Scientific Instrument Society
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 37 June 1993 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society ISSN0956-8271
For Table of Contents, see inside back cover
Executive Committee Jon Darius, Chairman Gerard Turner, Vice Chairman Howard Dawes, Executive Secretary Trevor Waterman, Meetings Secretary Allan Mills, Editor Michael Cowham, Advertising Manager Brian Brass, Treasurer Ronald Bristow Anthony Michaelis David Wt~ttm Kristen Lippincott David Hughes Membership and Administrative Matters Mr. Howard Dawes P.O. I~x ] 5 Pershore Worcestershire WRI0 2RD Tel:0386-861075 United Kingdom Fax: 0.386-861074 ....IT/ See reside back cover jbr infvrmation on membership
Editorial Matters Dr. Allan Mills Astronomy Group University of Leicester University Road Leicester LEI 7RH Tel: 0533-523924 United Kingdom Fax: 0533-523918 Advertising Mr Michael Cowham The Mount Tuft Cambridge Tel: 0223-262684 United Kingdom Fax: 0223-263948 Organization of Meetings Mr Trevor Waterman 75a Jermyn Street London SWIY 6NP Tel: 071-930 29~ United Kingdom Fax: 071-321 0212 Typesetting and PHnting Halpen Graphic Communication Limited Victoria House (~.rtrude Street Chelsea London SWIOOJN Tel 071-351 5577 United Kingdom Fax 071-352 7418
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© The Scientific Instrument Society 1993. Editorial and Announcements
But it says in the book... It is therefore a good thing that The Society congratulates its Acting established textbook wisdom should be Chairman on this well-deserved award. All textbook writers inevitably begin by queried from time to time. Two decades At the same time this recognition of our digesting the works of their ago the 'inert' character of the noble subject is really most heartening, and predecessors (perhaps when students gases was shown to be a fallacy, and we look forward with confidence to themselves) and then synthesize this this has led to important developments further growth in the subject, the knowledge, along with contemporary in krypton, xenon and (particularly) Society, and its influence. developments, into their own books. It fluorine chemistry. This issue of the is well known that this process Bulletin contains a report of a discussion Apologies to David Penney sometimes leads to mistakes and where the generally accepted story of anomalies being perpetuated through the invention of the refracting telescope Members will doubtless have noticed the generations, for no author can be in the Netherlands in 1608 was and deplored the very poor expected to be expert in every field, or challenged. It was also (quite rightly) reproduction of the clock movement on to question the antecedents of every ably defended. Readers must make up the rear cover of Bulletin 35. This can be statement he makes. their own minds on the result, but I am seen to be due to the printers mistakenly sure none will question the value of the using a scanning rather than a Thus, school texts and schoolchildren exercise. photographic technique, and so the (and university students come to that) printed version in no way conveys the still trot out the 'colours of the The Editor very fine quality of the original drawing spectrum' as: by David Penney. Apologies are /,i Gerard Turner awarded the Caird therefore tendered to him, and to the red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet Medal authors in the same issue whose line illustrations were similarly botched. when any unbiased observation of a In March of this year Professor Gerard solar spectrum will disclose a ribbon of L'E. Turner (History of Science and The printers have been changed, a continuosly-varying hue. Yet a few Technology, Imperial College, London) further stage of proof checking initiated, pages later it is taught that the spectrum was awarded the Caird Medal by the and a much better job made of No.36. represents a range encompassing an Trustees of the National Maritime We therefore trust that the reputation of infinite number of different Museum, Greenwich, "in recognition of the Bulletin for the highest attainable wavelengths of light, and that the the outstanding work he has done in quality in every area will be regained. human eye can distinguish some 2000 promoting the study of scientific distinct tints! The 'indigo' also causes instruments." trouble: ask someone who has named it to put their finger on this colour, and they will usually be very unhappy! Newton originally named 5 colours, but NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING many years later (in the Opticks) added orange and indigo, perhaps seeking a The 9th Annual General Meeting of the relationship with the octave in music. Scientific Instrument Society will be held at It's the same with the 'blue sky' The Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, London W1 phenomenon. Textbooks happily quote on Lord Rayleigh as proving that the Thursday, 8th July, 1993 at 2.00 p.m. scattering of light is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength, and then claim that this In accordance with the constitution all Officers and Ordinary members of the relationship gives rise to the blue sky. It Committee resign at the Annual General Meeting. does not - one would see a violet sky! The fact is that we must also take into All members of the Scientific Instrument Society are invited to submit nominations for account two further curves varying with any post as Officer or Ordinary member of the Committee. wavelength: the emission of the Sun and Each candidate requires a nominator and two seconders, and the nominator should the sensitivity of the human eye. seek permission of the candidate prior to nomination. Compounding these three curves together does give a resultant peaking Nominations should reach the Secretary at P.O. Box 15, Pershore WR10 2RD, in the blue. Worcestershire, England, as soon as possible.
Back Cover Illustration
IRON CLOCKS 'The iron wheel turns regularly, and thereby measures the passage of time.'
This print of a clockmaker's workshop comes from the New Discoveries drawn by Johannes Stradanus, and issued as a set of engravings by Galleus of Antwerp in 1638.
! Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) 1 Meeting Report Was there an Elizabethan Telescope?
The di.,~'ussion meeting entitled "Was chairmanship of Robert Fox, Professor as well as a general di~usskm. He was there an Elizabethan Telescope?" of the History of Science at Oxford pleased k~ see in the audience a broad organized by the ~ientific Instrument University. He welcomed the two cross-section of the astronomical and S~cieh,' was-held 26 March 1oq3 at the invited speakers, Colin Ronan and historical communities, m~ all of them ~)cietv of Antiquaries in Burlington Gerard Turner. adding that there would members of the SIS House, Piccadilly, under the be some additional short contributions
Colin Ronan spoke to the proposal There was an Elizabethan Telescope
Colin Ronan outlined the ca.so for the legal restriction on publication had a device might prove useful in existence of the first practical been made by the Elizabethan military and naval warfare. Bourne's telescope in Elizabethan England. government in view of the possible report still exists, and contains much Referring briefly to the work of military and naval use of such an vital information, in the first place he Leonard Digges ic. 1520-c.1559) as invention. makes evident that his information recorded by his son Thomas Digges (c. came from a visit or visits to John Dee 1546-15q5) in his 1571 edition of his It is however to be noted that Thomas and Thomas Digges. Second, he father's book Pantometria (about Digges was a good astronomer - describes the properties of lenses and which Mr Ronan had previously Tycho Brahe used his observations on mirrors, as well as the preparation of published a paper) he expres~d the the supernova of 1572 - and that it a reflecting surface on the rear of view that Thomas Digges' report seems possible that he tried a those which are of glass rather than contained therein about his father's telescope out on the sky, this leading metal. Finally, Bourne then makes a experimental and mathematical work him to the concept of an infinite remark which is crucial to the on 'perspective glasses' seemed to be universe. question of whether such a device in two parts. The first described the existed, and this is the comment that use of lenses and mirrors, about Certainly there can be no claim that "...the greatest impediment ys, that which Thomas himself claimed to be Digges was trying to get on a yow can not beholde, and see, but the writing a book. This included what bandwagon; he was reporting smaller quantity at a tyme". The may well be a reference to a reflecting something new which was not to be significance of this statement is that it teh'scope, possibly of Herschelian claimed again as an invention for describes the small field of view type. The second de~ribed what such nearly forty years. Yet the position of observed through a telescope, 'glasses' could achieve in the way of the Digges is not completely something which indicates that seeing distant objects. It was this satisfactory, and independent Bourne himself had looked through second section that contained the confirmation is required. The such an instrument, it is very doubtful exaggerations - for instance about evidence of William Bourne (I/. 1567- indeed that even Thomas Digges, for reading an open letter in a distant 1580), a noted writer on military and all his mathematical ability, could r,a~m - that have led some historians naval matters, turns out to be have calculated this effect from purely to discredit Thomas Digges" whole significant in this respect. In 1578 theoretical considerations. account. However, such exaggerations Bourne published in London his could be an integral part of the hwentions or De~,ises, where in 'The As for mtdels of what seems to have attitudes taken at that time towards 110. Devise', Bourne wrote "For to see become called the "Digges/Bourne new inventions and discoveries by any small thing a great distance from telescope", Mr Ronan explained that people to whom science was still you, it requireth the ayde of two after the preparation of his original inextricably mixed with magic. This glasses .... " This, surely, Mr Ronan paper in August 1991 he had m,ght be expected particularly from claimed, is a clear definition of the continued his research, and by early tho~e who accepted the hermetic principle of the telescope, and November that year had made a phflo~,ol~,hy, such as Thomas Digges seemingly the first ever to be mock-up of the design given by and hi~ guardian John Dee; they published. ]'he rest of Bourne's text is Bourne using a convex lens as cxpre~,~.ed hopes of what the invention concerned with a design of a objective and a concave mirror as might achieve, not just its actual 'perspective glass' of which some eyepiece. Unfortunately, the only pvrfornlance. modern reconstructions have been materials he had to hand were a small made. objective with a focal length shorter lhough no trace of [homas Digges' than that of his concave shaving promi~,ed text about perspective Again, at some unspecified date (but mirror, The result was that the gla~,,es has ever been found, this does which from internal evidence appears telescope gave a diminished and not mean that he did not write it. to have been 1585, .seven years after inverted image. A better Indeed, Anthony a Wood in his the publication of Inventions or reconstruction, preferably built on an Athen,: ()~,m,'nses claims that several Devises) Bourne was invited by Lord optical bench, was clearly desirable to 'mathematical' works ready for the Burleigh to prepare a report on the test Bourne's crucial comments. On 23 press which, by rea~n of "...law-suits matter of perspective glasses. Clearly, November 1991 he therefore accepted and other avocations, he was at a time when England was under with alacrity an invitation from the hindered from publishing". Possibly a threat of an invasion from Spain, such Optics Department of Imperial
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrumen! Society No.37 (l~3) College, London, to give a seminar on the subject in May 19q2.
On 6 February 1992 he had been delighted to receive a letter from Joachim Rienitz in Ttibingen who wrote..."Accidentally i hit upon Leonard Digges' telescope nearly at the same time as you...", for this contained details of an experiment Rienitz had made totally independently, also using a shaving mirror and an objective lens, but this time of suitable focal lengths to give an image magnifit~ by 5.4 times. This seems to be the first modern successful working model of the design. A second model was constructed by Ronan and Satterthwaite on an optical bench at Imperial College during July 1992 while, quite independently, Ewan Whitaker, ]ately of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at Tucson, Arizona, built his own Digges/ikmrne design during the summer of 1992. Allan Mills (of the Astronomy Department at Leicester University) Fig.l Ct,hn Ron,m and t;dl,,'rt Satt,'rthwatt," with th,'lr w0r/~tn~,, model of a t,r,,I,tT,,',t and Howard Dawes have done reconstruction of 'Digges' telescope'. Ph,,t,~,raph,~t by. Peter la,uunman at the meeting. likewise.
