Computers & Business Machines

• 

  Telescope with Divided Glass Micrometer

  Description

  This telescope has an achromatic objective of 2.75 inches aperture, brass tube with finder, several eyepieces, two telescoping braces, two control rods, a split objective micrometer, equatorial mount, and wooden tripod. The tube is 43.5 inches long. The faceplate at the eye end is marked “DOLLOND * LONDON.” For storage, the telescope fits into a mahogany box with a hinged lid.

  This seems to be an example of the brass telescope “of 3½ feet focal length, with an aperture of 2¾ inches, two eye tubes for Land Objects, and two tubes for Astronomical purposes” that George Dollond was offering in the 1830s. That instrument could be had with either a brass stand for use on a table, or “a mahogany folding stand, to be used on the Floor.” It could, moreover, be “supported in the centre of Gravity, and applied to a socket that may be turned to any latitude, so that the Telescope may have an Equatorial Motion” The complete outfit cost £50. The micrometer would be extra.

  The Dollond family began working as opticians in London in 1750, and gained fame in 1758 when John Dollond introduced his design for achromatic lenses. John Dollond was also responsible for the split objective micrometer.

  Ref: “A Description of a Contrivance for Measuring Small Angles, by Mr. John Dollond; Communicated by Mr. J. Short, F.R.S.,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 48 (1753): 178-181.

  “An Explanation of an Instrument for measuring small Angles, the first Account of which was read before the Royal Society May 10, 1753. By Mr. John Dollond,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 48 (1754): 551-564.

  George Dollond, A Catalogue of Optical, Mathematical, Philosophical Instruments (London, ca. 1830).

  Gloria Clifton, “Dollond Family,” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  probably 1760s

  probably 1830s

  maker

  Dollond

  ID Number

  1979.1110.01

  accession number

  1979.1110

  catalog number

  1979.1110.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Telescope

  Description

  This is a brass Gregorian telescope with a speculum metal mirror 3¾ inches diameter. The rod that runs along the tube serves to adjust the smaller secondary mirror. The “T. Blunt, London” inscription refers to Thomas Blunt, an instrument maker who worked on his own from 1794 to 1823, or to his son of the same name, who worked for a year or two later.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1794-1824

  maker

  Blunt, Thomas

  ID Number

  PH.329777

  accession number

  283516

  catalog number

  329777

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Chemistry

  Description

  William Ramsay (1852-1916) was a Scottish chemist who received a Nobel Prize in 1904 for having identified four inert gases: Helium, Argon, Krypton, and Xenon. This colored print shows him giving a lecture, pointing to the positions of these gases on the periodic table. It was drawn by Leslie Matthew Ward (1851-1922), a British artist who produced some 1325 cartoon portraits for Vanity Fair, a popular British magazine. Like many of Ward’s portraits, this one captured the personality of the subject and was signed “Spy.” It was published on Dec. 2, 1908.

  The text above the image reads “VANITY FAIR Supplement.” The text below reads “Hentschel-Colourtype, London” and “(Sir William Ramsay).” The accompanying text begins by saying that Ramsay was “an apostle of the great modern Religion of the Established Fact,” and it ends by saying that “He has hordes of friends, but his real loves are Fountain pens and cigarettes.”

  The Hentschel colourtype process was developed by Carl Hentschel (1864-1930), a Pole who immigrated to England.

  Ref: Morris W. Travers, A Life of Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S. (London, 1956).

  “Personalities in Process: Carl Hentschel,” The Process Engravers Monthly 19 (Feb. 1912): 33-35.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1908

  ID Number

  PH.330433

  catalog number

  330433

  accession number

  290940

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Telescope

  Description

  This is one of the “two forty-five inch Refractors” mentioned in a Georgetown publication of 1852. It has a brass pillar-and-tripod base, an equatorial mount, and mahogany handles for adjustments in right ascension and declination. The (missing) achromatic objective had an aperture an 3.5 inches. The brass tube is 42½ inches long. The “W. & S. Jones” inscription refers to a London firm that, from 1791 to 1859, sold a wide range of scientific and mathematical instruments.

  Ref: Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Georgetown College, D.C. 1 (1852), p. 14.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1840

  maker

  W. & S. Jones

  ID Number

  PH.316098.01

  accession number

  224215

  catalog number

  316098.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Telescope

  Description

  Refracting telescope with a brass pillar-and-tripod base, a 38-inch long wooden tube with brass fittings, a sliding rod for holding the telescope at a particular elevation, an achromatic objective of 2 inches aperture, four eyepieces, and a wooden box with a hinged lid. The inscription on the brass ferrule at the eye end of the tube reads “DOLLOND LONDON.”

