Crossword clues for gyrocompass
Wiktionary
n. A north-seeking form of gyroscope used as a directional reference in navigation.
WordNet
n. a compass that does not depend on magnetism but uses a gyroscope instead
Wikipedia
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to automatically find geographical direction. Although one important component of a gyrocompass is a gyroscope, these are not the same devices; a gyrocompass is built to use the effect of gyroscopic precession, which is a distinctive aspect of the general gyroscopic effect. Gyrocompasses are widely used for navigation on ships, because they have two significant advantages over magnetic compasses:
- they find true north as determined by Earth's rotation, which is different from, and navigationally more useful than, magnetic north, and
- they are unaffected by ferromagnetic materials, such as ship's steel hull, which change the magnetic field.
Usage examples of "gyrocompass".
There is a small party of Bleekmen out on the open desert at gyrocompass point 4.
But he did mark their route, using the gyrocompass reading visible on the dashboard of the 'copter.
At the center of the wheelhouse the helmsman stood on a wooden platform a few inches off the polished deck, his back to the dividing wall, hands gripping the steering wheel, eyes on the face of a gyrocompass to his left.
Nillson thought it was a trick of the light at first, the illumination from the gyrocompass housing catching the ugly scar.
The gyrocompass is one of the new microminiaturized, no-tumble, no-precession things developed for rockets.
What we will do is set the gyrocompass so that it always points to Cape Farewell.
I aligned the gyrocompass with the Strait of Belle Isle, put in new batteries and turned on the responder and tested it, and we watched them leave.
While we slept, Gay had noted that her gyrocompass did not have its axis parallel to that of this strange planet and had precessed it until it did.
There was a little radarscope back of the gyrocompass and he was apparently steering by that.
As a radio operator, Joss knew even better than I that, though there was still some sun-spot activity, it had reached its maximum in the previous year: and as an ex-aircraft radio operator, he knew that airliners flew on gyrocompasses, which neither sun-spots nor magnetic storms could ever affect in the slightest.