Computers & Business Machines

• Isaac Newton

  Description

  In 1702, while living in London and serving as Master of the Mint, Isaac Newton had his portrait painted by Godfrey Kneller, the most famous and probably the most expensive portrait painter in London. For this portrait he wore a red banyan and a flowing wig. This stipple engraving is one of many copies of that image. Below the portrait is an image of Urania, the muse of astronomy. The text below reads “Isaac Newton / Engraved by R. Page for the Encyclopaedia Londinensis 1818.” This was published in volume 17 of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis (1820).

  Ref: Patricia Fara, Newton. The Making of Genius (New York, 2003).

  David Eugene Smith, “The Portraits of Isaac Newton,” Biblioteca Mathematica 9 (1908): 301-309.

  ID Number

  PH.319035

  catalog number

  319035

  accession number

  236080

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• THE HONble ROBERT BOYLE

  Description

  Line engraving depicting the head and shoulders of Robert Boyle (1627-1691), a wealthy and accomplished English natural philosopher facing three-quarters to his right and enclosed in an oval frame. Boyle here wears a banyan, white cravat, and curly wig. Light coming through clouds at top left shines on his face. The plinth below the portrait holds mineral specimens, a pair of dividers, and several books. The Boyle family coat of arms appears on the side of the plinth. Below the plinth are such other symbols of Boyle’s science as an air pump, a flask, a bottle, two crucible tongs, a crumpled paper and some flowers. The signatures at bottom read “Geo. Vertue del. & Sculpt 1739” and I Kersseboom pinxt” and “Impensis I. & P. Knapton Londini 1740” and “In the Collection of Dr. Mead.”

  This image is based on the full-length portrait of Boyle that Johann Kersseboom (d. 1708) painted in the late 1680s, and that shows Boyle sitting at a table, facing to his right, pointing to a book, and wearing a banyan, white cravat, and curly wig. Several versions of that painting are known. This engraving, done by George Vertue (1683-1756), is based on the version that belonged to Richard Mead, an English physician who collected paintings, books and other rare objects. John and Paul Knapton, the publisher of the print, were in business in London from 1735 to 1789.

  This engraving was included in Thomas Birch, ed., Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain (London, 1743-1751).

  Ref: R. E. W. Maddison, “The Portraiture of the Honourable Robert Boyle, F. R. S.,” Annals of Science 15 (1959): 141-214.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1740

  ID Number

  PH.319384

  catalog number

  319384

  accession number

  236658

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Microscope

  Description

  This binocular dissecting instrument is inscribed “R. & J. BECK / LONDON” on the eyepiece, and “R. & J. BECK / LONDON & PHILADELPHIA / 10235” on the wooden stand. The whole fits in a wooden box. Richard Beck, building on a form developed by Nachet in Paris, described an instrument of this sort in 1860.

  Ref: William B. Carpenter, The Microscope and its Revelations (London, 1868), pp. 53-55.

  R. &. J. Beck, An Illustrated Catalogue of Microscopes and Other Optical Instruments (Philadelphia, 1882), p. 63.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1877-1895

  maker

  R. & J. Beck

  ID Number

  1991.0203.01

  catalog number

  1991.0203.01

  accession number

  1991.0203

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  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

• 

  CHEMISTRY

  Description

  This engraving is marked “Plate VIII” and “1. Machine for the Combusion of Phosphorus. 2 to 6 The Mercurial Gazometer. 7 Guyton’s Eudiometer” and “Heny Lascelles delt” and “J. Pass Sculpt” and “London, Published as the Act directs, Feby 5, 1801. By J. Wilkes.” It was prepared for the fourth volume of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis (1810).

  The mercurial gasometer shown here was developed by William H. Pepys Jr., an apparatus maker in London. It was used for collecting gases that could not be maintained over water. Eudiometers measure the extent to which nitrous gases can absorb oxygen. The form shown here was described in 1795 by the French chemist Guyton de Morveau.

  John Wilkes (1750-1810) was a London printer and bookseller. He compiled the Encyclopaedia Londoniensis which was published in 24 volumes between 1810 and 1828.