Gerard Turner then spoke against the proposal that the telescope was known in Elizabethan times There was no Elizabethan Telescope
G.UE. Turner
We must be quite clear in today's Colin Rtman's PresidentialAddress to the the invention of the telescope to the di~ussion that the refracting telt.~cope, British Astrt~xnical A.,~ciatit~nwas tm Elizabethan, Leonard l)igges, was the one with lenses, was invented by a Octt~er I~I. At the top of the fnmt J.EDrinkwater. ffis article "Curious Dutchman, Janssen of Middelburg, in page, the l)mly Teh:~raphfor 31 Octtff~er extracts from old English bt~,ks, with 160K while the reflecting telescope, the has a headline: "Now it can be told: rentarks which pnwe that the tek.,sct~,, tree with mirrors, was invented inl6~0 by British Scientists beat Galileo by 33 &e. were known in England much earlier Newt(~n. There is a great deal of evidence Years". On 16 August itS2, in the Patrick than in any other countrv" was published to support these dates, and knowing Moore TV programme, "The Skv at in 181)4in tbe l'hth~,t~ht,:al M,a,~a.:me. Hen, these dates helps in a.,~sessingfalse starts Night", Colin showed his version t~f an he quoted passages lrom the 1571 and false trails. Nothing has been newly Elizabethan telesctqrm (which he dubbed posthumous publication of l.eonard discovered. The history of the a reflector) that combines a convex l)igges, pa~,iages that regularly resurface. development of both types through the obiective lens with a secondary concave A pn~tigious sightmg is m the l)ictamarv Ig~ century clearly reveals the enormous mirror. Scientifically, this optical of National Rtt~ra/,htl (1814¢i-lO4)O). in the technical difficulties there were in arrangement is m~t a reflecting h'lt.'~'ope. entry for [.eonard I)tgges, while producing optical glass, which was not In his Address, Colin claimed "the R.T.Guntber, in his Farlu .q,'sencem ()front perfected until the mid-nineteenth reflector in a truly practk-al fl~rm was first 11023), said there was: "no rea.,~mable century, and m designing lens and mirror invented in England by i~mard Diggts, doubt that lx'~mard thgges was the real systems. By looking at the broader probably sometime between 1540 and inventor of telt.'stxq~s lx)th refracting and context of the Elizabethan period and 1559". This would be fi[~,- t~r more years reflecting, and that he thus forestalh~d especially its technology, and words used before Galileo's use of a refracting Galileo by many years". Fhe book on for technical dt,'scription, together with telescope. English scientific writings published in the most recent scholarship, tree will 1937 bv Francis John.~m ~tulatt.,s that the latest rel~rts to be .,~riously flawed. .So far as I know, the first pers(m to c~dit English m'ienhsts in the 16th tx'nturVweff't"
BullHin of the ~.'ivntific Instrun~,nt ~,~iety No.37 (1~3) A •-ihh' II.'*,~*l, that, a11,,~',, lhv ~lllll' KJa'~, to tele,,cope. "1 hey ignore adjacent words ¢~I.~I ll~Hll II a l~',llll" lhvn ~ome~ a and ~,entences of the following sort: ~.Hul~" '" II.'.' I~ ~4,..' ~rl~ of h~king "(;la,,~L'~ not only di~overed things far Kla~,'~ lhal ale. made ot im.lal~, whR h an. off, read letters, numbered pieces of ,,.,..,.,Iv =alh.d '~h.vh. gla~se~'. '° money with the very coin and I',',~I,,', IB,' I,, a w,,td u,,,d m I:nglish ~uper~ription thert~f cast by some of his II,,Itl tile I-llh ~,,IIIIIIV J or ,,xamph,, friends upon the L~wns, in open fields, ( h,tti*l'[ l%llh"~ "()t ¢Ithllll| inlrrol% and but also seven miles off declared what ,,I I,,'*~I,,~ lu,"," I lit' ( hlord I ht tlonary had been done at that instant in private ~,a~,~ lhal 'iii ~'a,Iv u,,age, lhe word places", and again: "He (that is Leonard llll*all,~ llllllllf,,~ hH' }HOdllClllg ~,illlne Digges) had by the sun's beams fired •,I~'~ l.d ol l,lllht'~lh t'lh'~l. ~.~ bY dl~,lorli~m powder and di.~harKed ordinance half a ,l I,..~,.~" lh,, Inl'alllllg l,lt the words mile and more distant". These are absurd statements; at ,seven miles the naked eye ll,tl Ioll.' lldVl|~n'lahon ol the ~ork~ of can di,,~'em an (~ject 20 ft~)t high; to see a I k.e. l )II~FW., I lal I ioI. and .,~ on Colin small object such as a man's hand the ~O11,|II ]hi'. ~,.,thl Ol a l%l~,.l~t' 111 a lext h%' teh~'o W needs a magnification of over Io0m I k,~, t% hu,re there l~ a lt'h'rt'Itt'e to 2tk) times. Are we to accept parts of these l,,'~H,e, h~ e l~la.,~e~ lhal "From lhts il accounts as pointing to an actual .q,l,~,,u., ~.~ ~denl lltal h'le,~Ol'~, ol a kmd in,~trument while adjacent parts are to be
t% l'l I' ki|oI.% II 4 I I hi" "ho%~ " 'I di~mi.~.~l as pure fantasy? I I1: . " ~ , '.:'.~ ; ;,',:, ' .;, ,,;,',; #,,,!, :':, llll'lllid~'l'l'llldllt~, ol lhe Ittealtll)~ llt Ibe ~t~,td l~'O,,l'~'~h~e" II t~, lu>l a~. il one I,%'hat exactly did Thomas Harriot take to , lam,.d lh.d rite ~amer.1 v, a lolh ~vnlun Virginia in 158~,? Most modern H* .**,~ h, K ,1~'~1~' I,e~,lU,,t' thele I~, talk ot the commentators simply quote: "a I ,II|~I'I a l~llla' Fx,r~l~xlive glass", i~)k.'ssor van Helden says of this that it was "nothing more l.uzuh.~l ~ llh -.ull,r lotl|~ of h'k"~ol~' .tlhl I ,Jtall ha~ e h, ,h'h ~' -hll lurll~.'r mto the than a magnifying glass", and he lh.H II~' III'~I Iv~l~-'dll.tl u~" ol .I h'k..,~Ol~. di,~agn~.~ quit," specifically with Professor ~ .t'~ ~l~.l.k" |,t Itl,~lll.l.~ | l.tlllol III ~ il.~lltl.l ~ht'~l lit I "~:,~} %~IO11' a trt'.Itl>e on John North B ho considered it to be a ".111~I",111C, ~ t;~X'"~'(t",.:" ~%.I,!:~" ~1.;'IIi%1 mirror. X'an Helden is wnm~ for the item ~'.:'II'P',IV.',:.: .tlld II 11.1~. llltl'.|lei| and ilexl following in Harriot's list is: "burning gla.~,~". Let us read the passage II~" ~ l~,h' ol ,hal,l¢l 2t m ,"..',::,,-u'fr~ be at greater k'ngth: "'Most thin~s the,,' saw ),.11h .iz~d I%-11~,-~,i'~, il |'~ ~%|tl.il]% ~,l'llattl ,~u~..~,Ic~,d ,~..,~.-. lhal a Hal tx'H~.'lor ~th t,s...the ~ertt, e of the loadstone in H~a,|¢ ,,! ,te~.t t- ,11tat1,~¢~| o~ crhcad to dra~vmg into, a F~-'rspective glas whe~v ~'~,~ ~dc a ..~.h~[.t.~. to a ..htl., or other ~as .-hesved many strange sights. ,~l,l~-,.t that ~,~L~,| ~,th~'t~ t-.¢ [~.. o~|t ot burning glasses, wildefire ~orkes .... ' %,.~%~'. l'~.l.l ,lt.l.k' .l ['* i~'oh,, tlktl ~lxh"llt ,tttt%t ..~ht t,~ .,~"..t'~.~.ttlolt lfotTI a ~,prmg clocks that seem to go of them>elves...". Harriot sho~ed a ,~,~,>'~'-, z,~N• ;ae~,'r I~, ,%" %,u,'~,l ~'~,,~t,k\t Ix'r~l~'(hx e glas.~ amJ a bunung glass. A bunun~ ~,la.~,~ can tmlv be a comex lens o~ a corwax e m,m.~r. X'~m Helden claims a "., ,,~. ~..,,~ , ,~ ,,.~ e,.x~,,, ,~-~..t,.t~,.1 ~x.~xx~ e gla..,s L- a -ma~.'mlT. mg gl,L~'. .~ ,~ • ]~ ~' .~ £~.~,~' ,*,~ I%. ,.t~, that ,., ~ et J,W,';h'r burning i,'ns From
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I.'I J'ffl~l ~.,'~l.~l.'.l~|l|l'll il~l'~l ill ]L'1~.lll,'~Ik~. ~ (1578), who died in 1583, was self-taught before 1608. Kepler, quite carried away, surprisingly bad, being richly coh)ured and acquired a knowledge of navigation wrote of the new telescopic research by and full of bubbles, inclusions and and gunnery. He was a port-reeve and Galileo: slriatkms. Those lenses made in 1686 are innkeeper at Graveseocl. He admits that better, but not by much. Three rmw with Mr Dee and Mr Thomas Digges have "0 perspicillum of great knowledge, more the Royal Society have been examined learning, and have read more authors valuable anywhere than a sceptre! For is publL~l in AmLals o/~ience by Dr than he, have more time and more not he, who holds you in his right hand, Allan Mills; the largesthas a diameter of money: "For that there is divers in this made King, Lord of the works of God?" 9 inches.Of them he says: "All are made Land, that can say and do know much from very poor glass, a heterogenenus more, in these causes, than l:'. Reading Silvio Bedini has published a paper called and discoloured potash-rich 'forest the text one sees how much he was "The Tube of Long Vision', where he glass'". A smaller lens in the Whipple dependent upon the book of Digges. dealt with paintings with telescopes.The Museum signed and dated: "Christopher Clearly a pro~ctor of modest means and earliestknown is in the Prado Museum of Cock London 1668" is barely any better. understanding, how much credence Madrid, and is The F/re Senses - Vision by When one finds that Josiah Wedgw(x~d should one place on his Treatise on Jan Brueghel,dated circa 1610. This is yet and Michael Faraday both failedto make Glasses? In chapter V he specifies a lens 12 another indicatorto the crucialdate. reallygood opticalglass, one realizesthat inches in diameter with a thickness at the the task in 1560 would have been beyond middle of a quarter of an inch. As he says, What sort of glass was available for even the conception. Similarly with he did not have, or experiment with, the making lenses? concave mirrors. James Gregory could optical devices he writes about. Copying no4 have one made in London. Newton and puffing are just what one expects. The earliestuse for optical glass was in had to make his own in speculum metal eyeglasses, which were first made in for the 1669 reflector,and he said it soon When one looks into the literature of the about 1286. Requirements are not tarnished. The first really effective half-century to 1600, one finds a number stringent,as a lens just in frontof the eye reflecting telescope was the one shown to of texts devoted to natural philosophy can be of moderate qualityand not affect the Royal Society in January 1721 by John and optics. Maurolico published on the the user. Unless extremely hot furnaces Hadley, with an apertureof 6 inches. camera obscura, the eye, and eyeglasses, are available with covers for the pots, but Dr Crombie has shown that glass contains bubbles and lumps of So with rotten glass what are the eaHiest Maurolico made no scientific progress, impurities. It is coloured to some extent telescopes like? The best known are at worked within an ancient framework, green or brown, and inhomogeneity Florence. I have looked at the lenses;they still accepted that the lens of the eye was produces wavy striations- particularly are coloured and spotty,and quite small. the sensitive element, and was bound by bad in optical glass. The market is tiny The field does not allow more than a the spell of the erect and correctly compared with the glass industry as a quarter of the Moon to be seen at one go. oriented image. One may equally dismiss whole, and there was no profit or As Professor North has written so Cardan (1550), and Della Porta (1593). incentive to make better glass just for graphically: "To kx)k down Galileo l, for Neither mention anything like a telescope instruments. The firstefforts to make instance, is to see as much light as one or microscope, although Della Porta optical glass were by Galileo's friend, sees darkness inside the barrel of a Colt represents the slate of optical knowledge Sagredo. By 1618 he had undertaken 45 revolver at a distance of two feet'.If at 1593. Kepler published in 1604 the first research into making glass of optical the overheated claims for the correct explanation of the camera obscura quality. He was well aware of the bad Elizabethans were half true, there would and of the correct working of the eye. effects of striations,causing the light to have had to be a most remarkable Kepler was Court Astronomer to the follow a zig-zag course thr~agh the lens regression in technology over some 70 Emperor, and worked with Tycho Brahe. and make images double and f(~,gy.He years. He was an astronomer of international said that out of a hatch of 300 lensesonly standing, who had links throughout 22 were good enough to use in To sum up: however romantic Colin's Europe. Kepler was in correspondence instruments. He ordered 200 pounds of nadel is, with its perfectlyformed large with Thomas Harriot, who was at Syon finely powdered ashes, and these he lens and perfectly formed concave House, which belonged to his patron the passed through finer and finer sieves mirror, it is quite removed from the Earl of Northumberland. In 1604 there until there were only 16 pounds of very reality of the 16th, 17th, and 18th was no knowledge of a telescope in fine powder left. The same fining pnx'ess centuries. Prague, at the court of the powerful Holy took place with 200 pounds of rock Roman Emperor, Rudolph II, or in crystal (quartz), which was reduced to 15 It fails on the meanings of w~wds. London. In October 1608 at Middeiburg, pounds. The mixed powders were then it fails on the historical record. a Dutch eyeglass maker tried to patent a put in the glass furnace. Failures occurred telescope. By the spring of 1609, 3-power through the fire going out and the pan And, most importantly of all. it telescopes made with spectacle lenses were breaking, and then the glass broke during completely fails on the technical capacity of the Elizabethans. for sale in Paris shops. The knowledge of grinding because it had been cooled too the invention went rapidly to Harriot in quickly. By May, 1619, Sagredo had made London, and to Galileo in Padua. By the one piano-convex lens with a diameter of middle of 1609, both men had [~uilt 9 inches. Unfortunately it proved no telescopes. Harriot led Galileo by a better than a similar lens of ordinary couple of weeks, using his 'trunk' of glass, and took twice the time to grind. magnification 6.3 on 26 July 1609 to view Sagredo was bitterlydisappointed, and sunspots and the moons of Jupiter. since he died the following year no Kepler's congratulatory text to Galileo further research into optical glass was was published in 1610. The speed with made at that time in Italy. which Harriot and Galileo made and used telescopes in 1609, and the swift In Holland, the Huygens brothers tried to congratulations of Kepler, most strongly make lenses for telescopes. Those of the suggest that the telescope did not exist 1660s in the Leiden museum are
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 0993) Report of Discussion
Jon Darius
The instrument constructed by Gilbert Alan Chapman, Fellow of Wadham now as when first used. He went on to Satterthwaite at Colin Ronan's behest College Oxford, agreed with Gerard emphasise that it would have been quite was demonstrated to the audience Turner that claims for an Elizabethan out of the question with 16th-century (Fig.l). Satterthwaite was the first to telescope run into serious historical techniques to grind a lens 12 inches in admit that it incorporated a modern problems. At the same time he diameter to a thickness of ¼ inch. plano-convex lens and, for the mirror, questioned whether Bourne could be so Answering Colin Ronan's query how an equally modern back-aluminized easily dismissed as ignorant and Bourne could have known about the meniscus. Slides of images obtained plagiaristic.Bourne would have had the small field of view if he had been a mere with the telescope, including the Moon leisure to experiment like others of the "propounder" and not an actual user 04 in broad daylight, were shown. period who toyed with the generation of an early telescope, Gerard Turner optical images for their intrinsicinterest, pointed out that a small field 04 view did The first question expressed the nub of with no practical application in view. not of itself imply a telescope. the doubters of the canonical view: if the Such experimentation properly belonged telescope could be invented by Janssen to the long-standing tradition 04 natural Jon Darius thought that the in 1608 in Middelburg, then why not magic. Ronan/Satterthwaite model and its four decades earlier in England? Gerard cousins by Howard Dawes, Allan Mills, Turner replied that for a full answer we At this point, the Chairman invited Joachim Rienitz and Ewan Whitaker should read van Helden ~on the subject, Allan Mills to contribute. Noting that represented commendable attempts to but that in any case it should be borne in "nature got there first" by endowing demonstrate practically what could be mind that even if the techniques had scallop eyes with telescope-like achieved with relatively primitive been known they would have been properties,Allan went on to define what optical technology - even though the use infernally difficult to apply, granted the is meant by a telescope, refracting and of modern optical elements rather current state of optical technology. reflecting, and to describe a variety of weakened the case. Patrick Moore had lens-shaped antecendents from the said in his August 1992 television programme that building a model of an 1. A van Heiden, 'The invention of the quartz cabochon found in the ruins of "Elizabethan" telescope needed a telescope', Transactions of the Anwrican Nimroud [alt.spelling Nimrud] through Philosophical Society 67 (1977) Part 4. archaic Greek ornaments to round glass knowledge of optics and a degree of faith, qualities which protagonists of a Also the introduction to his flasks filled with water. He also translation of Sidereus Nuncius or The reviewed enigmatic references in the telescope prior to 1608 generally shared. Sidereal Messenger, by Galileo Galilei, writings of Leonardo da Vinci and University of Chicago Press, 1989. Girolamo Fracastoro,but concluded that But to construct a telescope today which This contains some additional recent in no case could a working telescope be could in principle have been assembled references. safely inferred. from existing components in the 16th century does not add up to an Allan Mills commented that invention Elizabethan telescope, which might just Charles Wynne, Emeritus Professor at could be as much a matter of semantics as well be claimed to have been Venetian Imperial College, remarked that there as of any historical event; after all, it or Flemish. Firstof all,none of the latter- was a long history of lenses, and their could be argued in some sense that C.V. day reconstructors has been able to use in combination may well have been Boys "invented" fibre optics in 1890. obtain optical glass sufficiently poor to tried. But once spectacles had appeared Finally, he noted that the emulate that available to a 16th-century even their optically inferior glass could (re)construction of a reputedly early experimenter. Second, it has been have given results which would have telescope using modern optics could not demonstrated that judicious selection demonstrated that such a device as be taken as proof of anything at all. from early texts, in particular Ronan had described was satisfactory, at Elizabethan (although it is no less true of least in principle. Adding fuel to the fire, Gerard Turner da Vinci and Fracastoro), can lead the observed that if we all get with 20th- modern reader astray and inspire He stressed that from the time of century elements is a fuzzy image, how overheated claims of an earlierpaternity. Galileo's discoveries glass had gradually much worse it would have been with improved, and explained that whereas 16th-century optics. Among several in conclusion, the modem construction small bubbles and small opaque shorter contributions, Howard Dawes remains a valid ahistorical speculation. No inclusions might be a trouble in reported that he too had constructed a one has yet made a new historical spectacles because their areas would be model along the lines of Ronan and discovery - which is not to rule out the comparable with that of the pupil of the Satterthwaite. Jim Hysom, Director of possibility that from some unplumbed eye, they would be much less important Hytel Optics, commented on Galileo's archive or manuscript evidence might in the context of a telescope objective. telescopes. Stephen Johnston of the some day emerge to push back the Science Museum noted that at no point invention of the telescope by several Any unevenness of surface in lenses anywhere in his work did Digges claim years or even decades. made from selected pieces of glass to have seen or used the instrument would have been ground and polished which Colin Ronan would interpret as a Closing the meeting, Robert Fox thanked away. He then remarked that even good primitive telescope. Trevor Waterman all the participants, and especially the twentieth century optical glass, which wondered whether glass could "go off", two main speakers, adding that this was highly valued, still contained so giving us the impression that old meeting had itself been an historical bubbles. Nevertheless, it worked lenses must have been worse than they event. extremely well in photographic lenses actually were. Gerard Turner replied and telescope objectives. that although glass can devitrify Galileo's lenses would be much the same
Bulletinof the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) Written Contributions Subsequently received by the Editor
'Make Glasses to See the Moon Large' An Attempt to Outline the Early History of the Telescope Joachim Rienitz Editor's note: the author was unfortunalely unable to attend the discussion in person.
