Points of the compass 32-wind compass rose is yielded from the eight principal winds, eight half-winds and sixteen quarter-winds combined together, with each compass direction point at an ° angle from the next. In the mariner's exercise of boxing the compass, all thirty-two points of the compass are named in clockwise order. The traditional compass rose of eight winds (and its 16-wind and 32-wind derivatives) was invented by seafarers in the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages (with no obvious connection to the twelve classical compass winds of the ancient Greeks and Romans). The traditional mariner's wind names were expressed in Italian, or more
Beam compass in construction. The locked tip holder consists of a needle, for the centre of the radius, and the other holds either a lead clutch, or an inking nib. There are older variants which use a wooden beam. Another similar type is a Machinist or Engineers beam compass, which uses scribing points only, similar to ones used by woodworkers, except that its fine adjustment is generally more refined. These beam compasses can be extended by adding press-in rods, or by using a lockable rod connector. Trammels or trammel points are the sockets or cursors that, together with the beam, make up