dad you coulda told me you has ANOTHER one!!another lanc compass!

[paddywhack]

i was cleaning my room today and as i was getting to the very back of an old set of presses first can across about 200 microscope slides of varoius human (yes human, my parents are doctors!) tissues! after giving them to my dad i went back and found a realy realy dirty open wooden box with what looked llke a large ships compass! after bringing it to my dad he goes "oh thats the other lancaster compass i got!!" i have the first compass so it was cool to get a secand one! after cleaning it it came up verry nice! but the strange thing is that im not sure that the box is for the compass but it fits it PREFECTLY!! so can anyone tell me if the box is for the compass???
thanks for any help!!

[paddywhack]

2

[paddywhack]

3

[paddywhack]

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[paddywhack]

and the box! what do you reckon about the box?

[Tony Farrell]

The box is in keeping with other instrument storage containers I've seen from that era, so I'd say yes, it's the box it came in.

[paddywhack]

cool! thanks tony!

[AirMinistry]

A word of warning!

Take care with these old aircraft instruments guys - the luminous paint, which is used on the dial and can often be seen breaking off the cross wires in these compasses, is RADIOACTIVE!

Copied this from another forum:

"Whilst I was away I happened to test an old P8 compass with a professional grade radiation detector (long story) and the results were alarming!

Background radiation in the UK is around 0.1 micro Sieverts per hour. The compass gave a reading of 40 micro Sieverts per hour - that's 400 times greater than background!! It would also classify the compass as radioactive waste.

The statutory maximum radiation exposure for a uranium miner is 20 times normal background, ie 20 milli Sieverts per year (radiation exposure is measured cumulatively). The compass would give you 350 milli Sieverts, or 0.35 Sievert - ie over 17 times the dose of a uranium miner

THIS IS ENOUGH TO SERIOUSLY SHORTEN YOUR LIFE SPAN

Obviously you will not be standing right next to an old compass forever - exposure decreases with distance. However, the real danger is from exposure to or ingestion of the dust or particles of the old luminous coatings. On compasses they tend to break off the wires and rattle around in the casing. Open one of them up and breathe this stuff in and you will be exposing yourself to high levels of radiation internally for the rest of your life.

Sorry to sound alarmist, but watch what you are doing out there!"

Just be careful ok!.

AirMinistry

[Tony Farrell]

ergo, TWO compasses will emit enough residual radiation to make Dublin totally uninhabitable for a thousand years. No change there then!