Science & Mathematics

Chemical Balance

The Museum's collections hold thousands of objects related to chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, and other sciences. Instruments range from early American telescopes to lasers. Rare glassware and other artifacts from the laboratory of Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, are among the scientific treasures here. A Gilbert chemistry set of about 1937 and other objects testify to the pleasures of amateur science. Artifacts also help illuminate the social and political history of biology and the roles of women and minorities in science.

The mathematics collection holds artifacts from slide rules and flash cards to code-breaking equipment. More than 1,000 models demonstrate some of the problems and principles of mathematics, and 80 abstract paintings by illustrator and cartoonist Crockett Johnson show his visual interpretations of mathematical theorems.

Place: United Kingdom

English-Style Sector Signed by Jesse Ramsden

The silver hinge is undecorated on this ivory instrument with rectangular arms. On one side and from the top down, each arm has a sine scale, running from 10 to 90 degrees; a tangent scale, running from 45 to 75 degrees; and a second tangent scale, running from 10 to 45 degrees.
Description
The silver hinge is undecorated on this ivory instrument with rectangular arms. On one side and from the top down, each arm has a sine scale, running from 10 to 90 degrees; a tangent scale, running from 45 to 75 degrees; and a second tangent scale, running from 10 to 45 degrees. Spanning both arms on the outer edge are three scales: log tangent, running from 2 to 30 degrees; log sine, running from 1 to 70 degrees; and logarithmic, labeled num and running from 1 to 10 twice and then from 10 to 20. The hinge is marked: Ramsden (/) London.
The other side has a double scale along the fold line for regular polygons, from 12 to 4 sides. Each arm has a scale of equal parts, running from 1 to 10 and labeled L; a secant scale, running from 20 to 75 and labeled s; and a scale of chords, running from 10 to 60 and labeled C. The upper arm has scales labeled IM and Cho that each run from 10 to 90. The lower arm has scales labeled Lat, running from 10 to 70; and Hou, running from I to VI. These four scales are associated with making sundials. Spanning both arms on the outer edge is a scale of inches, running from 11 to 1 and divided to tenths of an inch.
After training under several notable makers of instruments, Ramsden operated his own shop from before 1765 to 1800. His equatorial telescopes and sextants were of especially high quality, and he invented a dividing engine for engraving angular divisions on circular instruments. The second model for his dividing engine is now owned by the Smithsonian, MA.215518.
The object was purchased in 1960.
References: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550–1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 277; Anita McConnell, Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800): London's Leading Scientific Instrument Maker (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2007); Randall C. Brooks, "Dividing Engine," in Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia, ed. Robert Bud and Deborah Jean Warner (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1998), 184–186.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1765-1800
maker
Ramsden, Jesse
ID Number
MA.317364
catalog number
317364
accession number
230278

Portable Horizontal Inclining Sundial

This horizontal inclining sundial is made mostly of brass. It has a walnut case with 2 brass hooks for fastening. The dial has 3 large levelling screws. The base of the dial holds a silver-colored compass which is calibrated from 0 to 90 X 4 by increments of 2 degrees.
Description
This horizontal inclining sundial is made mostly of brass. It has a walnut case with 2 brass hooks for fastening. The dial has 3 large levelling screws. The base of the dial holds a silver-colored compass which is calibrated from 0 to 90 X 4 by increments of 2 degrees. The compass rose contains 8 points. The compass needle is attached with a small screw. There is an extra metal pin fixed in place at 60 degrees west of South. There are two spirit (bubble) levels embedded across the North and East points of the compass rose. There is a folding brass latitude arc which is calibrated from 0 to 60 by single degree. It fits into a notch on the hour dial. The brass hour dial is calibrated from IIII to XII to VIII by I; each hour is divided into increments of 5 minutes. Two brass, decorated arcs attach to the folding triangular gnomon.
Thomas Blunt (d. 1823) was a former apprentice of Edward Nairne who sold instruments under several names, including "T. Blunt & Son" from 1801 to 1822. Richard Patten (1792-1865) sold imported and perhaps his own instruments in New York (1813-1840), Washington, D.C. (1841-1846, 1862-1865), and Baltimore (1849-1860). A Patten compass is depicted in the plates of Charles Davies's Elements of Surveying (1830).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1813 - 1822
maker
Blunt, Thomas
ID Number
MA.326930
accession number
264083
catalog number
326930

