Great Circles in Cardboard

The Global Map (The Global Map Company, 1940). David Rumsey Map Collection.
The Global Map (The Global Map Company, ca. 1940). David Rumsey Map Collection.

The Global Map is a neat toy from the 1940s. The whole thing is just under one by two feet in area, and consists of two rotating hemispheres that touch at a single point, with the purpose of showing the shortest distance by air or sea between two points—a quick and dirty way of showing a great-circle route with a bit of cardboard and no math. From the David Rumsey Map Collection. [Maps on the Web]