This paper discusses Leonard Digges' enables us, we perceive, irrespective of to a few people concerned with telescope in the context of historical the aberrations of the lens, much more practical optics, and has hardly been development and tries to explain why detail than with the naked eye, e.g. a noticed in the history of the telescope. he chose an uncommon optical scheme. street number, or the clock of a steeple Some historians of science have [t also attempts to find a more reliable we could not read before. The single therefore dismissed the old accounts route to the early history of the lens works here as a true telescope, but which seem to allude to telescopic telescope than the former speculations with only one step of image formation observations as 'old myths' or, like van on the sources. Space allows no more as against two in modern instruments. Helden, as 'fanciful notions about than the fundamental ideas to be Assuming the conventional visual miraculous devices for seeing far away'. outlined here, dispensing with many distance of 25 cm and substituting in the This appears to be at the least details, quotations and references. A formula: inconsiderate, for in the old days some considerably more extensive treatment people were concerned with very will be found in a book the author is substantial things too. However, Focal length objective preparing. Magnification = following the spirit and customs of the Focal length of eyepiece time, the material content of the early Let us first suppose we have supported reports is often disguised for various a biconvex spectacle glass of, say, 2 m 200 Wefi~ m = =8x reasons: lack of expert knowledge by focal length (0.5 dioptres) within the the writers, lack of general terminology, opened window of a room with a wide fear of charge with black magic by view. If we approach the lens from more With a concave mirror of the same focal incompetent authorities, or secrecy for than 2 m distance, always observing length we would get a somewhat better military or professional reasons. What with one eye only, we see an inverted image owing to the absence of matters in early history is to search for image of the vicinity, it seems to be chromatic aberration. the material content - or at least to located at the lens, but we know that it arrive at an estimate of the degree of is actually formed at 2 m distance from In our time this telescopic effect of a truth. the latter. Approaching this image as far convex lens or concave mirror of as the accommodation power of our eye considerable focal length is known only Hitherto historians of optics have almost exclusively concerned themselves with the writings of ancient and medieval scientists. There exists, however, a second inconspicuous level of practical optical knowledge. As an example we might mention a descriptive representation of the path of light through a convex lens or in a concave mirror dispensing with the ray concept.
The burning mirror had already been used in the ancient world (but not for burning the Roman ships at Syracu~!). The burning effect is, indeed, much more obvious than the telescopic effect, but it cannot be excluded that a few attentive people may have become aware of, and perhaps profited from, the latter.
In his Opus Maius (1268) Roger Bacon alleges that Caesar had looked at the English coast by means of mirrors before deciding to cross the Channel. (One of the editors remarks dryly at the margin: 'Application to political Fig.l Man ,~a:m~ at tl,' moon t/tr,m~h a ~m~lc Ions. (From P/oanne Dav,t ~/, problems of the laws of reflection'). Du(xiecim Specula, Amsterdam 161 O) There is, however, no evidence of this
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument 5(x'iety No.37 (19q3) directly before our eye. Approaching as before our 2 m lens at the window the object is hardly more magnified. We perceive the [ens indistinctly,and the field of view is not greater than the diameter of the hatter.Then we enlarge the distance between the eye and the magnifier, and perhaps changing the distance to the lens a little,try to find a position at which the whole diameter of the magnifier is filledwith the image of the object. [n other words the field of Fig.2 Optical dh~¢mm ~ la~mard Digges" teh~'ope, as nx'onstructed by. ]iwdaim Rienit:. view becomes much greater than before. In this position the magnifier forms an story in Roman times. Aaron J. distant object. image of the objective lens, the entrance Gurj'ewit~h, in his well-known work pupil of the instrument, in the pupil of Tlu" World Vii'a, qf Mediaezsd Man points Sooner or later the idea must have our eye, the exit pupil. This is the path to the fact that in tht~e days people had arisen to magnify the image generated of the pupil rays, which is less well- no idea of a development of the world. by the lens or the mirror, thus adding a known than the path of the image rays. All was a gift of God and therefore second step of image formation: in other ]n a correctly constructed instrument it extant from the very beginning, it is this words to create the modern telescope has to be matched to the latter in order attitude which induced, for example, comfa~ecl of an objective and an ocular. to get a wide field of view. painters to reprt.~sent apostles and saints We will examine the telescope ascribed with spectacles on their n(r,~s, and the to Leonard Digges (ca 1563). The if we fasten a sheet of white paper at the telescopic effect of the mirn~r may have documents relating to this instrument, place where the image is formed by the the same authenticity as the latter as especially the much more informative objective lens, we will notice that this evidence of c(mtemporary knowledge. paper by William Bourne, may be found image is much larger than that which in an appendix to the work by van we perceive with the one-step telescope. There is likewise evidence for Helden. With the latter, on the other hand, we observations of the telescopic effect by can explore this extension by moving means of a lens. Leonardo da Vinci To the present author these suggested our head around. The magnifier, here (1452-1519) noted, without any further an uncommon construction: a lens of acting as the ocular, makes a part of this comment, in the G~ice atlantico: 'Make great diameter as well as great focal larger image accessible to us. gla~,~es for the eves [occhiali] to see the length as an objective, and a concave m~,m large'. Nevertheless, V. Ronchi mirror, likewiseof great diameter, as an But why did Digges choose a concave held that Leonardo used concave metal ocular (Fig.2).The great diameters of the mirror instead of a lens as an ocular? mirrors, which he tried to make up to 6 optical componen~ had been chosen for The answer is once more given by m focal length. That Leonard Digges too gt~cl reasons. Bourne stresses that the William Bourne. We remember that he was conversant with this application of lens 'must be very large,of a rotateor 14 claimed that the objectiveshould have a a lens will be demonstrated later. or 16 inches broade, and the broader the central thickness of not more than a better',and 'yt must be grounde untill quarter of an inch, and he specifiesthe Fig.! is taken from Duodecim Specula by that the myddle thereof be not above a reason: 'ifthe glasse be very thicke,then P Joanne David SJ (Amsterdam 1610), a quarter of an ynche in thickness'. yt will hynder the sighte'. theological treatise. The man B obsen'es the mta~n E by means of a biconvex lens At that time lenses were sometimes In Digges' time the transparency of in his outstretched arm. We do not take ground from the plate glass normally glass was moderate, and it was common his motley for ignominy since ignorance used for mirrors. The round 'Mirror of practice to make the glass of (rear- had dressed Galileo as well as others the Sirenes' in the Ca' d'Oro at Venice surface) mirrors as thin as possible. The with it, tta~. Assuming the conventional (early 16th century) has a diameter of 'Mirror of the Sirenes' mentioned above visual distance of 25 cm and a focal 43cm. Nevertheless, a lens of the kind has a thickness of 3 to 3.3 ram. A length of 45 cm (2.2 dioptres, a mentioned must have required much magnifier with a great diameter and a frequently used spectacle glass) we get a skill and experience. Moreover, the hint not-too-small magnification would have magnification of l.gx. This is about the that it should be handled with care and a central thickness of a multiple of a weakest magnification of the old spy- always kept in a frame on account of its quarter of an inch, and therefore be of glasses, sufficient for attentive people to fragility, would also seem to result from poor transparency. I believe that Digges perceive a little more detail than with experience. chose a concave mirror in order to avoid the naked eve. this problem. A lens of a diameter of one foot and a An interesting hint on how the centre thickness of a quarter of an inch The present author tried his shaving telescopic effect could have been has a focal Jength of some metres. This mirror, being conscious of the discovered has been given by Johann renders it plausible that Digges started imperfection of the components of Georg Kninitz in his Oecmwmisch-tech- with the one-step telescope: the great earlier times. The image was of nologische Encyclot~die (1786). He ~ints focal length brings about a high astonishingly go(d quality, and more to the fact that window-panes magnification and the great diameter a brilliant than with the magnifying lens. occasionally show more-or-less wide field of view. Moreover, he chose a very acute angle spherical elevations acting as burning between the optical axes of the lens and glasses, and suggests this prompted In order to transform the one-step the mirror because the aberrations are some curious people to fix a convex lens telescope into a two-step instrument we thereby minimized. He looked with the on a flat window-pane to enlarge a hold a magnifier of great diameter shaving mirror over his shoulder at the
Bulletin of the Scientific instrument Society No.37 (1993) lens, so that the image remained yow can not beholde, and see, but the published in 1611 in his Dzoptrice, which inverted, one could get an apparently smaller quantity at a tyme'. was later named after him. The telesct~e upright image by holding the mirror which in 1608 became known to the before the chest and bending the head With increasing experience one would public had a negative ocular: the Dutch downwards. In this case, however, the have learned a lot. Too wide a field of or Galilean telescope. We are ignorant angle between the axes is much greater view does not make sense because the whether reasoning or trial and error led and the field of view becomes elliptical. aberrations increase towards the margin to this instrument, but it is an interesting and too high a magnification is also fact first mentioned by Ronan that A tube is nowhere mentioned; it is detrimental. Moreover, since the Thomas Digges, Leonard's son, was merely said that the lens in its frame has magnification is given by the ratio of probably in touch with the Dutch scene to be brought into position. The focal length of objective: focal length of from which this telescope originated. description gives a strong impression of ocular, a given magnification can be a test model intended to study the attained by means of shorter focal Our results do not however mean that characteristics of the second step of lengths of both components, too. Digges was the inventor of the two-step image formation, and we must bear in Experiment and experience would have telescope. The time was ripe, and there mind that J.B.Easton, writing in rendered it possible to reduce the length are still other hints at similar Gillispie's Dictionary of Scientific of the instrument and therefore to use a developments, unfortunately not as Biography, stated that Leonard Digges tube, and to apply a smaller and detailed as the sources of Digges' was 'a keen experimentalist'. therefore thinner lens as an ocular. The instrument. Nevertheless, it is to be instrument would become more hoped that future research will throw The considerable enlargement of the field manageable. more light upon the early history of the of view might, at first sight, have given telescope. rise to naive expectations which cannot We do not know when and where these be fulfilled, if one promises to show a steps were taken. Since Leonard Digges' Author's address: child a fly under the microscope he or she telescope would have had a positive Hausserstrasse 150 will be amazed by the fact that the insect ocular (it makes no difference whether D-74(X) Ttibingen cannot be seen as a whole. This idea may this is a positive lens or a concave Germany likewise be the meaning of Bourne's mirror) it is optically equivalent to the (from 1.7.1993 new postal code: words: 'the greatest impediment ys, that astronomical telescope Johannes Kepler D-72076 Tiibingen)
From Derek How~
Whilst it was still fresh in my mind, ! The astronomer David Gill, in his article except possibly to individuals who thought it worthwhile to record my own 'Telescope' in the 9th edition of the failed to see its practical importance, conclusions following the most Encyclopaedia Britannica (1888), started and who confined its use to "curious stimulating debate at the Society of his History section with the words: 'The practices" or to demonstrations of Antiquaries on Friday. credit of the discovery of the telescope "natural magic". The practical [my has been a fruitful subject for italics] discovery of the instrument Gerard himself once argued that discussion'. He then cited pretty well all was certainly made in Holland absence of evidence was not evidence of the early sources mentioned by Colin about 1608... absence. ! think that precept applies except the two important Bourne ones, here. There is no positive evidence that concluding the first part of his Plus fa change...! My sentiments exactly, there was an Elizabethan telescope; but, discussion thus: except that the Bourne evidence, equally, there is no evidence that there particularly Int,entions or Devises #I I0, was not. One must therefore look at it It is impossible to discredit the greatly strengthens the pro-Digges case statistically in terms of probabilities. On significance of these quotations, for in actually describing an instrument that the evidence presented, 1 think that the the works in which they occur were could work, even though it might not odds are better than evens that there was published more than twenty years have been terribly'practical'. an Elizabethan telescope, even though before the original date claimed for we have no direct evidence as such. Of the discovery of the telescope in It was splendid that the SIS should course, if the question had been 'Was Holland. organize this discussion. Let's have there an Elizabethan telescope that mere like it! really worked?', i might have come to a But it is quite certain that previous different conclusion. to 1600 the telescope was unknown,
