Mining compass

Until the end of the 16th century salt was sought “with luck”. The searching works were carried out by miners called prospectors. at that time, surveying work in the mine was done on an occasional basis and was mainly aimed at locating and measuring the chambers. it was not until 1590 that king Sigismund III established the position of a surveyor in the Wieliczka mine. in the years 1616-1620 the famous kracow mathematician Jan Brożek was involved in measuring the mine. in the years 1631-1638 Marcin German made maps of the surface of Wieliczka town and three levels of the mine. The surveyors of those times probably used the following tools: a front sight compass, a hanging compass (suspended on a string), a tilt meter suspended on a string, a surveying string (lath) for measuring distances and a hemp or linden phloem string for suspending the compass or tilt meter, a compass sight (for marking directions on the map), an angle finder and a linear scale (for marking lengths on the map).