Edward Samuel Ritchie
1814 - 1895
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.
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