From S.D. Ringwood
I was present at the meeting of 26th March I have to express disaplx~tment at the basis evangelical rendition of the classical sttwy at Burlington House which discussed [or Pn~sor Tumer's reply to Colin Ronan's of the telescope's invention by Dutch Colin Ronan's proposal of an Elizabethan paper. V~ op~eitio, al~e~ to be based opticians. But quoting from the history telescope. I feel ! must write to express more on icleok~gical grounds than on any books is not a sound refutation in itself. thoughts for which there was insufficient hard scientificevidence to the contrary. One might just as well confront Derwin's time at the meeting because of the many evolution with chapter and verse from issues raised. Pro~ss~ Turner first treated ustoa rather Genesis. The narrative concerning Janssen
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (It,~3) cannot see him to, sing it in the bin and I ippl'rhe) i~ no doubt that ill the I do not ¢Oll~ider that I'rotc~.~lr l'umer because its performance was had! I Ih'~ i, lltpllil, nt ot a tele~¢llpe; bill bt,' no addrl,~ed lulk IIw pa~,~ll4e, alludrd Io canmll .,iee the I.)iggt.q doing ~ll either. In m~,an> d~ thi.~ ~ i.m' an earlier ~t,~ion by (.olin Ronan de~l'riMnl4 the ior t~hirh the hi~iorv i.~ I~'~,~ well iil_,.trunll'n! a.. pro~ idmg cloe~i.,-up l,iews any case, it is the existence of the tl'k.'~'l~e at doi'ilmenled. ?Irl~iling on thi~ t~int i~ nr4 ill di>t,lnt objects, alh'ii idik a .~mall F_li/abethan which is issue, md it~ abilities.'. ~'ie~'e Mat do~mati~m iield, li may Ix' true that .~mle of il~' de~cripiion,~ are ~,xal414eraied, but I he laklured di_,,mi.,,,,al on the u~' l~ tt~" lirok>~or turner mi~,~ the tx~int i# hi' In preparing a paper describing my term "perpe(hx e' is di.ml4tlultu~, ln~', it di~mi>~',~ the prindple which i.~ k, ing c~trl'ti~ and u.,~, of a c~y of (;alik~ was u~'d genericallv for all in~,truments de.-cribed merely on Ihi~ ba~i.~, lhe III I its4 I ..~uld add tklt, altl~ul~ tl~, uwd for .,,ighting land not nece.~_~arik' lontrpt of u,,ing an optick lul~t' lo .',d.l" optical performance of this is pin)r thow enlphl)inl~ lentil, But it i~,l.~ ,till hlr ol, i~'d~ m,ar need. t. haw b~','n compared k) currl~t dl,,~ilo~, I ~ill find it U,~O.t I'lerl |or the oplick iuk'~ ikat (;alik~ experienced before ~,llch exagl4eration yen' abk'. I]l.~pite the vl~ small 5ekt i~ built Imtil t~ ell after tie and hi.~ di.~~ erie~ can ~x'¢ur..~urelv. vk,w it lal~ ~Iv a little Factice k~ u.~ it had be(onle l,lmoli~, In iacl, the ttord Io good etS,ct. ['he i~ginal wa~i certainly tele~'ope ~'.l~ not i:oined until prol~t I conies', to N, ing rather pu//led that Ilt.~t enough to taut, the downfall of a b', John i)l.~nliani at a banquet hi.lift b,,' (;erard hlrner ~,hould li~* a model of co:,lm$~g.'*' whk'h had hdd sway kit over I'rin~'e Frederick Ce.~i I,%larqui~ 17f {;alileo I to demon~,trah' the ditlicultv o( a thousand years. Although the ,%lonticl, llo) at the it-ca.~ion ill t,,llill~)'.~ ll~,inl~, d primiti~ e iek'~ot~'. Of COlif.~' it in.qrument l ha~,e ¢opk'd wa~ built a k,w admitiait'e into tt~' A~'c.~.kmlia dei kl~ei i~ difficult to u~', hut only compared to decades after the proposed Diggo l~ April 14 101 I. ttefon, ihi~, am" optical modem in,qtrumenLq. No doilbt, al the tek'~'l~e, the nature of the Elizabethan instrument, ienwd or otherl~'i.~e, wa> time, Ilalilco lhollght it wa~ truk' ~4,r~ ation~ are very much akin to my calll~t a i~,r~pidllum or in~iirumenlum. miraculous (not h,l~ inl4 a .i~chnlidl'- own; apart fr~nll the .,dnmg &~-umenia~ |here are no l~rOillld~, {[or di~nii_~>ing an C.l~egrain 1o l'lllilp,lrl, it i~ith!), (;,llill~ l~ridt~l~'e pn~mtt~l bv Colin Ronan, I fed Eli/aN, than "teh-~ope' becau.,e it wa~ uwd thi.~ in.trument to 14~d eifeci, it that the similarity ~ tl~.~e d~en'ation.~ ,~l,rl inl~ Io .,,pur him on to h,tter ihinl.~. I ah~ kinds cn,dence to his claim.
Postscript- Nature Got There First!
,'r,,,,...,,, ,:, t,,. I i> >o oftl, n the (a.~e - nature, ha~,
h'le>cl~pe, lhe humble ~callop l.tt'lllOn~,tra|e~ ililt Ollk her inwntilln of . >" il ¢1 , .or thr ri'ill'ding tilm ba~,d on multi-la~er i'"' " ' " inti.rk'ren(t', hilt ,il.~l, it~ incort~irati,,n ~ i inhl ,in all-or~ank" _~kmidt tele'~'°l~'! / ~ ti / ; • -
I. %1 land. "\Non in other .'iriimal.'. in I! tl;irh~v.' rl ,II. editor~.. /.i,l,,,.r.i il.d I.ht,h'r.t,l~l,ti~.,. C.L.I ). l~lO. iilli ' I, I It:! t Fig.2 I/~,., ,if;, V' 11,/~ -,',', J,//L'l,~'~ ,ll.tl II't~t,'~l m(,m:d th," rd~e o#lhr mmlth'. T I
L '~ =' ~ " ~ ~i~,i
_ --,,-- liJ Fil~..'t };r(lll ,it,tl i0 Bulldin ol thl, ~ii, rltilric Instrument 511di~ No.37 (l li~-1) An Experimental Generator with a Gramme Ring Armature H Jaspers in 1860 Pacinotti invented the ring In the Comt,h,s Rendus of the same year a armature u~st in his electrk: motor. Not letter by M. Pacinotti was puhli'shed. until 9 years later did Gramme patent Written approximately cme re,ruth after his ring armature generator - which the al~we publication, he claimed that means he cannot really be called the by 1860 he had constructed a ring inventor of this very important armature machine that generated a breakthrough. Nevertheless, all writers continuous current, it could also be rvcognise the importance of Gramme: used as a n~)hw. making use of the ring armature he invented, deveksped and manufactured In the Comptes Rendus LXXV (1872) the first really practical dc gt~nerators. Gramme rel~,rts tm the ck,vek,pment of Previous dynamos produced very his generators. He describes his ring variable currents. A fairly constant armature made of a plain ring of .,~ft direct current was needed for iron tune couronne en fer doux, ne electroplating, and to produce it only D presentant aucune saillie) again not very large and inefficient machines (¢.X. mentioning the iml~,rtant improvement the Alliance) were prevkmsly available. of an armature made of ~4)ft ir~m wire. He remarks that the most important Zenobe Th~ophile Gramme was a part of his invention is that any &.'~ired l~'Igian working in Paris for Ruhmkorff number of l~,les can be applied. This and the S~iete de I'Alliance. During the makes it possible to generate - with 1SilOs he patented many improvements ~mly ,me machine - a ~eries of different Fig.2 Dialp'am from G~tpt,.'s/~'~us 1871 currents and to split it up between various circuits, as required for example by the electric light. He briefly ck.~ribt.,s for generators. In 186¢P he patented the the ctmstructi~m of a commutator made inventkm h~r which be became famous. of strips of n~.,tal, and mentions that it is a combination of the ring armature very iml~)rtant that these are very cl,~e (with many n~re coils than Pacinotli's) to each other w't well i~)lated; ~'mlv in and the self-exciting principle this way can the sparks be prevented invented/discovered by Siemens in which significantly diminish the 1867. He was the first to ctmstruct the current, llt, also claims another c(we of the ring armature of into wire to invention - the replacement of ~did suppress eddy currents. Most writers rnetal springs by brushL.,smade of many consider that Gramme probably copp..r wires braided to;4ether to form a constructed the ring armature without mat, with the aim of preventing sparks any prior knowledge of Pacinotti's betwet,n commutator and brushes and inventitm. to reduce wear and tear. He de.~ribes two generators, one for electroplating ..j,. w L.._ Descriptions and illustrations of five (low voltage, heavy current) ctmstructed different generato~ with ring armatures by Breguet, and one for lighting. He are given in the patent of 1869: "Le mentions that the initial supply of cylindre 'a' est d'une seule piece, ou current to the fixed electromal4nets was forn~ par un grand nombre ¢le spires de due to the influence of the Earth's fil de fer .... ; ies conducteurs qui magnetic field, and that this made I'envekq:qx~rtt.~mt enmules de maniere superfluous the Daniel cells he was faire trente-six petites bebines ...." (Fig. ]). preparing for this purpose. This is a A description was al.~) gken in G,npt,~ strange claim, as in his account of l~71 Rendus LXXIII (1871), p. 175 et seq., a he mentions remanent magnetism. I "[ ~ report by Gramme presented by M. Finally, it should be noted that in his .~ Jamin. It describes the tbet~rv of the ring Frencll patents he d~ribes a condenser armature and gives ~me'details of a to eliminate sparks, and the ~ssibilip," generator that was den'~mstrated. This of using his generators as motors. % machine had two field ek,ctromagnets, each wound with 7 kg of copper wire Now let us study in more detail the 3ram in diameter so there were ftmr I~k~ generator illustrated in Fig. 3. It is .~k'm ~~i influencing the ring. There were four high and of rather crude construction. brushes; two of them delivered half the Its fixed field magnet apl~,ars to have current generated to the field magnets, the many separate coils found in ac the other pair delivered the output. The generators, but in fact there are only two ring was wound with 2[X)m of copper windings, left and right, covered bv wire 2ram in diameter, again weighing paper held together bv two sets of b i.__.._, approximately 7 kg. it is remarkable that bindings h~king like'coils. The ring the ct~re of iron wire is not mentioned armature ctmsists of a fiat ring (of into Fig.I Part of illustration M,m~in,~ to the here. The cmnmutator described is of a wire?) on which the copper wire is p~l~t ~ 1869 primitive c¢m~nktkm (Fig.Z). wound, it being divided into 20 .,,eparate "Many wrik,l"~ mentkm 11¢70 ,is the year ¢~ ( ;rarnmv's im'entkm; tht~ is not c~wreCt. Bulletin of the ~ientific Instrument ~=ciety No.37 (I¢r43) !1 Fig.3 Experimental Gramme-type generator. Pri;~te collection. Fig.5 L%trm,¢,diagram ,!f generatar. coils connected to each other and to 20 copper strips. The latter are fixed radially on a wooden ring filling the .,,pace between the ring armature and the axle. [he copper strips are then bent at right angles and fixed on a wtRMen ring of lesser diameter to form a cylinder around the main axis - the commutator (,,,ometimes termed a collector). The brushes consist of copper wire braided together as described above (Fig. 4). Fig.4 Commutator qt the c.wcr,,c,la/Grammc-lyt,c gc,erator ~how, i, Fig. 3. I he electrical connections are quite complicated; there are 6 .,,witches, one of them a re~er.,,ing arrangement (Fig. 5). construction, particularly of the on the underside of the wooden base Obviously the purpose of this is to commutator and ring armature, is the (Fig.7) could confirm the hypothesis that experiment with different ways of same as that in the Gramme generators this is Gramme's own machine? feeding the field magnets. A pro('ision described by Walmsley and Schellen. for an external supply to the field The ring armature had disadvantages, magnets .,,eems to have been removed All this suggests that the present particularly the fact that only that part later. The underside of the wooden generator is an experimental machine of the winding on the outside of the ring platform on which the generator is used by Gramme to investigate the participates in the generation of current. mounted is covered with decorated result of various connections of the fixed This disadvantage was overcome by the (wall?) paper on which the electrical field coils and rotating armature. This drum armature, invented by Von connections are described thus: must have been important information, Hefner Alteneck (Siemens) in 1872. "'lnducteur fil supt;rieur (2x), lnducteur very necessary for the design of his Nevertheless the Gramme machines fil inf~,rieur (2x), Balai super.; Balai large machines, as at that time not much performed very well, and did their duty infer.; Borne exterieur; Borne droit du knowledge could have been available for many years. An example of a late commutat.; Demi cercle du commutat.; on the self-excitation of generators. 19th century industrial Gramme Centre commutat." (Fig.6). The Perhaps an analysis of the handwriting generator is illustrated in Fig. 8. It bears 12 Bulletinof the Scientific lnstrumentS(~:iety No.37 (1993) a plate "MACHINE GRAMME Z T Gramme, Contptes Rendus des s~;ances Service of Man, I°AM, p. 46~. BREVETEE SGIX;, 20 Rue d'Hautpoul, de I'Academie des Sciences, 1871, LXXIII, Paris 188 ". p. 175 et seq., pp. 543,#544 S P Thompson, Die Dynam,,eh'ktrisch,'n Machinen, 18q3, pp. 16, 17, 48, 4q. Literature Z T Gramme, Comptes Rendus 1872, LXXV, p. 1497etseq. S P Thompson, L'Electr,,-Aimant ,'t Brevet no. 61275, 1863, # avec addition L'Electro-Mf'chanique, 18'~5, p. 4~. 1865; E Hoppe, Geschichte der Elektrizitaet, 1884, pp. 554,555. H Schellen, Die may,net-und d~namo- Brevet no. 75172, 1865,# avec additions elektri~hen Maschmen, 1882, pp. 140-143. 1868, 1869; P Dunsheath, A History of Electrical Engineering, 1962, p. 112. Referee's note Brevet no 87938, 1869,# avec additions 1870, 1872; B Bowers, A Histo~ of Electric Light and Another valuable work in this subject is: Pouer, 1982, p. 90. British Patent no. 1668, 1870, to Gramme W J King, The Dez,eh,pment of Eh'ctrical and D'lnvernois. R Mullineux Walmsley, Eh'ctricity in the Technology in the 19th Century: 3. The Early Arc Light and Generator, Smithsonian Institution; United States National Mu~um Bulletin 228, 1962. Authors address: Roosbergseweg 24, 4854 PM Bavel The Netherlands Fig.7 Ch,:,'-,/, ,'t ,I la/,,'l, t,, >/.,,,,' tJ:, handwriting. Is it Gramm,"s? Fig.8 Small industrial ,~en,'nltor. si~ne,l Fig.6 l'h,'undersld,' t!t th,' /,as,' ,!t t/Ic ,~,'n,'rat,,r. Gramme. Prwah' collection. Bulletin of the ~'ientific Instrument .