The invention is a viewing device suitable as a novelty item or for such other purposes as a teaching or navigational aid. It comprises a compass and in its preferred form has a 360.degree. panoramic photograph wrapped into drum form and affixed to the compass. A viewing device is also provided, so that when the person observing the photograph is facing a given compass direction, he will see essentially the same view that would be seen by another observer facing in the same compass direction at the point at which the photograph was taken. An essential part of the invention is the way the photograph is represented. If the viewing device is arranged to see the outside surface of the drum-shaped photograph, the photograph must be a mirror-image representation. If the viewing means is arranged to see the inside surface of the drum-shaped photograph, a normal representation must be used. In other versions of the invention, the photographs need not have edge-to-edge continuity. In any case, a person observing the photographs will see different representations as he or she faces in different compass directions.
A self-orienting logo assembly so that the logo is always in a horizontal orientation. In the preferred embodiments the logo is located on a disk. The disk is weighted or otherwise designed to have its weight distributed nonuniformly. The disk is located inside a housing. The housing is attached to the computer or other equipment bearing the logo. When the housing is located in a vertical plane the disk rotates to allow the logo to remain horizontal. The disk can be rotationally mounted to the housing or can be suspended in liquid. In an alternate embodiment the disk can have a magnet incorporated so that when the disk is in a horizontal orientation it can act as a compass. In another embodiment a portion of the disk is removed and the housing contains an additional logo or wording. The rotation of the disk can then cover or expose the additional logo or wording.
A navigation device is disclosed, having a lens across an opening at one end of a case, and a compass across an opening at the opposite end of the case. A transparency holder is positioned between the lens and the compass, adapted to receive a map transparency with magnetic north thereon aligning with a north marking on the body of the compass, at a distance from the lens approximating the focal length of the lens. A grid wheel is provided between the transparency holder and the compass, having a transparent or translucent central area inscribed with parallel grid lines and at least one first directional arrow aligned parallel to the grid lines, the grid wheel being in close proximity to the transparency holder such that it is also at a distance from the lens approximating the focal length of the lens. Positioned between the grid wheel and the compass, and geared to the grid wheel for counter-rotation therewith, is a direction wheel having a transparent or translucent central area inscribed with at least one second directional arrow. A bearing may thus be taken by examining an installed map transparency through the lens, rotating the grid wheel and direction wheel to align the grid lines and the at least one first directional arrow with the desired direction of travel on the map, then aligning the compass needle with the north marking on the body of the compass, the at least one second directional arrow then indicating the bearing to be taken.