Keuffel & Esser 1740 Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rule

In 1881, Edwin Thacher, a "computing engineer" for the Keystone Bridge Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received a patent for an improvement in slide rules. Thacher was a graduate of Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute who spent much of his career designing railway bridges.
Description
In 1881, Edwin Thacher, a "computing engineer" for the Keystone Bridge Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received a patent for an improvement in slide rules. Thacher was a graduate of Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute who spent much of his career designing railway bridges. To assist in his calculations, he designed a cylindrical slide rule. Thacher's rule, though it fit on a desk, was equivalent to a conventional slide rule over 59 feet long. It had scales for multiplication and division and another scale, with divisions twice as large, for use in finding squares and square roots. But it had no trigonometric scales.
To produce his "calculating instrument," Thacher turned to the London firm of W. F. Stanley. The company even designed a special dividing engine for preparing the scales for the instrument. These were printed on paper sheets, which were pasted to the drum and the slats. In this example, the paper is also printed in italics on the right side: Patented by Edwin Thatcher [sic], C.E. Nov. 1st 1881. Divided by W. F. Stanley, London, 1882.
The drum is rotated with wooden handles. The cylinder of slats is held in place with a brass frame, which is affixed to a wooden base. A paper of DIRECTIONS AND RULES FOR OPERATING is lacquered to the front of the base. The rear of the base bears a small silver metal label engraved: Keuffel & Esser (/) New York. F. F. NICKEL is painted underneath the base.
Keuffel & Esser Company of New York sold versions of the Thacher cylindrical slide rule from at least 1883 until about 1950. There were two models, one with a magnifying glass (K&E model 1741, later K&E model 4013), and one without (K&E model 1740, later K&E 4012). This is a model 1740. The front right corner of the instrument's metal frame is engraved with the number 107. A paper K&E label on the inside lid of the instrument's mahogany case is marked in ink: 1740/661 (/) Thachers (/) Calculating (/)Instr. The top front of the bottom of the case is also carved with 661. In 1887, the model 1740 sold for $30.00.
Frank Ferdinand Nickel purchased this example around 1883 and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1945, through his son, Henry W. Nickel. The elder Nickel was born in Hanau, Germany, in 1857. He came to the United States around 1883 and worked as a mechanical engineer in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He also taught at Columbia University in the 1910s. He wrote Direct-Acting Steam Pumps (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1915).
See also 1987.0107.08 and 1987.0808.01.
References: Edwin Thacher, "Slide-Rule" (U.S. Patent 249,117 issued November 1, 1881); "Thacher's Calculating Instrument or Cylindrical Slide Rule," Engineering News 16 (18 December 1886): 410; Wayne E. Feely, "Thacher Cylindrical Slide Rules," The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50 (1997): 125–127; Wilfred Scott Downs, ed., "Nickel, Frank F.," Who's Who in Engineering, vol. 3 (New York, 1931), 957; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser (New York, 1887), 128. This was the first K&E catalog to list the model 1740.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1883
maker
Stanley, William Ford
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
MA.312866
accession number
169701
catalog number
312866

Tate's Arithmometer

This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine is of English manufacture. It represents an improvement of the arithmometer invented by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas in the 1820s and sold successfully from the middle of the 19th century.
Description
This stepped drum manual non-printing calculating machine is of English manufacture. It represents an improvement of the arithmometer invented by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas in the 1820s and sold successfully from the middle of the 19th century. In 1879 the Prudential Assurance Company challenged English makers to produce a more reliable machine than that of Thomas. The firm of Elliott Brothers made some twenty such machines, and won the premium offered. The engineer Samuel Tate of Clerkenwell Close in Middlesex County also set out to make a simpler, faster, sturdier, and more accurate arithmometer. Tate filed for a British patent in 1881, and received it in 1884.
Charles and Edwin Layton, London publishers of works on insurance, annuities and mathematics, sold Tate’s arithmometer. They exhibited it at the International Inventions Exhibition held in London in 1885, and manufactured it, with improvements, at least until the time of World War I.
The machine has a brass top and metal mechanism that fits tightly in a wooden case. It has eight levers for setting digits, and an ADD MULT / SUB DIV lever to the left of these levers. It has no windows for showing the number set up. The operating crank is on the right.
Behind the levers is a movable carriage with a row of nine windows for the revolution register and a row of 16 windows for the result register. The right side of the carriage has a zeroing crank for these registers. A handle for lifting the carriage is toward its left. Five brass decimal markers fit in holes between the levers and between the windows. Thumbscrews for setting numbers in the revolution and result registers are between the registers. The stepped drums are of brass. The compartment in the case to the left of the machine has no cover. Handles at both ends of the case make it easier to lift the machine.
A mark to the left of the levers on the front reads: TATE’S (/) ARITHMOMETER (/) C. & E. LAYTON (/) LONDON. The inside of the machine below the carriage on the left side is engraved: 8.15.
This example comes from the collection of Felt & Tarrant Manufacturing Company of Chicago.
Compare MA.311,953, MA.323657, MA.323629, and MA.333922.
References:
Horsburgh, E. M., ed., Handbook of the Napier Tercentenary Celebration of Modern Instruments and Methods of Calculation, Edinburgh: G. Bell & Sons, 1914, pp. 102–104.
Stephen Johnson, “Making the Arithmometer Count,” Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 52 (1997), pp.12–21.
Samuel Tate, “Improvements in Calculating Machines or Arithmometers,” U.K. Patent #65 for 1884. The provisional specification for this patent is dated March 29, 1881.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
C. & E. Layton
ID Number
MA.323629
catalog number
323629
accession number
250163
maker number
not found -

Rectangular Protractor Signed by Gilkerson

This ivory rectangular protractor is graduated by single degrees and marked by tens from 10° to 170° in both directions, clockwise and counterclockwise. The front of the protractor also contains a diagonal scale. There is a maker's mark: Gilkerson Tower-hill London.
Description
This ivory rectangular protractor is graduated by single degrees and marked by tens from 10° to 170° in both directions, clockwise and counterclockwise. The front of the protractor also contains a diagonal scale. There is a maker's mark: Gilkerson Tower-hill London. James Gilkerson & Co. was in business in Tower Hill, London, from 1809 to 1825.
The back of the protractor contains architect's scales of equal parts (dividing the inch into 60, 50, 45, 40, 35, and 30), a scale of cosines, and a "universal scale," including chords, rhumbs, latitude, longitude, sines, seconds, inclined meridian, tangents, and hours. These scales suggest the protractor was intended for navigational use.
Donor Ada B. Richey reported that her husband's ancestor, Lt. Col. Alexander Matheson (b. 1788), was the original owner of this drawing instrument. He settled in Perth, Canada, after serving in the British military during the War of 1812.
See also MA.335349 and MA.321014.
Reference: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 113.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1815
maker
Gilkerson, James
ID Number
MA.321754
accession number
243754
catalog number
321754

