Negretti and Zambra 1850-1980s were optical instrument makers and mathematical instrument makers based in London, England. The firm of Negretti and Zambra was established in 1850 by Henry Negretti and Joseph Zambra who had formed a partnership. Their skill was immediately apparent when exhibiting at the 1851 Great Exhibition at Hyde Park, they were the only English instrument makers to receive a prize medal for meteorological instruments, resulting in their appointment as instrument makers to the queen, Greenwich observatory, and the British Meteorological Society. In 1853, when the Crystal Palace was re-erected in Sydenham, Negretti and Zambra became the official photographers of the Crystal Palace Company, which allowed them to photograph the interior and grounds of the new building. The firm made use of this access to produce a number of stereographs. Between 1855 and 1857 Negretti and Zambra commissioned photographer Pierre Rossier to travel to China to document the Second Opium War. Although Rossier subsequently was unable to accompany to Anglo-French forces in that campaign, he nevertheless produced a number of stereographs and other photographs of China, Japan, the Philippines and Siam (now Thailand), which Negretti and Zambra published and that represented the first commercial photographs of those countries. In 1856 Negretti and Zambra sponsored a photographic expedition to Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia conducted by Francis Firth. In 1864 Negretti and Zambra (themselves) photographed Shakespeare's House at Stratford on Avon. A sepia photograph was then pasted onto card 4" × 2.5". This was then presented to visitors to the Crystal Palace to enable them to compare it with the model erected by Mr E. T. Parr in the Centre Transept. The card itself is headed "Crystal Palace April 23rd 1864." That year they also published a book, titled A Treatise on Meteorological Instruments, (which was reprinted in 1995). Throughout World War One Negretti and Zambra were entirely engaged in the production of various instruments for the Ministry of Munitions. They developed many instruments for the Air Ministry including a mercury-in-steel distance thermometer for taking the oil and air temperatures in aircraft which was patented in 1920. In 1946 the company went private and in 1948 the company was made public, and by 1950 Negretti and Zambra had 821 employees in Britain. In order to increase production and to safeguard future development in 1964, they purchased a modern factory at Aylesbury for all their production. In 1981 Negretti and Zambra were taken over by a group of financial institutions in the form of Western Scientific Instruments and in 1985 the company was acquired by Meggitt Holdings.The subject compass is just one type of the many marine and scientific, optical items this company produced over it’s life time. Negretti and Zambra were prolific manufactures of types of items as well as being very prominent in photography pioneering new innervation's and sponsoring expeditions to little known countries to document peoples daily lives and culture through photography.Azimuth compass on tripod in a fitted wooden box with a round spirit level included, lid of box has three indented circles where the legs of the compass fit when it is set up for use. Stamped "C.M.O. 9" on with Maker Negretti & Zambra London.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, azimuth compass, nautical instrument, negretti & zambra london, navigational instrument, compass

After years of precursory surveying, debate and proposals the most ambitious civil engineering project of the day, the Overland Telegraph Line, began construction in September 1870. Superintendent of Telegraphs, Sir Charles Todd led the construction through “terra incognita,” guided by the precursory surveys of John McDowall Stuart and technologies such as his prismatic surveying compass. The unknown and hostile landscape claimed the lives of several men and scores of transport animals in the dogged pursuit of telegraphic connection to the rest of the world. Completed in August 1872, the Line connected Australia to the world via telegraph wires running 3,200 kilometres from Port Augusta in South Australia, to Darwin, then connecting via submarine cable to Java and beyond. The “earth [had been] girdled with a magic chain” according to the then Governor of New South Wales, Sir Hercules Robinson. How does it work? For use in surveying, the sight vane and prism are turned up on their hinge and the instrument is held horizontally either in the palm of one's hand or on a tripod. Two small discs of red and green glass attached to the prism can be flipped down over the sight line to reduce glare. The objective is to bring the subject into the sightline created by the prism, aligning with the thread of the sight-vane until the subject is bisected evenly. Once aligned, the division on the card may be read through the prism. This reading provides the magnetic azimuth, used for calculating the bearings of distant landmarks. Circular instrument mounted in a brass case with glass window and brass lid. The compass card face four black compass points printed on mint green paper; on the underside the magnetic needle would be affixed, all held in place by a brass knob at the centre. The arched labels of "Sawtell" and "Adelaide" and the Prince of Wales feathers appear to have been affixed with adhesive which has since yellowed in the areas of application on the compass card. The compass face is printed with numbers, every 10 degrees from 10 - 360, printed in reverse indicating this compass would have once held a mirror at the sighting bracket. On one side of the brass case is a brass hinged sighting-prism, possibly of ebonite. The sighting-prism is mounted in a hinged brass bracket on one edge of the brass case. It has two flip-type filter glasses (red and green) and folds down into a retracted travelling position. A hinged brass bracket on the opposite edge would have held the sighting bracket - carrying the sighting vane and mirror - which is now missing or removed. Under the hinge is a lever, possibly related to the movement of the bracket. Underneath the brass case is an indented circle with screw threads, possibly for attachment to a tripod, and indistinguishable marks scratched into the surface.Etched on to the centre of the lid, "Sawtell ADELAIDE / No 792." Affixed to the paper compass face, possibly from separate pieces of paper, "SAWTELL / ADELAIDE" with the Prince of Wales Feathers above "SAWTELL". Underneath on remains of white tape in red: "159."surveying, compass, charles todd, overland telegraph line, telegraph