E. S. Ritchie & Sons
founded 1867
Edward Samuel Ritchie (1814-1895) established a business in 1850. Shortly after the start of the Civil War, he was making magnetic compasses for the US Navy. He developed the first successful liquid filled compass.
The company was known as E. S. Ritchie & Son (without an "s") in 1866 before becoming E. S. Ritchie & Sons the following year.
The company was known as E. S. Ritchie & Son (without an "s") in 1866 before becoming E. S. Ritchie & Sons the following year.
"History," Ritchie Navigation, https://www.ritchienavigation.com/who-we-are/history/ (accessed 09/16/2014)
"Ritchie," Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Behring Center,
http://amhistory.si.edu/navigation/maker.cfm?makerid=59 (accessed 09/16/2014)Deborah Warner, "Compasses and Coils: The Instrument Business of Edward S. Ritchie," Rittenhouse, 9 (1994): 1-24.
Copies of a series of patents from the 1860s pertaining to marine compass inventions of Edward S. Ritchie can be found in the file of a CHSI inv. 5330a,b:
PAT. 36.422
PAT. 105.492
PAT. 77.763
PAT. 38.125
PAT. 38.126
PAT. 36.422
PAT. 105.492
PAT. 77.763
PAT. 38.125
PAT. 38.126