Capt. Field's Improved Hinged Parallel Rule Signed Henry Hughes & Son

This 21" German silver hinged parallel rule has two knobs for positioning the instrument. Brass round pieces cover the screws securing the two hinges.
Description
This 21" German silver hinged parallel rule has two knobs for positioning the instrument. Brass round pieces cover the screws securing the two hinges. The edges of the top blade are marked as a rectangular protractor, and the edges of the bottom blade are marked for nautical compass points.
The right end of the upper blade is marked: CAPT. FIELD'S IMPD. The center of the lower blade is marked: U. S. C. & G. S. NO. H. 398. The left end has the firm's "HUSUN" logo for the London instrument maker H. Hughes & Son, with a sun above the letters and waves below the letters. A circle around the logo is marked: REGISTERED TRADE MARK (/) GT BRITAIN.
Capt. William Andrew Field (about 1796–1871) of Britain added a protractor and compass scales to hinged parallel rules in 1854. This made it easier for ship navigators to move the rule without losing track of the ship's course. Henry Hughes & Son made marine and aeronautical navigational instruments in London from 1828 to 1947 and incorporated in 1903. According to the accession file, the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey acquired this rule on November 6, 1923, and last issued it on February 16, 1924. Compare to MA.309661 and MA.309663.
References: "Field's Parallel Rule," The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle 23, no. 5 (May 1854): 280; Peggy A. Kidwell, "American Parallel Rules: Invention on the Fringes of Industry," Rittenhouse 10, no. 39 (1996): 90–96; National Maritime Museum, "Captain Field's Improved Parallel Rule," Object ID NAV0602, http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/42814.html; Science Museum Group, "Henry Hughes and Son Limited," Collections Online – People, http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=58792&t=people.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1923
maker
H. Hughes & Son, Ltd.
ID Number
MA.309662
catalog number
309662
accession number
106954

Pocket Case of Architect's Drawing Instruments Signed Rubergall

This pocket-sized tortoiseshell case has silver trim around the outside, blue velvet lining in the lid, and wooden frame with slots for holding the instruments. The top of the case has a silver plate marked: ANIMO ET FIDE [courage and faith].
Description
This pocket-sized tortoiseshell case has silver trim around the outside, blue velvet lining in the lid, and wooden frame with slots for holding the instruments. The top of the case has a silver plate marked: ANIMO ET FIDE [courage and faith]. Inside the case are: a 4-1/2" pair of silver and steel dividers with one removable point; a silver crayon holder and a pen point that both fit the dividers; a 2-7/8" silver and steel drawing pen; a 4-1/2" ivory rectangular protractor; and a 4-7/8" ivory English-style sector with a silver hinge.
The protractor is divided to single degrees and numbered by tens in both directions from 10 to 170. The interior has scales for 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" and 1 inch to the foot. This side is marked: * RUBERGALL COVENTRY. ST. LONDON *. The back of the protractor has scales dividing the inch into 60, 50, 45, 40, 35, and 30 parts; a line of chords; and a plotting scale with diagonal scales at each end.
One side of the sector has three double scales: sines, running from 10 to 90 degrees; tangents, running from 45 to 75 degrees; and a second tangent scale, running from 10 to 45 degrees. The outer edge of both legs has scales for logarithmic tangents, sines, and numbers. The hinge is marked: Rubergall (/) London.
The other side has a double scale along the fold line for regular polygons, from 12 to 4 sides. Both legs have scales of equal parts, running from 1 to 10 and labeled L; of secants, running from 20 to 75 and labeled S; and of chords, running from 10 to 60 and labeled C. The outer edge has a 9" ruler divided to 1/10" and numbered by ones from 1 to 9. The upper arm has scales labeled In Me [inclined meridian] and Cho [chords] that each run from 10 to 90. The lower arm has scales labeled Lat [latitude], running from 10 to 70; and Hou [hours], running from I to VI. These four scales are associated with making sundials and are characteristic of sectors made in England in the 18th and early 19th centuries. See http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/sectors. Silver inserts protect scale marks where users would frequently set divider points.
Thomas Rubergall was an optician and instrument maker whose workshop operated in London from 1802 to 1854 and was located on Coventry Street from 1805 to 1854. The instruments in this case are likely all original to the set. The Smithsonian acquired this object in 1960.
References: Science Museum Group, "Collections Online – People," http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=104654&t=people; Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 239.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1805-1854
maker
Rubergall, Thomas
ID Number
MA.318222
accession number
233319
catalog number
318222

L. Lumley & Co. Gauger's Slide Rule

This yew rule has straight brass ends and two slides, which fit between the three parts of the base.
Description
This yew rule has straight brass ends and two slides, which fit between the three parts of the base. On one side, the top scale on the base (labeled A), the two scales on the upper slide (labeled E), the first scale in the middle of the base (labeled D), and the two scales on the second scale (labeled B and C) are identical logarithmic scales that run from 1 to 10 twice in the length of the rule. The second scale in the middle runs from 1 to 100 and is labeled SEGT ST (segments standing). The lowest scale on the base is labeled SEGT LY (segments lying).
These scales are used with the slides to find the volume of the liquid in a cask that is not full, either when it is standing on its base or lying horizontally. The ImB and ImG points, for just over 2200 cubic inches in an imperial bushel and 277.42 cubic inches in an imperial gallon, are marked on the A scale. On the D scale, point 18.95 is marked IG for the diameter of a cylinder containing one imperial gallon; point 46.3 is marked MS, for the side of a square vessel that contains one solid bushel per inch of depth; and point 52.32 is marked MR, for the side of a square vessel that contains one malt bushel per inch of depth.
The reverse side of the rule has a scale on the base labeled A that runs logarithmically from 1 to 10. Both slides have identical scales (the one on the upper slide is labeled C) that run from over 80 (UNDER PROOF) down to 0 (PROOF) and then up to 70 (OVER PROOF). The middle of the base has a scale labeled B that runs logarithmically from 4 to 40 and a scale labeled C that runs logarithmically from 300 to 30. The bottom of the base has a scale, also labeled C, that runs logarithmically from 100 to 10. There is no indicator.
One edge of the instrument has a scale labeled SPHD and a scale labeled 2ND VARIETY. These scales are for determining the diameters of two different shapes of barrels. The other edge is marked: L. LUMLEY & CO LTD 1 AMERICA SQUARE LONDON. L. Lumley & Company, a distributor of packing cases and related materials for bottling, was in business in London from at least 1884 though 1929.
For slide rules with similar two-slide designs but different purposes, see MA.318478 and 1987.0693.01. For earlier gauger's rules, see MA.319510 and 1980.0588.04.
Reference: Ronald E. Manley, "Gauging," http://www.sliderules.info/a-to-z/gauging.htm.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1929
maker
L. Lumley & Company Limited
ID Number
MA.320637
catalog number
320637
accession number
242721