  The Dollond family began in business as opticians in London in 1750. George Dollond took responsibility for the firm around 1820 and shortened the signature to Dollond.

  Ref: Gloria Clifton, “Dollond Family,” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  mid 19th century

  maker

  Dollond

  ID Number

  PH.335518

  accession number

  321714

  catalog number

  335518

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Salt from Salt Water

  Description

  Volterra, an ancient town in the Tuscan region of Italy, has a productive salt spring known variously as the Moie or the Saline. This ink-and-wash drawing depicts the front and back of the house over that spring. The title reads “Piante per Levare L’Acqua dolce dalla Salata per le Moie di Volterra.” The partial signature at bottom left reads “Ciappevony.”

  Ref: Fabrizio Borelli, Le Saline de Volterra nel Granducatio di Toscana (Florence, 2000).

  Didier Boisseuil,Le Thermalisme en Toscane à la fin du Moyen Age (Rome, 2002).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  PH.329202

  catalog number

  329202

  accession number

  280071

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Otis King's Pocket Calculator Model L Cylindrical Slide Rule

  Description

  This six-inch cylindrical slide rule consists of a chromium-plated holder, a metal cylinder that slides into the holder, and a black metal tube that fits around and slides up and down on the cylinder. The rule is ten inches long when extended. Two short white lines on the tube and a black mark on the chrome cap at the end of the cylinder serve as the indicator. A paper spiral logarithmic scale is attached to the top half of the holder. A second, linear and logarithmic, paper scale is attached to the cylinder. The logarithmic scales are used to multiply and divide, and the linear scale is used to find logarithms.

  At the top of the cylinder is printed: PATENT No 183723. At the bottom of the cylinder is printed: OTIS KING'S POCKET CALCULATOR; SCALE No 430. The top of the scale on the holder is printed: SCALE No 429; COPYRIGHT. The bottom is printed: OTIS KING'S PATENT No 183723. The end of the holder is machine engraved: MADE IN (/) Y5466 (/) ENGLAND.

  The instrument arrived in a mailing tube with return address: CALCULATOR COMPANY (/) POST OFFICE BOX 593 (/) LAKEWOOD, CALIFORNIA 90714.

  Otis Carter Formby King invented this form of slide rule in 1921, and Carbic Limited of London, England, manufactured it until 1972. The Calculator Company served as Carbic's distributor in the United States. The 5-digit ZIP code on the mailing tube indicates this example was made after 1963. The serial number, Y5466, suggests a date around 1965–1969.

  See also 1987.0788.01 and 1981.0922.09. The slide rule was received with a trifold instruction sheet, 1989.3049.03, and an advertising pamphlet, 1989.3049.04.

  References: Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 44; Richard F. Lyon, "Dating of the Otis King: An Alternative Theory Developed Through Use of the Internet," Journal of the Oughtred Society 7, no. 1 (1998): 33–38; Dick Lyon, "Otis King's Patent Calculator," http://www.svpal.org/~dickel/OK/OtisKing.html.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1965-1968

  maker

  Carbic Limited

  ID Number

  1989.3049.02

  nonaccession number

  1989.3049

  catalog number

  1989.3049.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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  Bardin 18-inch Celestial Globe

  Description

  This celestial globe is supported on a wooden tri-leg pedestal, surrounded by a wooden horizon circle, and is equipped with a brass meridian and a small brass circle around the north pole. It (and its terrestrial mate) belonged to the Anglo-American chemist, Joseph Priestley.

  The text in the cartouche in the southern hemisphere reads: “To the Rev. / NEVIL MASKELYNE, D.D. F.R.S. / Astronomer Royal / The New British Celestial Globe / containing the Positions of nearly 6000 Stars, Clusters, nebulae, Planetary / Nebulae &c. Correctly computed & laid down to the year 1800; from the latest observati / ons and discoveries by Dr Maskelyne, Dr Herschel, The Revd Mr Wollaston &c. &c. / Is respectfully Dedicated / by his most obedient hbl Servants / W. & T. M. Bardin”

  William Bardin (fl. 1730-1798) was a London artisan who began making globes around 1780. Around 1790, now in partnership with his son, Thomas Marriott Bardin (1768-1819), he began trading as W. & T. M. Bardin. The 18-inch globes were their most ambitious. They were introduced in 1798, and remained in production, by successor firms, for a half century.