~cietv No.37 (iqq3) 13 A Matter of Degree Anita McConnell Commander A B Becher of the published the same year, shows that J C sixth part of a minute within a space so Hydrographic Office devised an Dennis had the contract and was excessively small that I cannot pretend artificial horizon for the sextant. The supplying the horizon fitted to his own to give an authentical expression of it. original instrument is said to have been sextants. Likewise Dennis was 'the only The error was so minute, that it could tested in 18M by Captain Hewett, in the manufacturer' named in the dt.,scription not affect navigation; I cannot say of the Thames Estuar'v.' By 1844 Becher had published in the Nautical Ma£azine of error was to the extent of the 5,940th numerous testimonials to its efficacy in 1844; (Figsl k 2) part of an inch. service, and a sale to H i H Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, the accessory Dennis also experienced problems - Cross-examined - When ! originally being made by 'that excellent artist though of a different kind, for in 1845 he said that the instrument was to my Carey and fit'led by him to one of came to the High Court seeking to satisfaction, I meant to speak only of the Simms' favourite sext,lnts,': recover the c(~ts of two sextants fitted pendulum horizon. The blank view with [h,cher's horizons which he had does not screw home to its place. The Becher, a member of the Royal made to order for Edward Dent, and dark glass head of the tele~ope d(~e.s Astronomical ~¢ieh,', also described the Becher appeared as a witness in the not fit into its place. The centre of the horizon in their journal.' The horizon matter. [he court transcript has not radius is not perpendicular to the plane consisted of a mirror kept level bv a survived, but The Times reporter of the arc. small pendulum hanging in an oil pot. R captured the argument in full:: B Bate was commissioned to make it up, Re-examined - the innacurate working bvt ,,~'ems to have had ~me difficulty Court of Queen's Bench, Guildhall, of the screw might be repaired for 6d. with it, writing to Becher in May 1843 "1 February 20. The small shaking of one of the square charged the East India Company 20gns glasses might result from rough hw the sextant with your horizon - I will (Sittin,~s ~¢ Nisi Prius, b~re Iwrd Denman handling, but could be repaired at the do them for the Admiralty at 18gns. ]he and Common luri~.~ cost of ld. With the exceptions which i future one shall be bett~,r made. I am have mentioned, the sextants were going to try iron limbs and index bars." Mr Crowder and Mr M Chambers perfect instruments. appeared as counsel, and Mr T D Taylor as attorney for the plaintiff; and Mr M D Mr Rodwell, who is in the habit of Hill and Mr Picketing as coun~l, and making the divisions in the arc by a Mr Pickering as attorney for the particular sort of machine, gave defendant. evidence to the same effect. This action was brought to recover the Mitchell, an operative manufacturer, price and value of two sextants, which gave testimony to the same effect. the plaintiff, who is a mathematical instrument maker in Bishopsgate-Street, Mr Crichton, astronomical instrument- had manufactured for the defendant, maker, stated that the articles were who is an eminent watch and excellent of their kind, and that the price chronometer maker in the Strand. The demanded, 40 guineas, was a fair and defence to the action was, that the reasonable price. instruments were deficient in the exactitude of construction required in Mr Hill, having addressed the jury for subjects of that kind, and that they were the defendants, called a person of the unfit for the market for which they were name of Messenger, from the intended by Mr Dent, who was to send establishment of Messrs. Dollond, and one of them to Boston and another to he deposed that the sextants in question New York. were very inferior instruments. There could not he a more important defect in The first witness called was Captain the manufacture of a sextant than the Becher, who said - I am first assistant in fact of the centering not being the Hydrographic-office , in the perpendicular to the plane of the arc. Admiralty. ! am the inventor of what The square glasses ought to fit close, ,! x .-" are called "pendulum horizons", which and the glass heads of the blank tube the plaintiff has been in the habit of ought to be better adjusted. manufacturing for me, to my entire satisfaction. By the direction of "Mr Dent Thomas Smith, in the employment of i ordered the plaintiff to make fi)r Mr i,g. I S,'.~t,mt hlt,',f with Be,her's hori:on, Mr Dent, described the sextants as Dent two sextants, each fitted with a innacurate and imperfect. and usin.~ mctlwd, of it. From Nautical pendulum horizon; after I had Ah~.~,,l:mc ~1844~: 290-7. examined and approved of them, ! Mr Crowder proceeded to reply, but the wrote to Mr Dent a note to that effect; jury, who heard the whole defence with Bate's in~olvement with the hori/on Ul~m a sub.~quent occasion the plaintiff impatience from the beginning, wa~ ~hort-lived. Although the title of brought the instruments to me, and I interruptecl him, and retunx, d a verdict for Ih'cher's handbook describing the examined them again, with reference to the plaintiff, fi~r the amount of his demand. horizon mentioned Bate as its the divisions, and I found an error in manufacturer,' a second edition, one division of ten ~'conds, being the The ca~ lasted until 7 o'clock. 14 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (19~3) Notes 1. 'The pendulum artificial horizon - im,ented by. A B Becher and manufactured invented by A B Becher, Commander by R B Bate. (Nautical Press, Maida Hill, RN', Nautical Magazine (1844); 291-7 and 1844), 16pp. 349-359. In a letter published in Nautical Magazine (1844); 551-2, J H Bass 6. 'Description of an artificial horizon to expressed annoyance at Becher's be used at sea when the natural horizon claiming as his own an invention is obscured .... ', Nautical Magazine 23 discussed in confidence. (1844); 5O2. 2. 'Becher's artificial horizon', Nautical 7. The Times, Friday, February 21 1845, Ma~azine (1844); 187-9 and 235-236. page 7 d-c. 3. RAS Monthly Notices 4 (18:~b-9); 81-2. Fig.2 Becher's horizon fitted to Dennis sextant. From "De~ription of an art!ficial 4. Letter, Bate to Becher 16 May 1843. Author's Address: horizon.., manufactured by ] C Dennis" London Hydrographic Office letters-in B938. Centre for the History of t 1844h 8. Science, Technok~y and Medicine, 5. Description of an artificial horizon Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ Conference review Instrument Seminar in Stockholm Hemming Andersen On 14th December 1992 a seminar was described his work on the Danish Christmas carols; this was arranged by held in Stockholm on Artifacts as sources National Inventory. Mrs Amelin, who is teacher of music. for technical and scientific research, it was We were uplifted in bl~y and soul. arranged by Oiov Amelin of the Royal Naturally, local Swedish matters were Swedish Academy of Sciences, and was an important part of the programme, This was the first time an event of this attended by some 50 enthusiasts. and the following contributions were nature has taken place in Scandinavia, presented: - but it was such a success that another Opening remarks were by Professor seminar in Denmark is already being Tore Fr/ingsmyr, Director of the Centre Curt Roslund: Ales stones, a stone circle in considered. Salute to Olle Amelin for a for History of Science. Scania, as a pre-historic instrument. great initiative! The first speaker was Jim Bennett of the Elizabeth Hidemark: Research at NordMca Whipple Museum, Cambridge. His Museet. presentation was entitled: Making instruments count: the opportunities for Per Dahh The invisible techniques. scientific instrument collections, their curators and historians. By giving his Matts Ramberg: About the Tekniska views on the general importance of Museet's policy on collecting artifacts. making use of known collections and bringing to light the unknown, and Each talk was followed by lively illustrating his points by specific discussion, and at the end of the examples, (e.g. comparing astronomical sessions OIle Amelin rounded off. instruments as tools for observations and as works of art) he brought much The setting was superb. The morning inspiration to the Scandinavian area. sessions took place in the Vetenskabsakademien (Swedish Royal From Denmark, Claus Thykier of the Academy), which also houses Berzel(us' Ole Romer Museum and S~ren old chemical laboratory. The afternoon Andersen, clockmaker and conservator was spent at the Old Observatory, of scientific instruments, gave an which now has modern conference illustrated talk: To reconstruct history. facilities. Lunch was provided, and an Plans for reconstruction of Habrecht evening meal was served in the old clocks were described, and copies of the vaults under the observatory. An Romer planetary machines (see SIS especially moving and poetic feature Bulletin no.25) were brought along for was a Lucia-Procession by 15 girls and all to operate. Hemming Andersen boys singing traditional Swedish Built,tin of the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1~3) 15 100 Years of Prismatic Binoculars Hans Seeger 100 )'ears ago the patent for the r~cogni,,~,d in the last century, and the curiosity and produced only in small prismatic binocular - the "Feldstecher" first prismatic binoculars were quantities. Not known however, was was applied for by the Carl Zeiss constructed long before the patent the optimum form of the prismatic Company, Jena. The"title of patent No. issued to Ernst Abbe. The main binocular - and this form he proceeded 77086 (issued I. Oktober 18t)41 was operative element of these was a to di~over and protect by patent. "Doppelfernrohr mit vergrbfertem prismatic image-inverting system. An Ob~'tivabstand, Patentirt im Deut~hen as~mbly of this nature, replacing the Reiche vom 9. Juli 18~3 ab" (Fig 1), lens inverting system used in long translatable as "Binocular with terrestrial telescopes, was invented by increas~l oblective spacing. Patented in the Italian engineer Porro (patent issued the German Reich from July q 18q3". 1853), but the prismatic binoculars An instrument that is today pr(~uced by Porro did not succeed. At commonplace and an indisl~'n~ble till that time there was no appropriate had found its shal~', and this outward optical glass, and the technology of form is still employed in current prism grinding had not been mastered. products. No inventor's name is given Others too produced prototypes of in the patent, but it is certain that Ernst prismatic binoculars but without Abbe had carried out the development. success - an example of the fact that At the time of issue of the patent Carl invention alone does not guarantee Zeiss was deceased (1888); he had improvement if the necessary Fig.2 Three "'Feldstecher" from the first founded the company in Jena in 1846. production technology is unavailable. series of the Carl Zeiss Company, lena. Charach'ri~d by, enhanced separation of the It would not be justifiable to claim that The ingenious optician, manufacturer objectizcs. this patent represented a completely (and sub.,~quently social reformer) Ernst new invention, because the telescope Abbe was concerned with the was already well-known in both construction of an improved hand-held astronomical and terrestrial forms. prismatic tele~ope as early as 1873, but However, the Galilean, Kepler, and was not successful at that time. After terrestrial systems all have his first patent application Abbe was disadvantages "limiting their general surprised to learn that the prismatic application. binocular could not be patented. He was informed that the binocular was The demand for a handy optical aid for known, and had been described and L~>th eves, with a magnification of 6-10 x depicted in a textbook on physics. What Fig.3 Prismatic binoculars circa 1900. and an erect three-dimensional image of was he to do? The prismatic binocular Constructions not infrinRinR the Zeiss sufficient luminosity, had been was known, but had been regarded as a patent. (Gaerz, ~vlin) Fzu~ CARL ZEISS m JENA IoppolfOrlrol¢ III VOrlrlroorloi OlIIlllVlIlllI[ , .r-~~1 /~.._~_- F~ ~ .-- , . ,~" .: L~.J~:" : i/ L !~'~'"'~'~' !' , , ' t~ ~.l--'~.~rr ~ • ~ jl t II - 41~-.4~ ..... ~ .... 4.-~" ~...i ...... L,~L~; ~1 q ~." , "J Fig. 1 llh,stnaions from the patent of 18.93 "'Doppe!fernrohr mit z~rgriiJ.lertem Objectiz~bstand'" 16 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) trench. He further recognised that this Is it possible to describe the further particular binocular can be constructed development of the binocular in a few so that the objectives can be moved still words? Depending on one's point of further apart, giving an even more view one will either see a succession of exaggerated stereoscopic effect. detailed improvements or alternatively Interestingly enough these models - a variety of significant inventions. It is a called "Relieffernrohr" (Fig 4) were fact that a 90 year old prismatic launched along with the Feldstecher. binocular in good condition (or Ernst Abbe may well have been overhauled by an expert) can stillcause surprised by the overwhelming surprise by its excellent optical quality, preference for the latter. and certainly cannot be regarded as obsolete. Abbe, being an extraordinary optician and designer, recognised still more The following developments of the possibilities in the prismatic binocular. Zeiss Feldstecher relate primarily to the By tiltingboth halves of the binocular a optics. Models with larger objectives form can be achieved in which the were built to give a higher luminosity. Fig.4 "Re/i~it)i'rnrohr'. Patented by Car/ objectives are positioned nearer together About 1905 the first 6 x 30 model was Zeiss, Jena, in I893. than the oculars. The resulting reduced produced: a popular design giving a stereoscopic view has been regarded as good combination of magnification and The patented form of the prismatic an advantage for observation in the objective diameter. The first 7 x 50 binocular was such that the objectives - theatre (Fig 5). So Abbe was not only Porro I model was sold in 1910, a typical the front lenses directed to the object - the inventor of the binocular with nightglass, still essential for the modern were positioned wider apart than the enhanced stereoscopic view but also of mariner or hunter. In nearly unchanged oculars, the eye lenses. (Fig 2). This the binocular with deliberate reduction shape this model has been built for design gave an enhanced stereoscopic of the stereoscopy! more than 80 years. effect, i.e. in the instrument objects could not only be seen with higher Abbe's patent, and the success of his In the years following the expiration of magnification but also with an obvious binocular, generated a lot of imitation the Zeiss patent the pattern of all Porto ! three-dimensional appearance. by other optical companies, and the binoculars became more and more large variety of different constructions similar, the original form being hard to The first prismatic binoculars were made before 1908 has never been improve. During World War l most of called "Feldstecher" - translated "field- repeated. All models of that period not the military binoculars were piercer". At the first attempt Ernst originating