J. J. Hicks Pilot Balloon Slide Rule

This wooden instrument is faced on both sides with white celluloid that is attached with brass screws instead of glue.
Description
This wooden instrument is faced on both sides with white celluloid that is attached with brass screws instead of glue. On one side are 20-inch scales: cosine and sine scales on the upper part of the base, two identical logarithmic scales (in three cycles) labeled TIME SCALE on the slide, and a tangent scale on the lower part of the base. The slide is in two pieces, so the second Time Scale may be removed and adjusted relative to the first Time Scale with the aid of a brass thumbscrew.
Three glass indicators are in three-sided brass frames, two on the upper part of the base and one on the lower part of the base. The top of the base is marked: J. HICKS (/) LONDON. It is also marked: PILOT BALLOON SLIDE RULE MO (O is superimposed on M) 505. MO is an abbreviation for Meteorological Office, and 505 may be a serial number. An inventory sticker on the back reads: DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (/) US. The inventory number has been cut away. The instrument fits in a wooden case covered with black leather and lined on one side with purple satin.
In the 20th century, the Meteorological Office of Great Britain used pilot balloon slide rules to convert azimuth and elevation readings (taken with theodolites during the ascent of a pilot balloon) into data on wind velocity and direction. James Joseph Hicks (1825–1916), who began supplying instruments to the Office in 1869, made the first pilot balloon slide rule in 1915 from a design by Francis John Welsh Whipple, the Superintendent of Instruments.
After Hicks died, W. F. Stanley & Co. took over manufacture of this rule, called the Mark I, but retained the Hicks name. Additional labels were placed on the scales, such as "Azimuth." By 1927, A. G. Thornton Ltd. and other firms were making the Mark II, which had one slide and four indicators. Production of the Mark I may have continued until 1938.
The U.S. Weather Bureau was a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1940, when it was transferred to the U.S. Department of Commerce. This instrument apparently was not adopted by American meteorologists, since the Bureau used the Keuffel & Esser polyphase duplex slide rule to convert observations. For examples of that type of slide rule, see MA.318476, MA.321778, and 1981.0933.03. For an American theodolite used to observe pilot balloons, see PH.308184.
References: Martin Brenner, "Pilot Balloon Slide Rules," http://www.csulb.edu/~mbrenner/slide.htm; Malcolm Walker, History of the Meteorological Office (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 220; W. R. Gregg et al., Instructions for Aerological Observers, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Weather Bureau (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1921), 78; Deborah J. Warner, "Altitude and Azimuth Instrument," National Museum of American History Physical Sciences Collection: Surveying and Geodesy , http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/surveying/object.cfm?recordnumber=747475.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915-1927
inventor
Hicks, J. J.
maker
Stanley, William Ford
ID Number
MA.315905
catalog number
315905
accession number
222974

Rutherford's nuclear bombardment chamber, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus

Rutherford's nuclear bombardment chamber, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus.
Description
Rutherford's nuclear bombardment chamber, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus. Object ID EM.N-08018.
Brass cylinder with wood base and glass tubing (see 2nd object from right in accompanying image).
History and basic principle
In 1898 Ernest Rutherford, a young New Zealander studying with J. J. Thomson at Cambridge University, took up the question of the nature of the radiations emitted by radioactive substances, and for the next thirty years was the leader in this field and in the field of nuclear physics which emerged from it.
In his investigations at Cambridge, Rutherford distinguished the positively charged alpha rays and the negatively charged beta rays. He subsequently developed the theory of radioactive decay and transformation to account for the process and consequences of emission of such radiations, and the nuclear model of the atom to account for the scattering of such radiations.
Using alpha-particles from radium as projectiles, between 1916 and 1919 Rutherford studied the effects of bombardment of light atoms: first hydrogen, then oxygen and nitrogen. In April 1919 he found an anomaly which he convincingly explained as due to the disintegration of nitrogen nuclei. It was the first time a nuclear transformation had been produced artificially, and it initiated an active, experimental nuclear physics program. Object EM.N-08018 is a replica of an apparatus Rutherford built in 1921 to continue his investigations of these phenomena at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, where he had succeeded J. J. Thomson as director.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1960
originator
Rutherford, Ernest
manufacturer
University of Cambridge. Department of Physics. Cavendish Laboratory
ID Number
EM.N-08018
catalog number
N-08018
accession number
224580

