This is a model for the mariner’s compass with glass bowl for which
Jonathan Ball received a patent in 1835. It can be used as a tell-tale compass because the card is legible from above and below. This model is probably a reconstruction, made after the original was destroyed when the U.S. Patent Office burned in 1836. The Patent Office transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1926. William Hooker was an engraver who also sold charts and instruments for nautical use.
Ref: "For an Improvement in the Mariners’ Compass; Jonathan Ball,
Buffaloe [sic], Erie County, New York, March 6," Journal of the Franklin Institute 16 (1835): 234-235.
