Smedley Dynamometer

Smedley Dynamometer

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Description
Fred W. Smedley, Director of the Chicago Child-Study Department in 1899-1901, devised an adjustable stirrup grip dynamometer that small children could use. This example measures up to 100 kg. The inscription reads “C. H. STOELTING CO. / CHICAGO, ILL. USA / MADE IN U.S.A.”
The C. H. Stoelting Company was formed in Chicago in 1886, and was soon the largest supplier of psychological and physiological test apparatus in the country. It boasted, in 1930, that Smedley’s hand dynamometer was used “in virtually all of the Child Study Departments of the Boards of Education and in fact wherever a test is made of the strength of grip.”
Ref: C. H. Stoelting Co., Apparatus and Supplies for the Manual of Mental and Physical Tests (Chicago, ca. 1911), pp. 2-3.
C. H. Stoelting Co., Psychological and Physiological Apparatus and Supplies (Chicago, 1930), pp. 54-55.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
dynamometer, hand
Other Terms
Diagnostic Medicine
used at
Skidmore College
maker
C. H. Stoelting Company
place made
United States: Illinois, Chicago
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall, as stored: 2 in x 5 7/8 in x 10 3/4 in; 5.08 cm x 14.9225 cm x 27.305 cm
overall: 26.8 cm x 15 cm x 5.1 cm; 10 9/16 in x 5 7/8 in x 2 in
ID Number
MG.311423.01
catalog number
311423.01
accession number
311423
Credit Line
Pyschology Department of Skidmore College
subject
Science & Scientific Instruments
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Medicine
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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