Suspended meridian compass for detecting North for vehicle - using detected deflection of compass vertical axis to control setting motors for intermediate housing to attenuate swinging.

摘要

The compass has an outer housing (50) around a relatively movable intermediate housing (64) within which the compass (66) is supported for rotation about a horizontal axis suspended by a band (68). The deflection of the vertical axis of the compass from its centre position is detected to control setting motors (60,62) for the intermediate housing so that the pendulum oscillation is attenuated. Pref. the setting motors are provided by two linear actuators cooperating with a carriage with 2 degrees of movement displacing the intermediate housing horizontally relative to the outer housing. ADVANTAGE - Damps vibration to counteract vehicle vibrations.