Compass makers have always understood that the directional card and magnet need to be married. After all, the magnet keeps the card aligned with magnetic north. But what if the magnet could remain attached on the horizontal plane, thereby providing card rotation, but decoupled on the vertical plane so that the earth’s magnetic forces wouldn’t “pull down” on the card?

That’s the direction Rule engineers followed. They designed a compass that employs a magnet which is mounted in a buoyant chamber and pivots on a frictionless knife-edge. This allows it to tilt up and down independently of the printed card, which remains level. The solution gave birth to the aptly named and patented GLOBALBalance technology.