwards the north section of the air blast will enlarge and the southern diminish in area. Thus the tilting of the axle brings into play an air blast reaction which is applied as a moment tending to turn the sensitive element about the vertical axis H J in such a way as to make the north end move eastwardly. The actual movement produced will, in accordance with the fundamental rule, be a precession of the axle about the horizontal axis, the end B going down. Thus the tilt upwards of the axle required for the correct working of the compass is opposed. It is not allowed to acquire the full value which it should have, but instead stops at the point at which a balance is struck between the upward moving tendency of the axle resulting from the earth’s rotation and the downward moving tendency caused by the uneven air blast reaction. The westerly precession of the axle about the vertical axis is now that arising from the reduced angle of tilt, and is less than the rate required to keep the end B pointing to the north. The resulting deviation is known as the latitude error. Its magnitude depends upon the latitude and upon such factors as the speed of the wheel, its efficiency as a blower and other items incidental to the particular design of the compass.

In the Sperry compass the latitude error arises from an exactly similar cause. Thus the tilt of the axle is transmitted through the excentric pin to the casing as a moment about the vertical axis H J, tending to make the north end of the axle move over to the east, and therefore causing the axle to precess vertically downwards until the position of balance is reached.

In the Brown compass, on the other hand, it is claimed that there is no latitude error. Thus when in northern latitudes the north end of the axle tilts upwards under its unsatisfied desire to set itself parallel with the earth’s polar axis, the air blast is divided unequally between the two partitions of the box. Excess pressure is exerted inside the damping bottle attached to the northern face of the wheel casing, and as a result an excess of oil accumulates in the damping bottle on the south side. The weight of the excess oil applies a turning moment to the spinning wheel about the horizontal axis, and tends to lift the north end of the axle upwards in opposition to the pendulum weight, which tends to turn it downwards about the same axis. Thus in this compass the natural tilt of the axle is not interfered with by the action of the damping arrangement, for that action is applied about the horizontal axis E F, and not, as in the Anschütz and Sperry compasses, about the vertical axis H J. The damping action in the Brown compass is virtually equivalent to a subtraction from the weight of the pendulum bob, and is not applied, as in the other compasses, to the reduction of the tilt of the axle. It tends, therefore, to reduce the natural rate of westerly precession required at the given latitude to keep the axle on the north. Actually, however, the tilt acquired by the axle will take cognisance of the reduction in the weight of the bob caused by the weight of the excess oil. The north end of the axle will rise until the effective moment of the bob—that is, the moment due to its own actual weight less the moment due to the excess oil in the southern damping bottle—is such as will automatically generate the required rate of westerly precession for the given latitude.

In the Anschütz and Sperry compasses the latitude error can be allowed for by shifting the position of the lubber line relatively to the ship’s longitudinal centre line in accordance with calculated tables of the error. The exact value of the error depends upon the design of the compass, but in both types it increases with the latitude. Analysis shows that—at least in the early Anschütz compass—the latitude error may be neglected if the change of latitude is less than 10 deg. In the Sperry compass, as we shall see presently, the movement of the lubber line to correct the latitude error is effected by a very pretty piece of mechanism, which also can control the position of the lubber line to allow for a second error to which the compass is open, to wit, the so-called “north steaming error.”

In some respects as an alternative to moving the lubber line, the latitude error may be completely eliminated for a particular latitude—the latitude of most frequent use would naturally be chosen—by attaching a small weight to the north side of the wheel casing. In the early Anschütz compass such a weight was provided as indicated at T in [Fig. 16]. This weight and its position were so chosen that at 50 deg. north of the equator its moment about the horizontal axis E F, when the axle of the compass was horizontal, was just sufficient to supply to the wheel the amount of westerly precession required to keep the axle pointing to the north. The axle being horizontal in that latitude, the air blast was equally divided by the pendulum shutter, and as a result the rate of westerly precession produced by the weight T was not affected by the existence of the damping system. At other latitudes, of course, the latitude error arose, and at the equator—where ordinarily there should be no latitude error—and south of the equator, the error became worse than it would have been without the addition of the weight, unless the weight and its position were adjusted. With the compass corrected for 50 deg. N. latitude the error had the following values:

LatitudeError
60° N. .6° E.
50° N.Zero
40° N. .5° W.
20° N.1.1° W.
 0°1.6° W.
20° S.2.1° W.
40° S.2.7° W.
60° S.3.8° W.