  Ref: John Millburn and Tör Rossaak, “The Bardin Family, Globe Makers in London” Der Globusfreund (1992).

  Elly Dekker, Globes at Greenwich (Oxford, 1999), pp. 260-270.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1800

  owner

  Priestley, Joseph

  maker

  Bardin, William

  Bardin, Thomas Marriott

  W. & T. M. Bardin

  ID Number

  PH.53254

  accession number

  27050

  catalog number

  53254

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Dip Circle

  Description

  Soon after becoming Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey in 1843, Alexander Dallas Bache ordered a dip circle from Henry Barrow (1790-1870), the leading producer of geomagnetic instruments in England at the time. The Survey went on to purchase several more Barrow circles of this sort and was still using them in the 1870s.

  This example is marked "Henry Barrow & Co., 26 Oxendon Street, London" and "CS 9." It is based on the form that Henri P. Gambey of Paris introduced in the 1830s. The needle is long, stretching from one side of the vertical circle to the other. The vertical circle is housed within the wood and glass box, graduated to about 15 minutes, and read by opposite magnifiers. The horizontal circle is graduated and read by vernier.

  Ref: Charles A. Schott, "Terrestrial Magnetism," Report of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey for 1872, Appendix No. 14, p. 248 and plate 21.

  Charles A. Schott, "Terrestrial Magnetism," Report of the Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey for 1875, Appendix No. 16, pp. 263-264 and plate 29.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  Henry Barrow & Co.

  ID Number

  PH.307207

  catalog number

  307207

  accession number

  65983

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  "Woulfes Chemical Apparatus"

  Description

  This engraving was prepared for the fourth volume of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis (1810). It is marked “Plate VI” and “Woulfes Chemical Apparatus” and “Heny Lascelles delt” and “J. Pass Sculpt” and “London, Published as the Act directs, Feby 5, 1801. By J. Wilkes.”

  Peter Woulfe (1727-1803) was an Irish chemist and mineralogist who in 1767 described a bottle suitable for distillation. By the end of the century it was widely known as Woulfe’s apparatus.

  John Wilkes (1750-1810) was a London printer and bookseller whose 24-volume Encyclopaedia Londoniensis was published between about 1801 and 1828.

  Ref: Peter Woulfe, “Experiments on the Distillation of Acids, Volatile Alkalies, &c., Shewing How They May Be Condensed Without Loss, and How Thereby We May Avoid Disagreeable and Noxious Fumes,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 57 (1767): 517-536.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1810

  ID Number

  PH.329198

  accession number

  280069

  catalog number

  329198

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Equinoctial Ring Sundial by Henry Sutton

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Microscope

  Description

  This is a compound monocular with side pillar, focusing screw and sub-stage mirror that fits into and flips up from a rectangular wooden chest that also holds extra lenses, slides and other accessories. The “NAIRNE INVT ET FECIT LONDON” inscription on the stage refers to Edward Nairne, a prolific optician and instrument maker who began in business around 1750, who introduced this type of chest microscope around 1760, and began trading as Nairne & Blunt in 1773.

  Ref: Directions how to use the Compound Microscope, as Made and Sold by Edward Nairne, at the Golden Spectacles fronting the North-Gate of the Royal-Exchange, London.

  Description and Use of the Compound Microscope, As made and sold by Edward Nairne, At No. 20 in Cornhill, Opposite the Royal Exchange, London.

  D. J. Warner, “Edward Nairne: Scientist and Instrument Maker,” Rittenhouse 12 (1998): 65-93.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1760-1773

  maker

  Nairne, Edward

  ID Number

  MG.M-12345

  accession number

  282176

  catalog number

  M-12345

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Keuffel & Esser 4015 Fuller's Spiral Cylindrical Slide Rule

  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

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Spectroscope

  Description

  Brass spectroscope with six glass prisms, and an “A. Hilger London” inscription. Adam Hilger (1839-1897) was a precision instrument maker from Darmstadt who moved to London around 1870, and who established his own shop around 1875. The “J.B. Stearns 1875” inscription probably refers to Joseph Barker Stearns (1831-1895), inventor of the duplex system of telegraphy, and probably the man who gave this instrument to Smith College. Located in Northampton, Mass. and opened in 1875, Smith College promised women students lectures and laboratories equal to those offered elsewhere to men.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1875

  maker

  Hilger, Adam

  ID Number

  1980.0098.01

  catalog number

  1980.0098.01

  accession number

  1980.0098

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Rix Cometarium

  Description

  Small mechanical model showing the orbit of a comet around the sun, with “The Comet of 1682, J. Rix, Fecit” inscription. John Rix was a London instrument maker who probably made this in anticipation of the return of Halley’s Comet in 1758.