  Ref. W. H. Pepys, “Description of a Mercurial Gazometer,” Philosophical Magazine 5 (1799): 154-157 and plate III.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1810

  ID Number

  PH.329199

  accession number

  280069

  catalog number

  329199

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  The Dutch Chymist

  Description

  This engraved image shows a chemist (or alchemist) siting before a table, stirring a small pot on a fire. Two men in the background are reading a paper, perhaps a recipe. A woman, with a cloth over her face and a child in her arms, looks up toward empty money bags hanging from a string, in front of an inflated bladder, a reference to delusion. The inscriptions read: “J. Stein pinxt” and “J. Boydell Sculpt” and “Engraved from the Original Picture in the Collection of Mr. Leviez.”

  Jan Steen (about 1626-1679) was a prolific Dutch genre painter with a keen sense of humor. His oil painting, “The Village Alchemist,” done in the 1660s, is now in the Wallace Collection, London.

  John Boydell was a prominent engraver and print publisher in London who began in business in 1746 and specialized in reproductive prints. His biographer’s claim that he had all but discontinued producing plates himself by 1760 suggests that this image dates from around mid-century. The National Museum of Science and Industry in London dates this to 1780s, as do other sources.

  Charles Leviez was a dancing master in London. Another Leviez was a print seller in Paris.

  Ref: John Inganell, The Wallace Collection: Dutch and Flemish (London, 1992), pp. 359-360.

  Sven Bruntjen, John Boydell (1719-1804). A Study of Art Patronage and Publishing in Georgian England (New York, 1985).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1750

  ID Number

  PH.329879

  catalog number

  329879

  accession number

  286523

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Pocket Case of Drawing Instruments

  Description

  This pocket-sized wooden case is covered with black shagreen, leather made from the skin of a shark or rayfish. On the paper lining the inside of the lid, a previous owner has written: N. O'CONNOR 2/12/1806. Ten drawing instruments were received with the case:

  1) A 4-1/2" boxwood plotting scale with diagonal scales at each end. Above the plotting scale are scales divided to 0.12" and to 1/10". The other side has a scale of chords and architect's scales dividing the inch into 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, and 10 parts.

  2) A 6" ebony parallel ruler with scalloped brass hinges.

  3) A pair of 3-3/4" brass and steel fixed-point dividers.

  4) A pair of 6-1/4" brass and steel dividers with a removable point.

  5) A brass and steel pen point that fits the 6-1/4" dividers.

  6) A pair of 5-14" brass and steel fixed-point dividers.

  7) A 3" brass and steel drawing pen with a swiveling handle.

  8) A lead pencil.

  9) A metal joint tightener and file.

  10) A brass gauge, unevenly graduated from 100 to 1,000 and marked "16 FT" on one side and unevenly graduated from 1,000 to 150 and marked "C 8 FT 6 IN" on the other. The first side is also marked: NEWTON & Co 3 FLEET S^T NEAR TEMPLE BAR LONDON.

  William and Frederick Newton were the partners of Newton & Company, which sold scientific instruments and lantern slides from 3 Fleet Street in London from 1851 until the 1930s, when the firm moved to Wigmore Street. In the 1950s, the company was renamed Newton Photographic Services Ltd. The gauge, joint tightener, and pencil likely date to the mid-19th century. The other instruments are consistent with the 1806 date written on the case.

  The donor, civil engineer C. B. Beyer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave the instruments to the Smithsonian in 1953.

  References: Science Museum Group, "Collections Online – People," http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=43411&t=people; Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 200.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1806

  maker

  Newton & Co.