English-Style Sector

This ivory instrument has two rectangular arms with flat edges and is held together by a circular brass hinge. The scales run from top to bottom on each arm.
Description
This ivory instrument has two rectangular arms with flat edges and is held together by a circular brass hinge. The scales run from top to bottom on each arm. On one side, each arm has a sine scale, running from 10 to 90 degrees; a tangent scale, running from 45 to 75 degrees; and a second tangent scale, running from 10 to 45 degrees. Spanning both arms on the outer edge are three scales: log tangent, running from 2 to 45 degrees; log sine, running from 1 to 70 degrees; and logarithmic numbers, running from 1 to 10 twice. The top face of the instrument has a scale of equal parts that divides one foot into 100 increments and runs from 90 to 10. There is no maker's mark.
The other side has a double scale along the fold line for regular polygons, labeled POL and running from 12 to 4 sides. Each arm has a scale of equal parts, running from 1 to 10 and labeled L; a secant scale, running from 40 to 75 and labeled s; and a scale of chords, running from 10 to 60 and labeled C. The scales for dialing typically found on 18th-century English-style sectors are not present. Spanning both arms on the outer edge is a scale of inches, running from 11 to 1 and divided to tenths of an inch. The sector likely dates to the 19th century. Compare to 1985.0580.06, MA.333937, and MA.335351.
Before slide rules were widely used by engineers and draftsmen, instrument makers often included a sector in a set of drawing instruments. Users opened the sector to a desired angle, measured distances between numbers with a pair of dividers, and made calculations according to the principles of similar triangles. The donor reported that her husband's ancestor, Lt. Col. Alexander Matheson (b. 1788), was the original owner of this drawing instrument. He settled in Perth, Canada, after serving in the British military during the War of 1812.
Reference:
Thomas Kentish, A Treatise on a Box of Instruments and the Slide Rule (London: Relfe & Fletcher, 1847), 39–61.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
ID Number
MA.321755
accession number
243754
catalog number
321755

Protractor Signed by Cox

This semicircular brass protractor is graduated to half-degrees. It is marked by tens from 10° to 170° in both directions, from left to right and from right to left. A brass rectangle with a curved notch has been soldered on at the origin point.
Description
This semicircular brass protractor is graduated to half-degrees. It is marked by tens from 10° to 170° in both directions, from left to right and from right to left. A brass rectangle with a curved notch has been soldered on at the origin point. The rectangle contains a small hole for locating the vertex of the angle being measured. The base of the protractor bears the maker's mark: W. C. Cox, Devonport. The letters DB are scratched near the maker's mark.
William Charles Cox, a British instrument maker who worked in Plymouth and Devonport, had his shop in Devonport from 1830 to 1851. He presumably made this protractor during that period. The Smithsonian purchased this instrument in 1959 from the estate of Henry Russell Wray via an auction conducted by Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London.
Reference: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 69–70.
Reference:
Sotheby & Company, Catalogue of a Collection of Scientific Instruments, the Property of the Late Henry Russel Wray, London, 1959 (a copy of the catalogue is in the accession file).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1840
maker
Cox, William Charles
ID Number
MA.316927
accession number
228694
catalog number
316927

Pantograph in Case by William F. Stanley

This instrument consists of four hollow brass bars with square cross section. Two bars (labeled B and C) are about twenty-four inches long, the other two (the front one labeled D) are about twelve inches long. The two long bars are joined on their left ends.
Description
This instrument consists of four hollow brass bars with square cross section. Two bars (labeled B and C) are about twenty-four inches long, the other two (the front one labeled D) are about twelve inches long. The two long bars are joined on their left ends. The two shorter bars are joined at their right ends. One short bar also is screwed to each of the longer bars. The bars move on five casters attached to them.
The long bar (B) and the short bar (D) toward the front of the instrument both have scales that run from 1/2 to ¾ and then from 2/5 to 1/10. These two bars also each have a sliding head upon them. The front one attaches to a heavy black triangular weight stored in the case. Bars C and D hold the tracer and pencil point (or conversely). A mark on one of the bars reads: STANLEY, LONDON.
Not all of the pieces of this pantograph have survived.
The instrument fits into a wooden case.
For a detailed discussion, see Stanley.
The owner of this instrument wa probably the civil engineer Llewellyn Nathaniel Edwards (1873-1952).
Reference:
W. F. Stanley, Mathematical and Drawing Instruments, 6th ed. (London, 1888), pp. 120-131.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
Stanley, William Ford
ID Number
MA.325674
accession number
257193
catalog number
325674

J.J. Thomson's positive ray apparatus, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus

J.J. Thomson's positive ray apparatus, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus. Object ID EM.N-08014; Overall length 62 cm x width 35 x height 44 cm.Object is a replica of the original which resides at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, England.
Description
J.J. Thomson's positive ray apparatus, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus. Object ID EM.N-08014; Overall length 62 cm x width 35 x height 44 cm.
Object is a replica of the original which resides at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, England. Wood base supports, at one end, a horizontal glass discharge tube attached to a chamber fitted between the poles of an electromagnet. The chamber contains a pair of plates for deflection of the beam of "positive rays" (ions) passing through from the discharge tube. The rays fall on a phosphorescent screen at the other end of the apparatus, where a photographic plate can also be positioned.
Basic Principle
Thomson's positive ray apparatus were analogous to his cathode-ray tubes (see objects EM.N-08013A and EM.N-08013B); in that they measured the ratio of charge to mass of "positive rays" instead of electrons (cathode rays).
Ions, created by an electric discharge in the glass bulb, are accelerated towards its mouth. This beam of "positive rays" is then deflected vertically by a magnetic field and horizontally by an electric field, forming a parabolic trace on a phosphorescent screen—all atoms or molecules of the same charge-to-mass ratio falling along one parabola. This object is a replica of the fourth such apparatus Thomson constructed. With it, the traces were recorded photographically for the first time. For a concise review of J.J. Thomson, the Cavendish Laboratory, and Thomson's cathode ray tube and positive ray apparatus, see J .J. Thomson - the Centenary of His Discovery of the Electron and his invention of Mass Spectrometry, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, Vol.11, 2-16 (1997).
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1960 (original 1907-1912)
manufacturer
University of Cambridge. Department of Physics. Cavendish Laboratory
ID Number
EM.N-08014
accession number
224580

