In 1811he invented the azimuth compass, consisting of a mirror for reading the scale while simultaneously sighting through a sighting vane on the opposite side of the compass box. Compasses incorporating Kater's designs were manufactured by Thomas Jones; For his work on the floating collimator he was in 1831 awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of which he became a fellow two years later; 1799-1814: member of the military, rising to brigade major