Solar Oven

Description:

Charles Greeley Abbot (1872–1973), the second director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the fifth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, spent his scientific career measuring the intensity of solar radiation and seeking to correlate solar changes with weather conditions on the earth. He was also interested in the practical use of solar radiation. This cooker, which he built in 1940, uses a cylindrical aluminum mirror that is mounted parallel to the earth's axis to collect solar energy and focus it on a pyrex tube that is filled with a chlorinated benzene ("arochlor"); the energy is then transmitted to a square oven in which cakes and cookies could be baked. Abbot obtained a patent (#2,247,830) on this cooker in 1941.

Date Made: 1940

User: Abbot, Charles GreeleyMaker: Abbot, Charles Greeley

Location: Currently not on view

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences, Energy & Power, Natural Resources

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: PH.334632Catalog Number: 334632Patent Number: 2,247,830Accession Number: 312088

Object Name: solar oven

Measurements: mirror: 20 in; 50.8 cmthermometer: 7 7/8 in x 3/8 in; 20.0025 cm x .9525 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b2-ac3a-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1167126

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