Pantograph in Case by Cary of London

This brass pantograph consists of four linked rods with rectangular cross section. The two longer rods are about 49.5 cm. (19 ½ inches) long. The two shorter rods are about 9 inches and ten inches long.
Description
This brass pantograph consists of four linked rods with rectangular cross section. The two longer rods are about 49.5 cm. (19 ½ inches) long. The two shorter rods are about 9 inches and ten inches long. Marks near the ends of the rods away from the fulcrum read: B; D; [nothing]; C. Two adjacent rods (those marked B and D) are marked from 11:12 to 2:3 near one end and from 1:2 to 1:12 further up. Slides on these rods carry round holders. A round stone disc placed into the fixed outermost holder anchors the pantograph. A tube with a cup at one end fits into either of the two remaining round holders (the tube would hold a pencil point; the cup would hold pebbles, shot, or some other weight to keep the pencil on the paper). The tracer point which would go in the other holder is missing. The pantograph moves over the paper on four ivory wheels. A mark on the top of one arm reads: Cary London. The instrument fits in a shaped wooden case.
According to Gloria Clifton, from 1789 until 1891 William Cary, his descendants, and their associates in London sold instruments, including a pantograph, under the name Cary.
This instrument was once at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Compare MA.317868, MA.327891, MA.334888, and 2005.0182.8.
Reference:
Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851, Zwemmer, 1995, p. 51.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Cary, William
ID Number
MA.327891
accession number
271855
catalog number
327891

Mill Gear and Machine Wheel Scale Signed W. Wright

This brass measuring instrument resembles a sector, with a rounded apex and two rectangular legs. The front of the object is marked: MACHINE WHEELS. It bears a proportional scale with numbers 6, 8, 10, 16, and 20.
Description
This brass measuring instrument resembles a sector, with a rounded apex and two rectangular legs. The front of the object is marked: MACHINE WHEELS. It bears a proportional scale with numbers 6, 8, 10, 16, and 20. One leg contains a proportional scale labeled "Pitch Line" (numbered 6, 8, 12, 16, 20) and a scale labeled "Depth of Tooth" that is uniformly divided into single units and numbered by tens from 20 to 160. The other leg is labeled "Gauge Point" and bears a scale uniformly divided into single units and numbered by tens from 20 to 160. Both scales are engraved with a small arrow at the 80 point. "Gauge Point" is separated from the scale by an ornate engraved arrow, so those words may refer to the proportional scale on the rounded part of the instrument. The legs bear a maker's mark: W. WRIGHT, (/) GLOSSOP. There are three posts, or mill feet, two on the legs and one at the center, on each side of the instrument, so that it stands about 3/4" away from the surface on which it rests.
The back of the object is marked: MILL GEER WHEELS. It bears a proportional scale with numbers and letters: 4, U, 12, 16, 20. ("Geer" and "gear" were both acceptable spellings in the 18th and 19th centuries.) Each leg contains a scale that is uniformly divided into single units and numbered by tens from 10 to 80. Small arrows are engraved on both legs at the 47 and 80 points. Another larger, ornate arrow on the left leg separates the words "Gauge Point" from the uniformly divided scale. The posts on the legs on this side are corroded. The instrument is stored in a mahogany case painted blue on the inside.
W. Wright manufactured instruments in the parish of Glossop in northwest Derbyshire, England, in the 18th century. Between ten and twenty cotton mills opened in Glossop in the 1790s. Wright apparently also worked at times in Manchester, 30 miles to the west. At least three other examples of this instrument were auctioned between 1996 and 2009, some marked "Glossop" and some marked "Manchester." The Smithsonian acquired this object in 1966.
Reference: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 306–307.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
18th century
maker
Wright, W.
ID Number
MA.327569
catalog number
327569
accession number
267874

Instruction Manual for Cooper 100-Inch Slide Rule

This undated 16-page booklet was received with MA.326237. It is titled, The 'Cooper' 100-inch Slide Rule (Patented). Designed for Use in Calculations Involving Multiplication, Division, Proportion, Percentages, Powers, Roots, Logarithms, etc. etc.
Description
This undated 16-page booklet was received with MA.326237. It is titled, The 'Cooper' 100-inch Slide Rule (Patented). Designed for Use in Calculations Involving Multiplication, Division, Proportion, Percentages, Powers, Roots, Logarithms, etc. etc. The description of the calculator claims it reads to four decimal places. Instructions for currency conversion are also provided. Partial tables of decimal equivalents appear as an advertisement for The Instanter Decimal Tables, published by Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. of London.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1923
ID Number
MA.259739.01
accession number
259739
catalog number
259739.01

Equinoctial Ring Sundial by Henry Sutton

This brass universal equinoctial ring dial consists of a meridian ring, hour ring, rotating crosspiece or bridge, and sliding suspension ring/handle. The meridian ring is calibrated on one side from 0 to 90 by single degree.
Description
This brass universal equinoctial ring dial consists of a meridian ring, hour ring, rotating crosspiece or bridge, and sliding suspension ring/handle. The meridian ring is calibrated on one side from 0 to 90 by single degree. The hour ring is calibrated on one side from I to XII twice. Half-hour divisions are along the inside edge of the hour ring. The bridge contains a sliding pinhole gnomon. The gnomon slides within a calendar scale calibrated and lettered by month on one side and scales from 20 to 0 to 20 and from 0 to 20 on the opposite side (declination scales). Both sides of the meridian ring and the verso of the hour ring are engraved with a list of forty-five European towns and latitudes, the majority being English. Henry Sutton (d. 1665) was a London instrument maker with numerous apprentices.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Henry Sutton
Sutton, Henry
ID Number
MA.328622
accession number
312588
catalog number
328622

