Air Pump

Air Pump

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Description
Benjamin Wofford (1780-1850), a resident of Spartanburg, S.C., bequeathed $100,000 to “establish a college of literary, classical and scientific education to be located in my native district and to be under the control of the Methodist Church of my native state.” When Wofford College opened in 1854, Prof. Warren DuPre was sent north to acquire scientific apparatus, and probably bought this large lever-action air pump from N. B. Chamberlain in Boston at that time. Chamberlain advertised it as an “American” air pump, acknowledging, however, that it was based on the design of John Leslie (1766-1832), a professor in Edinburgh.
Ref: N. B. Chamberlain, Price Catalogue and Description of Philosophical Apparatus (Boston, n.d.), p. 6.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
Air Pump
date made
1854
maker
Chamberlain, Nathan B.
place made
United States: Massachusetts, Boston
Measurements
overall: 42 in x 18 in x 54 in; 106.68 cm x 45.72 cm x 137.16 cm
overall: 30 in x 18 in x 43 in; 76.2 cm x 45.72 cm x 109.22 cm
overall: 53 1/2 in x 42 in x 17 5/8 in; 135.89 cm x 106.68 cm x 44.7675 cm
ID Number
PH.325962
accession number
256314
catalog number
325962
Credit Line
Wofford College
subject
Science & Scientific Instruments
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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