  ID Number

  MA.314286

  catalog number

  314286

  accession number

  199264

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Opera Glass, Monocular

  Description

  This is a brass instrument with four draw tubes, and ivory around the eyepiece, objective lens and outer tube. The objective lens is achromatic and 1.25 inches diameter. The length overall is 2 inches closed, and 4.5 inches extended. The “RUBERGALL / London” inscription on the innermost tube is that of Thomas Rubergall (fl. 1802–1854), a mathematical, optical and philosophical instrument maker in London.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  Rubergall, Thomas

  ID Number

  PH.323564

  catalog number

  323564

  accession number

  251552

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Numbers In Colour, A New Method of Teaching Arithmetic In Primary Schools

  Description

  During the 1950s, the Belgian teacher Emile-Georges Cuisenaire designed a set of rods to teach about numbers and basic arithmetic. Caleb Gattegno popularized his methods in Great Britain and the United States. This small paperbound book by Cuisenaire and Gattegno first appeared in 1954, was in its third edition by 1958, and was reprinted frequently in the next few years. This is a 1961 printing.

  For a set of Cuisenaire rods and further information about the donor of the materials, see 1987.0542.01. For related documentation see 1987.0542.02 through 1987.0542.07.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1961

  maker

  Cuisenaire, G.

  ID Number

  1987.0542.02

  accession number

  1987.0542

  catalog number

  1987.0542.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Advertising Pamphlet for Otis King's Pocket Calculator

  Description

  The cover of this eight-page pamphlet is blue and black. It reads: HOW THE (/) OTIS KING (/) SPIRAL (/) SLIDE RULE (/) SAVES TIME (/) AND MISTAKES (/) IN ALL (/) CALCULATIONS (/) SIMPLE (/) QUICK (/) ACCURATE. The text describes the features and advantages of the Otis King cylindrical slide rule. Drawings demonstrate the three steps required to make calculations with the instrument. The pamphlet also lists 13 sample problems the Otis King Pocket Calculator could solve, 37 companies that were major customers of the rule, and 50 professions that usefully employed the rule. The back page carries five anonymous testimonials.

  This pamphlet arrived with 1981.0922.09 and 1981.0922.11. It is exactly the same as 1989.3049.04, except that it is not stamped with information about where the rule was purchased.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1965-1970

  maker

  Carbic Limited

  ID Number

  1981.0922.10

  accession number

  1981.0922

  catalog number

  1981.0922.10

  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 telescoping rule is ten inches long when extended and equivalent to a rectangular slide rule 66 feet in length. 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 engraved: MADE IN (/) Y9481 (/) ENGLAND.

  Otis Carter Formby King invented this form of slide rule in 1921, and Carbic Limited of London, England, manufactured it until 1972. The serial number, Y9481, suggests a date about 1965–1969 for this example. A collector of computing devices donated it to the Smithsonian.

  See also 1987.0788.01 and 1989.3049.02. For documentation, see 1981.0922.10 and 1981.0922.11.

  References: Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 274, 281; Otis Carter Formby King, "Calculating Apparatus," (U.S. Patent 1,645,009 issued October 11, 1927); 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

  ca 1965-1968

  maker

  Carbic Limited

  ID Number

  1981.0922.09

  catalog number

  1981.0922.09

  accession number

  1981.0922

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Spectroscope

  Description

  This prism spectroscope, based on the form introduced by Kirchhoff and Bunsen, was probably made by W. Wilson, a scientific instrument maker in London who was in business from around 1900 to 1914.

  Ref: Central Scientific Co., Physical and Chemical Apparatus (Chicago, 1912), p 257.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  early 20th century

  maker

  Wilson, W.

  ID Number

  2010.0235.24

  catalog number

  2010.0235.24

  accession number

  2010.0235

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Féry Refractometer

  Description

  The French physicist, Charles Féry, described this type of instrument in 1891. The Parisian instrument maker, Ph. Pellin, promoted it for industrial purposes. This example is marked “ADAM HILGER LTD. LONDON ENGLAND.” Hilger trade literature describes it as “A direct reading refractometer for taking the refractive index for sodium light of oils; solutions of acids; mixtures of glycerine, alcohols, etc., with water; sugar solutions; and other liquids of interest to the industrial chemist.”

  Hilger trade literature indicates that the firm offered the Féry refractometer in 1913-1914, but dropped it in favor of other forms in the 1920s.

  Ref: Adam Hilger, Ltd., General Catalogue (London, 1913), p. M5.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  Adam Hilger, Ltd.

  ID Number

  PH.335219

  catalog number

  335219

  accession number

  315390

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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