Keuffel & Esser 4015 Fuller's Spiral Cylindrical Slide Rule

This rule consists of an outer wooden cylinder that both slides up and down and rotates. Two brass rings lined with felt are inside this cylinder.
Description
This rule consists of an outer wooden cylinder that both slides up and down and rotates. Two brass rings lined with felt are inside this cylinder. The cylinder is covered with paper marked with a single spiral logarithmic scale graduated into 7,250 parts and having a length, according to the maker, of 500 inches (nearly 42 feet). This length permitted computations up to four or five significant digits.
Inside the outer cylinder is a longer wooden cylinder, covered with paper marked with decimal, conversion, and sine tables. A solid mahogany handle is at one end. A brass index is screwed to the top of the handle. A second, longer brass index is screwed to the mahogany base and marked with a scale of equal parts used in finding logarithms. A third, removable, nickel-plated brass cylinder is inside the instrument and attached to the base. There is no case.
The tables on the middle cylinder include: decimal equivalents of feet and inches in feet; decimal equivalents of quarter weights and pounds in hundredweights; decimal equivalents of ounces and pounds in fractions of a pound; decimal equivalents of pounds, shillings, and pence in fractions of a pound; decimal equivalents of pence in shillings; days of the year as a fraction of the year; decimal equivalents of subunits of an acre; properties of various metals and woods; decimal equivalents of minutes of a degree in degrees; the Birmingham wire gauge; various conversion factors (mostly for weights and measures); and natural sines.
The outer, sliding cylinder is marked near the top: FULLERS SPIRAL SLIDE RULE. Near the bottom is marked: ENTD. STATS. HALL; STANLEY, Maker, LONDON. The bottom is stamped: 1389. The top of the long brass index is engraved: 1389 (/) 1901. According to Wayne Feely, these numbers indicate the instrument has serial number 1389 and was made by Stanley in 1901. A white celluloid tag affixed to the handle reads: KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. (/) ST. LOUIS. CHICAGO. (/) NEW YORK. (/) U.S.A. In the 1901 Keuffel & Esser catalog, Fuller's Spiral Slide Rule is listed as Model 4015 and priced at $30.00.
See also 311958, 1998.0046.01, and 316575.
References: Wayne E. Feely, "The Fuller Spiral Scale Slide Rule," Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association 50, no. 3 (1997): 93–98; Catalogue of Keuffel & Esser (New York, 1901), 290; James J. Fenton, "Fuller's Calculating Slide-Rule," Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 22 (1886): 57–61; Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 42–43; George Fuller, Instructions for the Use of the Fuller Calculator (London: W. F. Stanley & Co., Ltd., [about 1950]), http://www.mccoys-kecatalogs.com/KEManuals/4015/4015.htm. An 1879 first edition of the instructions manual was received with the instrument and is stored in the accession file.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901
inventor
Fuller, George
retailer
Keuffel & Esser Co.
maker
Stanley, William Ford
ID Number
MA.313751
catalog number
313751
maker number
1380/1901
accession number
179682

Sundial Scale

The scales on this three-foot wooden rule are drawn in red and black ink on paper attached to both sides of the instrument. The left end of one side is marked: A DiALLiNg SCALE [sic]. A brass hanger is screwed into the left end.
Description
The scales on this three-foot wooden rule are drawn in red and black ink on paper attached to both sides of the instrument. The left end of one side is marked: A DiALLiNg SCALE [sic]. A brass hanger is screwed into the left end. This side has an hour line, a line of latitude, a line of chords, a scale of inches divided to 1/8" and numbered by ones from 1 to 12, another line of chords, another line of latitude, and another hour line. The last three scales are approximately 3/4 the length of the first three scales. For example, the first hour line is 18" long and the second is almost 13" long.
The middle of this side has two diagrams for calculating the gnomon rods of sundials. Next are two more sets of three scales (hour line, line of latitude, and line of chords). These scales are shorter than the first two sets of scales, with the hour line for the third set measuring 6-3/8" and the fourth hour line measuring 7-3/4". Drawings of a sun and a sundial are at the right end of this side. The side is covered with brass studs for affixing pins while making up gnomons.
The other side has diagrams for a line of inclination; a line of chords; an hour line; lines of chords and latitudes; lines of longitude, chords, latitude, and rhumbs; and an hour line. Two drawings of sundial platforms are at the right end. An oak and pine case is fastened with a metal hook. Presumably a craftsman used this rule to make sundials. The Smithsonian acquired this object in 1961.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 18th century
ID Number
MA.319468
catalog number
319468
accession number
237672

English-Style Sector

This yellowed ivory instrument has two rectangular arms with flat edges and is held together by a circular brass hinge. The lower arm is broken. The scales run from top to bottom on each arm.
Description
This yellowed ivory instrument has two rectangular arms with flat edges and is held together by a circular brass hinge. The lower arm is broken. The scales run from top to bottom on each arm. On one side, each arm has a sine scale, running from 10 to 80 degrees; a tangent scale, running from 45 to 75 degrees; and a second tangent scale, running from 10 to 45 degrees. Spanning both arms on the outer edge are three scales: log tangent, running from 3 to 45 degrees; log sine, running from 1 to 70 degrees; and logarithmic numbers, running from 1 to 10 twice. A double line separates these scales from the inner, diagonal set of scales. The top face of the instrument has a scale of equal parts that divides one foot into 100 increments and runs from 90 to 10. There is no maker's mark.
The other side has a double scale along the fold line for regular polygons, labeled POL and running from 12 to 4 sides. Each arm has a scale of equal parts, running from 1 to 10 and labeled L; a secant scale, running from 20 to 75 and labeled s; and a scale of chords, running from 10 to 60 and labeled C. The scales for dialing typically found on 18th-century English-style sectors are not present. Spanning both arms on the outer edge is a scale of inches, running from 12 to 1 and divided to tenths of an inch. Compare to MA.321755, MA.333937, and 1985.0580.06.
This sector may have been used at the New York Meteorological Observatory in Central Park, established and directed by Daniel Draper from 1868 to 1911.
References: Christopher J. Sangwin, "Edmund Gunter and the Sector," January 21, 2003, http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/C.J.Sangwin/Sliderules/sector.pdf; Robert S. Harding and Jeffrey L. Tate, "Draper Family Collection, ca. 1826–1936," Archives Center, National Museum of American History, http://amhistory.si.edu/archives/d8121.htm.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
ID Number
MA.335351
accession number
304826
catalog number
335351

