Densitometer

Densitometer

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Description
A densitometer measures the optical density of an image. The inscriptions on the label of this example read “Millipore / PhoroScope” and “Millipore Corp., Medford, Massachusetts.” PhoroScope was the trademark of the Millipore Corp., registered in 1969.
During the Allied bombing of World War II, German scientists developed membrane filters for military and domestic water supplies. During the Korean War, scientists at the California Institute of Technology and at the U.S. Army Chemical Corps improved the method; and the Lovell Chemical Co. received a government contract for further development. In 1953, when these membranes were declassified and offered for commercial use, John H. (Jack) Bush, a Lovell employee and a son of Vanevar Bush, bought the rights to the technology for $200,000 and established the Millipore Filter Company. He also coined the word millipore to refer to many small openings in the microporous membrane. As the product range expanded, the firm became the Millipore Corporation. In 2010, Merck KGaA acquired Millipore Corporation, and formed EMD Millipore.
Ref: “Space Age Progress is Filtered Through Millipore,” Boston Globe (Sept. 20, 1959), p. A10.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
phoroscope electrophoresis densitometer
date made
1969
maker
Millipore Filter Corporation
place made
United States: Massachusetts, Bedford
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 14 in x 17 in x 17 1/2 in; 35.56 cm x 43.18 cm x 44.45 cm
overall: 13 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in x 16 in; 34.29 cm x 19.05 cm x 40.64 cm
ID Number
2005.3062.01
nonaccession number
2005.3062
catalog number
2005.3062.01
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Chemistry
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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