from Jena are easily standardised. The significance of Abbe found a binocular shape that was recognised: their objectives are not binoculars during this time is illustrated timeless and appropriate.' Today the farther apart than the oculars, in order by the fact that Great Britain considered first series models of the Feldstecher are that they should not infringe the Zeiss an exchange deal via Switzerland: not regarded as antiques - in contrast to patent. This development, however, German binoculars for rubber! some of the efforts of their competitors leads naturally into another direction: at the time. Due to the Zeiss patent the opticians looked for other prismatic During the further development of the latter were forced to produce binoculars systems to circumvent the Zeiss patent. binocular special attention was directed with impractical shapes (Fig 3). The The Hensoldt company in Wetzlar - to the field of view - every observer was designations of the first Feldstecher today a member of the Zeiss interested in obtaining a wider area. reaching the market (Jan. 1894) were 4 x organisation - found the most successful From the first models with a subjective ll, 6 x 15 and 8 x 20: the first figure gave alternative. Shortly after the turn of the viewing angle of 36 degrees this angle the magnification, the second the century a straight-through prismatic was increased to more than 80 degrees objective diameter in millimetres. inverting system was developed, (Model De]tar, 1937). The demand for a allowing slim and handy binoculars to wide-angle binocular originated from After expiration of the Zeiss patent - i.e. he built. They are named "Dialyt'. The the military, for in World War l from about 1908 - all binoculars became new prismatic systems had (in contrast binoculars of this kind were urgently more and more alike, gradually to the Porro type) a "roof edge", and needed to detect attacking aircraft. assuming the form Ernst Abbe had became the precursors of a variety of Additional developments were directed patented. However, with this statement roof prism systems quite common in to the design of binoculars that could be alone the importance of the binocular many of today's "straight" prismatic used while wearing a gas mask. When would not be fully appreciated, for the binoculars. using binoculars today few are aware last 100 years have seen diverse that the intentions which led to developments not restricted to the Zeiss company and the typical form of their Feldstecher. In his patent Abbe described several forms of prismatic systems. He recognised that, with spatial separation of the prisms, binoculars can he built in which the objectives are fixed above the plane of the oculars. The patent application thus saw the birth of the artillery commander's telescope, which Fig.5 Prismatic opera glas~ with Porro prisms. Objectiz~ distance reduced, and so g,Win~ allowed the observation of a target from a diminished stereoscopic effect. Made by. Schiitz, Kas~l (left) and Fiill~rabe, Kas~l (r~c,ht). behind a protective shield or from a About 1925. Bulletin of the Scientific InslTument Society No.37 (1~3) 17 observe in complete darkness. A new pathway had been started, leading to image amplifiers and thermal viewers, which remains in active development. Ordinary optics, with their restriction to the visible part of the spectrum, are being more and more replaced by electronic images and computer processing. Nevertheless, binoculars in the form created by Ernst Abbe 100 Fig.6 Naval binoculars of World War i IhgCt,Leit: of Wet:lar) and World War II (rt~ht, years ago are still irreplaceable for many Zeiss t!f lenak Typical Porro il prism construction. Des~,,nations 7 x 50, 12 x oO and 8 x 60. military applications. The value of use and the sum of all the benefits, however, cannot explain the fascination of a gtxx:l binocular, as clear today as 100 years ago. in an old catalogue there is a statement to be found - and nothing needs to be added: "A binocular cannot only become part of the eyes, it can become a part of the heart too". References 1. H Seeger, Feldstecher, Fernglii~r im Wandel der Zeit, Bresser, 1987. Acknowledgments I should like to dedicate this paper to my friend Arthur Frank of Jersey (formerly Glasgow) who, over many years, has done so much for the collection and preservation of optical instruments of all kinds. important improvements in the optics binocular had achieved its most were by no means for peaceful important improvements. I must also thank Kevin Crowley and pu r~.,,es! Peter Lamb for their assistance with the As early as World War 1 special naval English text. In Great Britain a new development k~r binoculars were introduced, bin~,-ulars was invented and introduced. characterised by a typical form Author's address: By cementing together the prisms and containing a prism system de~ribed by Hirschgraben 66 one of the t~cular lenses, models with Abbe and before that by Porto. it is D 2(X)O Hamburg 76 only three optical elements in each side known today as the Porro II prism Germany t~ere produced: objective, prism unit system (Fig. 6). ]ht~.~e navv binoculars with field lens, and ocular lens. In were in pn~luction until W~rld War Ii, compari.,~m with the u.,,ual mt~lels the~, and even tt~ay are regarded as superb have a higher luminosity because less in form and performance. For a small light is Io.,,t by reflection~ In Germany circle of interested people they are too. this concept was also used, but valuable collectors items. It is, however, meanwhile a completely different not the rarity which is fa.~inating - it is principle to enhance image luminosity the superior optical quality. In ~ a,, being tte~, eloped In lena. Germany, with its highly developed optical industry, m(~els like these were In 1~'~ "coating" ~s as im ented, an anti- produced on the principle: "cost rt'th'ction laxt.r that covered the surface irrelevant". In connection with high of the optical elements. With this class binoculars one thinks IIl'~.t'ntion the luminosity of optical automatically of the U-boat night m,trunlt'nt,, was greatly enhanced, and glas~,s of the last World War, which can in,tlallv the nt'~ de,,elopment was be regarded, correctly, as outstanding lrt'ated ,Is a military ~efret. Itowever, even today (Fig.7). the ill~.entiol'l ~,a.~ neither ~ecret nor r~",tricted to lena or (.;ermdnv: some With the marine glas,,~.,s of the l'-L30s and t.ars later in World War II the Allie,, 40s binoculars reached a summit in ~ere ,n po,,,,e,,,,ion of (military) coated their long development, for they can no optit,, tt~. longer compete in .~me military areas. Radar, with its inherent advantages, I% ith tilt' introduction of wide-angle replaces visual techniques more and tnular,, and coated optws the standard more. In WWII infrared viewers could I ~ Bulletin ol the ."x-ientitic In.,,trument ~,'ietv No.37 (1~3) A Very Peculiar Italian Instrument: De Rossi's 'Icnographic and Orthographic Machine for Surveying Catacombs' Paolo Brenni A couple of years ago my friend Fausto Cast of Arezzo, a well-known Italian ,.,, :,'.~' : T ~. dealer and collector of scientific instruments and wireless apparatus, showed me a very strange device. 1 studied it carefully, but was unable to "'- 1.1s ~ make an identification although ! had a vague idea that it could have been an uncommon railroad surveying apparatus. I was given a few 'll ~q ~... • photographs, but then forgot about it. However, a few months ago ! was looking for an article and purely by chance (this happens quite often!) I found a description of the strange device. ~ The 'macddna icnografica e ortqcrafica' is in fact a surveying instrument to be used in catacombs. Its inventor was the Roman meteorologist, mineralogist and Fig.l. The enlcraving in De Rossi's article, shou,in~ the construction of his instrument and geologist Michele Stefano De Rossi its method of use. (1834-1898). De Rossi, who was a university professor in Rome, wrote instrument at the 1862 Universal b) Mapping the catacombs several scientific articles and invented a Exhibition in London. At the 1865 few seismic instruments (seismograph, Dublin Exhibition he won an award for A sheet of lined paper' is put on the tremitoscope, seismic microphone"). his map of the 'Callisto' catacomb table after raising the carriage with a With his brother Giovanni Battista De obtained with its aid. In 1867 he special lever.The linesof the paper have Rossi (1822-1894), a famous received a silver medal at the Paris to be oriented parallelwith the magnetic archaeologist, he studied the geology Universal Exhibition. A detailed needle of the compass. The paper is held and architecture of the Roman description would be too long for this in place by the pressure of the rollers catacombs. During these explorations paper (De Rossi required 15 printed when the carriageis relea~:l. underground M.G. De Rossi pages!) so 1 will simply attempt to experienced considerable problems in summarise the construction and The handle of the instrument is then surveying, and he wrote: application of the instrument. held by the surveyor in his right hand, whilst with his left he takes hold of the "! desired to overcome all the above- a) Basic mechanics (Fig.l) loop of silk. Finally, after having mentioned difficulties by means of a determined a reference point in the machine which, if not more precise The apparatus is builtaround a box-like underground corridor, he begins to than the usual methods, could at least brass frame (340 x 115 x 250 ram) walk slowly forward, pulling through accelerate them and reduce the long bearing on its upper face a wooden table the ribbon as he does so. This operation uncomfortable periods required in (partially covered with sandpaper) has to be done in such a way that the these dark, humid, narrow places full sliding on two guide-rails. Above this length of ribbon drawn through the of litter. I therefore tried to devise a table a long curved arm attached to the apparatus exactly corresponds to the mechanical system so that, during the frame supports a magnetic compass, an distance covered'. The rotation of the measurement of the dimensions and alidade, and a rolling carriage with two pulley and screw will then traverse the angles of the underground passages, steel writing styli. Beneath it, a fine- table between the guide-rails bv a all these would automatically be thread screw rotatesalong the long axis proportional amount.' Because of "the drawn in a desired reduced proportion of the box-frame, and is fixed to a triple- friction with the sandpaper the sheet of on a sheet of paper, simultaneously grooved pulley at one end. A paper will move with it beneath the with the vertical profile of the continuous loop of silk ribbon is led rollers of the carriage, whilst the two ground." over any chosen groove, thereby styli draw a double line. The separati(m rotating the pulley as it is pulled between these two points may be De Rossi was quite ambitious, and only through. The wooden table is connected adjusted to corres~md in scale witi~ the thanks to a series of complicatissimi to the screw by a protruding threaded width of the passage in the catacomb." esperimenti carried out with the Roman bracket, so that any rotation of the instrument maker Ermanno Brassart former produces a horizontal When the surveyor has to turn because was he able to realise the desired displacement in the direction of the of an angle in the passage a special equipment. Ermanno Brassart was one rails. A folding metal arm, fixed to the mechanism allows the paper to be of the most important Italian instrument frame, allows the instrument to be rotated through the same angle without makers of the time. He specialized in maintained at a fixed distance from the translation. The reference direction is meteorological and seismic instruments, wall of the catacomb when held by the maintained by the compass needle: after and constructed Secchi's famous wooden handle shown in Fig.l. (This rotation, the grid lines on the paper 'meteorograph'. ~ handle is missing from the instrument must again be parallel with the needle. owned by Cast: the w(nxien stand in The operator then proceeds in the new De Rossi successfully presented his Fig.2. is a modern replacement.) direction, drawing through the ribbon Bulletin o~ the ~ientitic Instrument Society No.37 (l~Pq3) as before, until a suitable length of A few times i held the instrument in my passage has been delineated. The hand: it was very solidly made and reference point designated by a weight quite heavy. I have not yet tried to use it incorporating a ha~p through which the according to the instructions of the ribhm runs is then transferred, and the inventor, but he seems to me to have survey continued until the map of the hen over-optimistic when claiming that catacomb is complete. it was very. easy and practicable to use. I suggest that, because of its weight and c) h'~i'llitl¢ the complicated manipulation required, it was never popular. (Otherwise it This operation can be conducted would gave become better known for simultaneously with the previous surveying in mines or towns - possible technique, which produces a plan. To do applications suggested by De Rossi.) this, a special alidade is fitted to the side And, even if it could have been operated of the instrument with two screws. A fast and efficiently, surveyors tend to be slider movt.'s freely along a longitudinal very, orthodox and conservative in their slit on this component, but is choice of instruments. De Rossi's constrained in a vertical direction by a machine was probably considered as column connected to the fine screw nothing more than a curious contraption mentioned above. The slider holds a pen invented by an 'academic'. In fact, the which can trace a line on a piece of instrument in the possession of Signor paper fixed vertically on this side of the Cast is the only one ! have ever seen, instrument. and I am curious to know if any SIS Fig.3. Front view of Casi's instrument. member has ever heard of it before. From top to h~ttonl u~' see the alMade, the The apparatus is supported on a small may, netic compass, the trolley u,ith its tu~ table or tripod at a position A (Fig.l), Notes and references styli, the guide-rails for the slidin¢ table, and adjusted to the horizontal with a and the 3-Xn~mepulley. built-in plumb line. A target is set at a I. M S De Rossi, 'Dell 'ampiezza delle convenient distance away and at the romane catacombe e d'una macchina .,,ame height from the flla~r'of the tunnel icnografica e ortogragica per rilevarne le carbon paper. With this system it was (l~sition B). The alidade is then sighted piante e i livelli',Atti dell'Accademia fa~ssible to use steel fa~ints as styli: they and fixed along the imaginary line Pont!ficiade' N1an,i Lincei, 13 (1859-1860) traced finer lines than a pencil, and did connecting the instrument and the 37,3-41I. not need continual resharpening. target. Subsequently, when moving from A to B in the manner outlined 2. For a biography of the De Rossi 5. Each grtawe of the pulley produces above, the I~n traces a line on the paper brothers see Dizionario Bio~rafico de¢li a different rate of rotation of the 0.25 ~ ith an inclination corresponding to the ltalhmi, Rome, 1991. Vol.39, pp. 201-205 mm pitch screw. With the largest pulley angle existing between the horizontal and 230-235. De Rossi's seismic the drawing scale is 1:500, 1 metre of and the line A-B. This operation is then instruments are described in G. Ferrari, unrolled ribl~m producing a line 2 mm repeated with the target set in a new Two Hundred Years of Seismic long on the paper. I~ition C. Instruments, Bologna, 1992. 