Chadwick's Neutron Chamber, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus

Chadwick's Neutron Chamber, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus. Object ID EM.N-08022. Overall: length 15.5 cm x width 6 cm x height 14 cm.Object consists of a brass tube.
Description
Chadwick's Neutron Chamber, replica of Cavendish Lab apparatus. Object ID EM.N-08022. Overall: length 15.5 cm x width 6 cm x height 14 cm.
Object consists of a brass tube. In the original apparatus, the tube contained a polonium (source of alpha particles) at one end and a berylium target.
(See 1st object on right in accompanying image).
History and basic principle
In their attempts to excite and transform atomic nuclei physicists were limited throughout the 1920s to bombarding them with the particles--chiefly alpha-particles -- spontaneously emitted by naturally radioactive substances. This was irksome to physicists, not least because of the limited supply and great expense of radium and similar substances, but also because of the limited energy and uncontrollability of these spontaneous radiations. However, the era of hamstrung nuclear physics before the advent of accelerators ended on an unexpected upbeat: the discovery of the neutron in 1932.
Object EM.N-08022 is a replica of the neutron chamber used by James Chadwick in 1932 at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, England in his first experiments demonstrating the existence of the neutron. In his experiments, the neutron chamber served as the neutron source and was used in conjunction with a separate ionization chamber.
Rutherford had long anticipated the existence of an uncharged particle of about the mass of a proton, and members of his Cambridge research group had repeatedly sought for it. Chadwick recognized evidence of it in I. and F. Joliot-Curie’s description of phenomena resulting from the bombardment of beryllium by alpha-particles.
At one end of the chamber's brass tube, polonium emiited alpha particles, which then struck a berylium target causing particles to be emitted from the other end of the tube. The emitted particles entered an adjacent ionization chamber in which their identity could be confirmed as Rutherford's hypothesized neutron.
See: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200705/physicshistory.cfn - for a brief historical account of Chadwick's career, including his association with Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory, as well as his experimental confirmation of Rutherford's speculation on the existence of the neutron (for which Chadwick was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935).
Also see Chadwick's publication:
Chadwick, James, The Existence of a Neutron, Proceedings of the Royal Society, A.136(830) 692-708.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca. 1960 (original 1932)
manufacturer
University of Cambridge. Department of Physics. Cavendish Laboratory
originator
Chadwick, James
ID Number
EM.N-08022
catalog number
N-08022
accession number
224580

Replica of Arundel Metrological Marble

This plaster cast is a full-sized replica of the Arundel metrological marble at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The original relief was probably made around 460–430 BCE in western Asia Minor or Greece.
Description
This plaster cast is a full-sized replica of the Arundel metrological marble at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The original relief was probably made around 460–430 BCE in western Asia Minor or Greece. It illustrates traditional units of measurement based on the human body, including a fathom (the width of the outstretched arms) and an ell (the distance from the elbow to the fingertip). In this example, the fathom is 6 feet, 9-57/64 inches long in modern English units, and the ell is 20-15/32 inches. It is very faint in this replica, but a human foot is shown above the figure's right arm. Seven of these feet are equal to one fathom on the relief. The Smithsonian received the replica in 1961. Earlier cataloguing suggests the British firm of Archer, Cowley & Co. made the replica.
Reference: "The Metrological Relief," ref. no. AN.Michaelis 83, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, http://www.ashmolean.org/ash/faqs/q002/.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961
maker
Archer, Cowley & Company
ID Number
MA.319896
accession number
239611
catalog number
319896

Layton's Arithmometer

In 1881 the English engineer Samuel Tate applied for a British patent for an improvement in the arithmometer invented by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas. Tate’s machine was manufactured by the publishers C. & E.
Description
In 1881 the English engineer Samuel Tate applied for a British patent for an improvement in the arithmometer invented by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas. Tate’s machine was manufactured by the publishers C. & E. Layton of London, who made various improvements to it.
This stepped drum manually operated and non-printing calculating machine is one made by Layton. It has a brass top and metal mechanism and fits into a mahogany case. Eight levers are used to set digits, with a stepped drum below each lever. The plate that covers the drums and top of the machine has slits in it to allow these and other parts to move. The edges of the slits next to digit levers are numbered from 0 to 9 to indicate the digit entered. An ADD MULT / SUB DIV lever is left of the digit levers, but the machine has no windows to show the number set up. A crank on the right side operates the machine.
Behind the levers moves a carriage with a row of nine windows for the revolution register and a row of 16 windows for the result register. The discs in the revolution register have the digits from 1 to 8 in red and from 0 to 9 in black. The discs of the result register have only the digits from 0 to 9. Rotating the crank on the right side of the carriage zeroes these registers. A handle for lifting the carriage is on its left. Three brass decimal markers fit in holes between the levers and windows. Thumbscrews in the revolution and result registers can be used to set numbers. Handles at both ends of the case assist in lifting.
A mark toward the front of the machine, left of the digit levers, reads: C. & E.LAYTONS (/) ARITHMOMETER (/) LONDON. A mark below the operating handle reads; C.A. BAYNON (/) AGENT (/) NEW YORK. Stamped on the underside of the carriage on the left is the serial number: 1431.
C. & E. Layton sold arithmometers particularly to insurance companies. This example came to the Smithsonian from Colonial Life Insurance Company of New Jersey, a firm established in 1897.
Compare MA.311,953, MA.323657, MA.323629, and MA.333922.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1905
maker
C. & E. Layton
ID Number
MA.333922
catalog number
333922
accession number
304369
maker number
1431

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