  Ref: Martin Beech, “Cometaria and the Demonstration of Kepler’s 1st and 2nd Laws,” Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 82 (2005): 29-33.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1758

  maker

  Rix, John

  ID Number

  PH.204630

  accession number

  36169

  catalog number

  204630

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Solar Microscope

  Description

  This type of solar microscope was introduced around 1740 and was still popular in the nineteenth century. This example has a brass plate with 6 lenses, 6 ivory sliders, and a “RAMSDEN / LONDON” inscription. Jesse Ramsden was a prominent artisan who specialized in mathematical and optical instruments.

  Ref: Anita McConnell, Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800), London’s Leading Scientific Instrument Maker (Aldershot, 2007).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  late 18th century

  maker

  Ramsden, Jesse

  ID Number

  MG.M-09889

  accession number

  236683

  catalog number

  M-09889

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Microscope

  Description

  Convertible instrument that can be used as a simple microscope or a compound mocroscope. It has rack and pinion, stage, and sub-stage mirror, and it fits into and stands on a small wooden box. The “Carey, LONDON” inscription refers to a large, long-lived, and prolific family of instruments makers known variously as Cary and Carey. Charles Gould, an employee of William Cary, described the form in 1827, and probably devised it as well.

  Ref: William Gould, The Companion to the Microscope and a Description of C. Gould’s Improved Pocket Compound Microscope, Which has all the Uses of the Single, Compound, and Opaque Microscopes (London, 1827).

  G. L’E. Turner, The Great Age of the Microscope (Bristol, 1989), pp. 79-85.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1830

  maker

  Cary, William

  ID Number

  MG.308784.01

  catalog number

  308784.01

  accession number

  308784

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Microscope

  Description

  Beck mid-range binocular National microscope with Wenham-type inter-ocular adjustment, coarse and fine focus, inclination joint, circular mechanical stage, sub-stage diaphragm, sub-stage mirror, tri-leg base, and upright wooden case. The inscription on the barrel reads “R. &. J. BECK / 31 CORNHILL / LONDON / 8015” and that around the foot reads “R. & J. BECK LONDON & PHILADELPHIA.” R. & J. Beck began in business as such at 31 Cornhill in 1865, opened a shop in Philadelphia in 1877, and became a limited partnership in 1895.

  Ref: J. Edwards Smith, How to See with the Microscope (Chicago, 1880).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1877-1895

  maker

  R. & J. Beck

  ID Number

  MG.302606.463.02

  accession number

  302606

  catalog number

  302606.463.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Universal Equinoctial Sundial by Henry Winne

  Description

  This brass universal equinoctial ring dial consists of a meridian ring, hour ring, rotating crosspiece or bridge, and sliding handle with suspension ring. The meridian ring is calibrated from 0 to 90 by degree on one side (for solar altitude) and from 0 to 90 x 2 by degree on the opposite side (for northern altitudes). There is a fleur de lis at each 5-degree mark. The hour ring is calibrated from I to XII x 2 by I on one side. There is a set of three dots at each 15- and 45-minute mark and a fleur de lis at each half-hour. The divisions continue onto the inner edge of the hour ring. There is some decoration at each end of the bridge. The bridge contains a pinhole gnomon which slides along a calendar scale calibrated and lettered by month on one side. The opposite side contains the maker's mark and a declination scale calibrated from 20 to 0 to 20. Ten units on this scale measure 1.5 cm. Both sides of the meridian ring and the opposite side of the hour ring are engraved with a list of twenty-one European cities and Constantinople with latitudes. Twelve of the cities are in England.

  Henry Winne (or Wynne) was a well-known London instrument maker of the second half of the 17th century who sold to Gregory, Flamsteed, and Hooke.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  Henry Winne

  ID Number

  1987.0851.01

  catalog number

  MA*326974

  326974

  accession number

  1987.0851

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Heliotrope

  Description

  An inscription on this heliotrope reads “ELLIOTT BROS / London / No 54.”

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  Elliott Brothers

  ID Number

  PH.327716

  accession number

  283654

  catalog number

  327716

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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