6. It is also possible to use only one When it was not necessary to map a 3. P Brenni, 'Secchi's Meteorograph' tracing point when, for example, it is catacomb, but only to level it, then the SIS Bulletin no. 34, 1992, p.12 and '11 required to plot only the middle axis of procedure descril~,d in [b) could also be meteorografo di padre Angelo Secchi' the passage or only one of its walls. adapted for this purpose. The Nuncius 1 (1993). in press. instrument had to be rotated through Author's address: '-~ in such a way that the sheet of paper 4. In fact, De Rossi used a sheet of lstitutoe Museo di Storia Della Scienza beneath the carriage was set in a vertical paper covered by a second sheet of Piazza dei Giudici plane and the axis of the micrometer 50100 Firenze ~crew was parallel to the imaginary line Italy connecting the two points to be levelled. e* "~ "--~ J bub.,equent operations were then analogous to (b), but instead of rotating the pal~,r to align its grid lines with the magnetic compass they would be adjusted to ka, parallel witfi the direction indicated by the plumb I~b. d) PnlCtltablhtu [he instrument belonging to Fausto Cast is (apart from its handle) in perfect condition, and fits in a beautiful leather ca~" lined with red velvet. It is slightly different from the drawings in De Ros.~i's article, and is not signed. It probably represents an improved sersion of the original. Fig.2. The "icnographic and orthoy,raphic ntachine' behm,~inq to f.Casi. 2O Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) A Panoramic Teleidoscope David L. Hirsch Can an engineer schook i in the discil es and mahogany, two of the materials of contemporary technok~gy 'retreat' to the London 1858. (Reprinted Van Cort, frequently used in early scientific 1987), Chaps I, [I, Ill. i~me of Sir David [kewster? To that end, an instruments. The basic kaleidoscope historical exercise in technology was assembly was derived from a kit which 2. T Boswell ed., The Kaleidoscope Book proposed. The oble~ve was to design and amsisted of vinyl tubing and end caps, a set (Sterling/Lark, 1992), pp. 1-23 construct a version of an early scientific of three second-surface mirrors, and an imtrument with some spsc~ ~. The object cell. A plano-convex lens was 3. J Walker, 'The Kaleidoscope' task would be daunting save for one nded the After d card concession: the use of modern hand and ScientificAmerican 1985 253 Dec 124-130, the object cell and its contents, the and 1986 254 Jan 102-103. power tools for working the wood and remaining kaleidoscope parts, the piano- metal parts. After consulting books and convex lens and the hemispheric lens were catalogues on scientific antiquaria, the 4. BillingsMicroscope Collection of the assembled within a 2" diameter brass body Medical Museum, Armed Forces subject selected was the kaleidoscope.' tube. The removable eyepiece cap fitted Essentially a recreational curiosity in Institute of Pathology. (Washington over the top of the tube gave access to the D.C, 1974) pp 6, 7, II, 174 Brewster's time, the kaleidoscx~ serves the mirror array, thereby allowing the same purpose today, although practical kaleidoscopic images to be recorded with a Author's Address: applications have appeared, z Textile camera or camcord~. 11815 Indianapolis Street designers, for example, have created cloth Los Angeles patterns mspi~ by the diversity of images A detent ring held to the body tobe by three California 9(}066-2046 that can I~ ~erstecl by the instrument. thumb screws serves to limit travel of the tube. A thnged mahogany ring supported Much to the credit of Sir David Brewster by a ,e tom brass remm bndy and his early nineteenth century work with tube assembly. Three additional thumb the generation of multiple images, there is screws bearing against three spring loaded today a resurgence in the popularity of nylon plugs provide smooth, non-slip kaleidoscopes. Contemporary makers still translation of the body tube assembly follow the basic rules laid down by within the flanged ring. Brewster while adding their own innovative enhancements?Such is the case The massive pivoted stage turns freely on a discussed here. steeve bearing embedded in the top of the base. A cavity in the stage accommodates The instnanent described in thisarticle is a either a lucite disc or a tiltable double variation of the kaleidoscope rek,rred to as mirror, in the first application, various a teleidoscq~e.Both instnunents are similar obg~s are placed on the disc which is then in the configuration and arrangement of rotated to produce the kaleidoscopic mirrors. The principal distinction is based images. In the second application the lucite on the type of element used at file'cd:~'t' disc is removed and replaced with the end of the instrument. The kaleidoscope double mirror. Rotation of the stage then may use a rotatablecell containing a mix of results in a changing panoramic view of coloumt glass fragments or other items. In ot~cts wit~ sight and in focus, regardless place of the ceil, another system uses one or of distance from the ~ lens. The more transparent rotating discs with stage is rotated by means of a crank and various fragments embedded in them. bya Additional forms of object systems are limited only by the ingenuity of ~ maker. A fitted drawer in the base of the teleidoscx~ is shown in Fig.?. It is used to In contrast, the 'object' end of the store removable stage parts, forceps and teleidoscope is fitted with either a sphere or othe paraphernalia. With the exception of Fig.1. Ttw panoramic teh,ido.q'ope. a hemisphere. The element must be the kaleidoscope kit parts, lenses, brass transparent and can be clear,coioured, or drawer hardware and screws, all of the interspersed with various inclusions. The wood and metal parts were hand made. sphere or hemisphere is fixed and cannot be rotated relative to the mirrors. The Completion of this proud gave a dramatic teleidoscope shown here contains a clear insight into the problems of txmstruction glass hemispheric lens with its plane and function encountered and overcome by surface adjacent to the mirror array. the early makers of scientific instruments. Fortunately, the products of their incredible The configuration of the teleidoscope skills and acumen may still be found in shown in Fig.1. was inspired by museums, private collections and of the eighteenthcentury. The elsewhere as fitting reminders of how and three turned legs suggest those used on where today's high technology began. Culpeper or Nuremberg stands, and the base compartment design is based on the References work of John Cuff.' 1. Sir David Brewster, The Kaleidoscope: The teleidoso~pe was built mainly of brass Its History, Theory and Construction, Fig.2. Drau~'r with acces~ru',. Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) 21 Mystery Object A correspondent in the Netherlands recently acquired the object shown here, which has so far defied all attempts at identification. The tubular metal b~xiy is 183 mm long bv 21 mm outside diameter, and may be CIo.~ by two screwcaps. One bears a small central hole, the other a hole and radial slit. A ~luare aperture enables the main b~y to be mounted (as shown) upon a smaller stainless steel tube provided with a 'corkscrew' thread at the other end. A r(~, calibrated non- linearly from 7 - 66, may be passed through a spring-loaded matching hole in a scale fixed to the side of the main body. This scale is graduated linearly from the hole as the origin; up to 18 on the left and 48 on the right. An associated component resembling a tent-peg has been placed on the supporting plinth. The correspondent notes that when the side tube has been fitted (as here) it is no longer p(~ssible to see along the axis of the main tube via the holes in the screwcaps. Mystery Object Identified The mystery instrument illustrated in , ,-"g ...... ,..~ .--- . . ~,, Bulletin 36 is a trocheameter or carriage waywiser, it was attached to the wheel of a carriage to indicate the number of • wJan"r,s • revolutions during a journey. The distance travelled was then determined aooHz tmz za, by calculation, as can be seen from the instruction leaflet published by Francis West (f1.1829-48) who was at this address from 1844. Peter Deh'har Editor's Note • ,qqm ~ ~m~ / ~ m~...a a- im~ ~m lee ~mL The same identification has been made *,=n~ ,r~nd is am*Immd~m, .wld amd~o, m ~m...m. o ,k,. by David Coffeen. lie • t ~ • " 414o k/el" . I .L, ,,.. Let# |o,]m "" • le ~ '. m aandoLm | Ikae Ire oat tim Imw~nniat, llmwup i- ~ imt ~ dl~ time noml idlme m*,f. -.a m,, a.- ,dt~ M~I. ~ bezk tm4m, ._,..,~ ; mw tk~ m0 -*'mk h t" Wl. ~ ~ *h fm~,,,a, J ,me k mw~ b a'- at m~. t" tim Mmm ur tlw m*~" • r -. • II,,dLItl f m 'II'~IIIW, 'O~t'd, .~b,t,,ta,a~e~ t .~t,Z,,,,,j~,~ tm.&,,~ ,it,,t~, K Irl.l~..srltxax.~ 4L frltum, ram,catzzzm.camt II,UlB~m. ~ ~ m~, ItwmwAI~mm~t.mm, *m & ik~ml, Iqm,amm e 22 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) The History Of The 'Avometer' Based on material prepared by R P Hawes, AVO International, Archcliffe Road, Dover, Kent CT17 9EN Introduction sprang the DC AVOMETER as it came to be called. The meter sensitivitywas The 'Avometer' has been in continuous doubled to 6 mA full scale deflection production since 1923 and, in its various (fsd),and a fuse was included to protect models and types, is regarded with the meter winding. A 4. 2 button* was affection and nostalgia by several introduced in 1931; this device enabled generations of scientists and engineers. the voltage and current ranges to be This provides a remarkable opportunity doubled. to study the evolution of a scientific instrument through 70 years of At about this period the Company commercial development. acquired additional premises in Vauxhall Bridge Road. Invention The Universal Avometer (1933) The Avometer was invented by Donald Macadie, a Scot born in Edinburgh in By this time a need had developed for a i the 1880s. Early in 1900 he joined the multimeter that could make ac GPO as an engineer,and remained with measurements, and in 1933 the 20 range them throughout his working life, UNIVERSAL AVOMETER was retiring in 1946. He died in 1952, secure announced. in the knowledge of the mark he had ]eft Fig.l The first At~ameter, 1923. it retailed upon the world of electrical for £12.12.0. 34 and 36 range Universal measurement. Avometer~ (1934 and 1935) Macadie devised the Avometer because The first Avometer (1923) These appeared in successive years, and he grew tired of carrying around a enjoyed considerable success, but their variety of test meters for use in his The Automatic Coil Winder Company replacement proved even better. work. He felt that, with careful design, a of Rochester Row, London, was making single meter could be made to serve the the Macadie/Douglas coil winding The Model 7 Avometer (1936) bulk of everyday measurements of machines, so it was natural that they current, voltage and resistance, and yet should also take up the new muitimeter. The Model 7 UNIVERSAl. AVOMETER be portable, rugged, and essentially The first commercial AVOMETER was came on the market in 19,"~,and rapidly foolproof. Approaching this aim in the produced in 1923 (Figs. 1 and 2) and established itselfas a leader in its field. early 1920s, he patented the resulting was a simple dc instrument• (See Table 1 It was scaled differently to previous multi-range instrument under the trade for characteristics of this and succeeding models: all the early Avometers had mark 'Avometer' (Amps, Volts, Ohms models.) The prototype incorporated a been scaled 0 - 120 as the basic scale, meter). He had previously designed and high-quality well-damped moving-coil but the new instrument used a scale of patented a very successful automatic meter and a knife-edge pointer moving I00 with decimal range-changing. A 0 - coil winder, and was permitted to over a 5 inch scale with anti-parallax 400 scale was also provided. The basic licence both inventions for commercial mirror, all protected by a kidney-shaped meter movement was upgraded to I mA production whilst remaining a member window set in a robust rectangular case. fsd, achieved with an improved jewel of the Post Office engineering staff. Interlocked click-stop rotary switches suspension (Fig.3).To accommt~late the enabled function and range to be 4. 2 featureits sensitivitywas shunted to changed without disturbance of the live 2 mA fsd• Another advance was an r:~,,..,~ .. .~:.~. ~,~~ test leads• These characteristics have ; I-' remained distinguishing features of all ~,I ~-,: .~-L*,.' ~, ~i;l~:: I', 'Avos' ever since. .~fnUwtb¢ ~'~ .,. . ~,,..'. / ..-4 : ~ TWO NEW ~':'::.': The instrument soon became very popular, creating a large demand. The ...... ;..:,~ -~[, -. . ,:. Automatic Coilwinder and Electrical Lil Equipment Co. Ltd., as it then became, expanded into larger premises in LI!? Douglas Street, [.~nd(m SWI. m. II :" I~I~-"MI ~ iI~,.. '.-I'~ The DC Avometer (1927} ~r~ kmn 0 O00J~) With increasing sales and widening applications in the growing electrical Fig.3 Diagram of construction of the industry some design changes and sprinf-h~aded~'uWled pi~s~ts./br the improvements were made: from these movin~ coil t!f the atmlog,e meter. * This is a rather confusing nomenclature. When depressed, the sensitivity of the meter was temporarily halved to 12 mA by a shunt, so any figure indicated by the Fig.2 Cover of instruction booklet needle against the scale had to be doubled• Such a button would probably be pnn,idat with the first At¢mcter. labelled 'x2' nowadays. Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) 23 Model 8, mark ! (1948) This new multimeter created a profound impression among technicians concerned with the electrical, television and radio service trade as well as in manuhcturing, and soon replaced the HRM and HR2 models. P#.ll,~eff Co*srJce! |eeelt f~r~¢ M~e [mS[ The much-missed ac current ranges were restored, and an ac sensitivity of 1 kO/V achieved - at that time an extremely good figure. The dc sensitivity remained at 20 kO/V, an artificially aged Alnico magnet being used in the movement. Scales of 0-100 and 0-25 were provided. Accuracy was 2%, using cracked carbon resistors. Every meter was individually hand Cue.Our Jkfjul|me~f: calibrated, when an accuracy of 1% could be obtained, but this figure could not be held over long periods of heavy use so a lower accuracy was claimed. ~¢te~ gr~ In the absence of a + 2 button the maximum measurable current was I0 A; the maximum switched voltage was Fig.4 The ozcrload cut-out mechanism. I000 V. However, by transferring the negative test lead to an alternative socket, up to 2500 V ac or dc could be automatic cut-out fitted in place of the range multimeter was upgraded. It was measured. Like the Model 7, the Model fuse. Shown diagrammatically in Fig.4, ideally suited to measuring three-phase 8 used the automatic cut-out to protect this mechanism was actuated by the voltages, and the lower sensitivity was the movement against overload. acceleration of the pointer, not by its not a disadvantage, it was marketed in going off the end of the scale. On 1940 (Fig.6). Models 7 mark !! and 40 mark il excessive overloads it was claimed the (1956) circuit could be broken before the The war years needle had traversed even a third of that Making use of improved magnetic distance. When the fault had been This period saw large production of materials, mark II versions of the Model corrected connection could be quickly Avometers, mainly the Model 7, Model 7 and Model 40 were introduced. The restored (again without disturbing the 40 and Universal Avominor, with many new Model 7 retained the + 2 facility, test leads or exposing the interiorof the going to the Forces. These came from but now had sockets for power factor instrument) by simply pressing the the factory in Douglas Streetas well as a and wattage measurements on ac. Both released resetbutton down to its normal smaller factory in Islington, with a instruments had 500 ~/V sensitivityon position. The ac scale was reasonably warehouse at Stansted in Essex. aC. accurate up to I0 kHz. Avomete~ HRM and HR2 (1946) Model 8, marks ll, 111 and IV (1956 Capacity, power and decibel scales for - 1972) ac measurements were added in the These were introduced to make use of Mark II version (Fig.5). the new alloys then becoming available The excellent design and reputation of for the construction of permanent the Model 8 meant that only Avominor models (1934 and 1936) magnets, such as 'Alnico' (an alloy of comparatively small improvements aluminium, nickel and cobalt). The were possible as new components These smaller instruments were aimed instruments retained a basic became available?~ In the mark II (Fig.7) at the thriving amateur radio resemblance to their predecessors, but a thermistor aided temperature constructor market. '-2 The DC the + 2 button was replaced by a correction under arduous conditions, AVOMINOR came first in 1934, but was REV.M.C. switch, this spring-loaded and diodes improved the frequency replaced by a universal ac/dc version in push-button simply reversed the response and incorrect polarity 1936. Unique in design, both were connections to the moving coil protection in marks [II and IV. A fuse accurate, but were more restricted in movement, and hence its direction of was added to the ohms circuit in range than the standard Avometers. deflection.The objective was to save the addition to the mechanical cut-out. Ranges were selectedby plugging the time and hazard involved in changing test leads into appropriate sockets. over the testlead clipson a livecircuit. The millionth AVO was produced in 1965, and a new factory built in Dover Model 40 Avometer (1940) These instruments had the 20 kQ/V around the same time. The firstdigital sensitivity on dc required for electronic multimeter was produced there in 1968. However, the electrical power industry work, but unfortunately had little required a capability of 480 and 1200 sensitivity on ac. AC current ranges volts full scale; ranges not available on were therefore not provided. This soon the Model 7. To meet this need the 36 led to the introduction of the Model 8. 24 Bulletino4 the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) subassembly that could be removed for repairs. A new method of making printed shunts was employed, originally conceived in Russia and developed by H W Sullivan Ltd of i~wer. This inwdved the resistor pattern being bonded to a heat-dispersing aluminium substrate, resulting in higher stability, increased ability to withstand overload, and a considerable saving of space. Use was made of flexible printed wiring for interconnecting the sub- assemblies. Both switch knobs had a bar pattern moulded into them to make operation easier with gloved hands, and all the labelling used international symbols. The accuracy claimed was 1% on dc and 2% on ac, both at full scale deflection, and It)() mV drop at 50 IJA dc Fig.5 The Model 7 Universal Avometer, for use with external shunts. Fig.7 Model 8 mark !1Az,,m,'ter ~1950~. mark If (1936). Model 8, mark VII (1992) consolidation are clearly evident in the story of the Avometer, as is the Comparison of Fig. 9 with Fig. 8 will competi~n arising from the en~,rgence of show that the only external changes new technologies leading to retrenchment after 20 years are deletion of the 3 kV and decline. The name has become terminals, but addition of fuse synonymous with the multirange meter protection on all ranges. Sensitivity, is 20 measunng amps, volts and ohms; and the iffl/V dc and 2 k[l/V ac. manufacturers have, quite rightly, done their best to guard and promote it over the This minimum of change, but years. However, recent decades have seen continuing sales, are true testimonials to a struggle to maintain standards, prices the sound and timeless design of the and sales in the face of fierce foreign Model 8. Of course, the parent company competition and escalating labour costs, it now produces a very wide range of test would nowadays be quite impractical to equipment, much of it based on printed expect individual calibration of every and integrated circuits coupled to meter on every range. M(n.tern design liquid-crystal digital displays. practice is assembly of a number of prefabricated circuits manufactured to be Acknowledgements as identical as possible, with elimination of mechanical components wherever Fig.6 The Model 40 Universal Avometer The assistance given by AVO feasible. Thus, the liquid crystal digital (1940). Note the 0-120 scale. International through their Publicity display has generally replaced the moving Manager, Mrs Valerie Sawers, is coil meter and, with appropriate range gratefully acknowledged. The words changing, is inherently capable of much Model 8, mark V (1972) AVO, AVOMETER and MULTIMINOR greater accuracy and precision. are registered trademarks of AVO This instrument represented a complete International. Z ! am very attached to my Model 8 redesign of the Model 8, and also mark il AVO, but must concede that its replaced a Model 9 that had been References inability (shared by the latest 1992 m(xiel) introduced in 1966 with all controls to check ac currents up to the 13 A identified by symbols. However, market 1. D Thackeray, 'The low-priced nominal limit of the m(x:lern square pin research demanded that the basic multimeter', Bulletin of the British Vintage outlet is really annoying. ! am advised that Avometer features were retained in the Wireless Socie~. 17 (3) 35-36. 'cost and demand' have prevented general case shape, with two big rotary restoration of the useful + 2 button, but switches on the front panel and the 2. R Deeprose, 'More early muitimeters', would argue that a limit of l0 A is against familiar kidney-shaped window above a Bulletin of the British Vintage Wireless the design philosophy that made the moving coil meter with mirror scale, it Society 17 (4) 42. instrument such a success, and a was calibrated to read on scales of 0-3 symptom of its decline. and 0-10 (Fig.8). 3. Anon. 'The Model Universal Avometer', Engineering 18 May 1962. 3. Some of the data listed in Table 1 are Almost everything else underwent uncertain, for the original manufacturers searching reappraisal in an effort to 4. Anon. 'AVO: The Multimeter People', have been absorbed into multi-national contain rising manufacturing costs. The Engineering22 Sept. 1967. organisations over the years, and the new meter movement was of self- current makers no longer possess the shielding centre pole construction, and a Editor's comments relevant records. We should, therefiwe, be redesigned cut-out gave better overload interested to hear from anyone in protection. The Ixdarity reverse facility I. The phases of invention, pos,sesskm of a wtn'king Avometer dating became a latching push-button. All commercialisation, acceptance, from before 1936 - especially an owner three units were grouped on a chassis improvement, mass production and of the 1923 ancestor. Bulletin ot the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) 25 ~ i r¸ . I~'IIII~ tLl~ ,'l lh'.''~ll'nltll~ Ir'D~,tlltm~,ill '.,~ ll'l~, \L~ i';" (l~-i}) TABLE 1 Model Sensitivity Year (f~l) Switched ranges Nolt,~ Avtwm.ter Iq23 12mA d¢ volts: ~)0, 120, 12 V ( )rlgmal dc current: 12, 1.2A, 12(I mA A%(|lllt -ter ~ms: 5K DC W27 ~mA dc volts: 12lilt, 131, 12, i.2 V, 1211 mV lu,,e added Avcwllett~r dc current: 12, 1.2 A, 1211, 12 mA ohms: IM IItIK IUK IK DC Avmt~ter ITS31 bmA As ai~)ve + 2 button add~l mark II Shunted k~ 12 mA L~mbled when deprt",~'d by + 2 buthm 20 range W33 6mA tic volts: 12(10, 120, 12, 1.2 V, 1211mV Universal dc cum'nt: 12, 1.2A, 1211, 12 mA ac wdts: 12{Xt, I~1, 12.1.2 V •w currt'nt: 12, 1.2A, 120mA ohms: IM It;OK IOK IK range h mA dc volts: I2IX), 120, 12, 1.2 V, 1211 mV + Z butt.n ,~dded. Universal Shunted to 12 mA dc current: 12, 1.2A, 1211, 12 mA l)~mbh'd ~ ~dl- bv + 2 bt|thm ac ~olts: 12110, I~1, 12 V ac current: 12, 1.2A, 121)mA ohms: IM 10OK IOK IK 36 range Iq3~; As above, plus 4SO V dc Universal Avt~mimw Item I.h7 mA dc volt~: ~ll, 2N), I00, 2-5, 5 (de) ok- current: .~10, IIlll, 2~, 5, 2,'~ mA ohms: 20K Model 7 IO.'t~ I mA dc ~olt~,: II~l),-~NI, Jill, It), I V, tIN) mV .'4huntt~l h~ 2 mA dc current: ](I, IA, II)O, Ill, 2 mA ~ ith .,tale'. ~'f by + 2 butttm volt~: IIIiXI, ~N), lint, It) %,' Ib lINt and 1~4~NI ac current: 10, IA, IIlO, IIImA ohms: IM iIIOK IIIK Auto tllt-t~tlt rrpla~ ,,~ lu,,u i)~tlbk~.| W hen + 2 bnlhm prt .~,~'d Mark II Capacitance: It.Ill to 211 pl r I'~,~ vr hlctor l)~il~'Is: - I0 to + 1"5 dB .'~ ket~ ,liter Power: I mW to 4W ~'ri,II ~o 2~:'tNt Model 40 I~1(1 bmA dc v(dts: 1200, 4~1, 1211. 12, 1.2V, 121)mV B,I ,~,| on t4hunled to 12 mA dc current: 12, 1.2A, 120, 12 mA .~ range m~h,l by + 2 butttm ac ~tdts: 12{11, .1~1, 1211. 12V I'o~ er l,wtor .~ current: 12, 1.2A, 1211. I "~ mA ~ ket~ ,1Hl,r ohms: IIIOK IOK IK .~'rial No. ~7"~1 l; I~;ubl~l with + 2 button iIRM 20k~/V d~ dc volts: Z~Ill, IOIN), 2~). II~), "'5, Ill, 2.'~ V + 2 button fIR2 (.~)p A t.,~|) de current: I A. 2~1, Ilil, 2~, 111, 2.~, l. l).2g, tt.il-g nlA rrplaced b,. ,~" ~tdts: 2~10. IIIIil, 2~1. lint, 2"5, II1V mt.tt.r re% t,r,,~' ohms: I11K Ix I range); I M(x II1(I range) prl'.,~buth~fl M{~k'I S 2111u~/V dc dc volts: 2,~10, 111110,~UI), 2~1. IINI, 2"~, IlL 2.~ V Mark I Ik./V ac dccurrent: lit, IA, IIXI0 10, ] ma, 2~1, ~)HA a~ volts: 2~;0, Ill011. 2r~1, lI~t, 2~. Ill,2.r, V a¢ current: 10, 25, I A, Ill~l mA ohms: 100 - 2110K, plus + II1(I and x IIItl range~ Mark II L~x'i~4 scak. added I hertnl,.h~r added Mark III Iqb~ ! l| ~t" In ohm~ lirl ult I)il~.h'.. to IIYIt~ro~, t' I rt~.ll.leno, re.,|~ ~n,,.I. Mark IV Iq70 lnlpri1~ i'd ,|c ~,n~lll~, It% 2k,/V ac I urtl~,r titanic'- to •~a|l')].llJrd 111o%|'lilt'lit Mark V 1'472 dc ~olts: .~Nkl. IINXl. t~Nl ,~Nt. IlkI. ,~I. Ill. 3 V I ~,|t'n~i I, t' II]tl'r~LII dc current: 111. IA, IIIO, lit, I nlA. t41(1. ~1 i.i.& ac volts: 3t;{l), It)riO,~NI, ,ld;tt. loll, All, IlL "; V ac current: Ill, IA. lilt. II1 mA ohms: I) - 2K. 21~II(, ~IIX| Mark VI A'~ mark V. e~cert 3 kV onutted l-tr-~' ,Idded on lily, t.,,t and Ill) mV dc ,~|ded rt'~|',|dIlle f.lIA~l's Mark VII 1'~2 As mark VI t u'.e iw~h'l hxI on .Ill fJll/,~l'~ In dddltlon hl mt'dldnl~ .11 ~ Ilt-Ollt Bulk,tin id the ,%'k'ntilic Instrument ~'kqv No.37 ( 1~31 27 Compasses and Colophons David J Boullin lhe article bs Lk.rnard Edwards entitled .qctenttt~c Bookl,hltes' reminds me of the ImD~rtance of early printed b~ks in the portrayal of ~,cientific instruments. ~k '/ ~.~,~,~N." "i.~. I I)articularlv in sixteenth and . .; .~ ,~'senteenth centurvtu bt~ksb,,,ks the textual ,J~. .... ":'--'~ I illustrations anti publishers,ishers colophonsco,, / I scientific instruments even when the subject matter of the books is not s'ientific.: Fig.2 Gerard Mercator h,,ldin¢~ a pair of c,,mt,as~. Fn, m a h,ok ~ I. 1. 'Bois~rdus published in Frankfitrt in 1599. The prime example of the scientific colophon comes from the printing house Fig.3 The frontispiece of the English founded in Antwerp by Christopher editionof Mercator's atlas, 1642, showing Plantin and known as Plantin- in the right central panel compasses, Moretus." This firm was founded in armilla~and tzm cross-staff~. about 1553, and produced printed l~oks continuously until the late eighteenth published in 161)8,three years before the century. The premises remained within latter'sdeath. This colophon is the one the family and were purchased by the illustratedin Fig.l, top. Of course, the City of Antwerp in 1876, subsequently compass was a popular symbol in the being turned into a printing-house sixteenth century and was used by museum that should be visited by many artists,including Albrecht Diirer, anyone interested in the history of but the magnificent colophon designed scientific printing and bookbinding. (In by the master artistformed the basis for the Friday-Market, Antwerp; open daily all subsequent compass colophons used except Mondays). by the Plantin-Moretus printing house, and became world renowned. My illustration(Fig.l) shows the firm's colophon of a pair of compasses, first No illustration of compasses ]inks used in 1557. The design of the printingand illustrations of scientific compasses varied with the years; in instrumentsinstruments better than my 1564/5 simple compasses were shown Fig.2,which shows Gerard Mercator with a hand scribing a circle,(Fig.l, left); holding a pair of compasses on what in 1573 the compasses were more must undoubtedly be one of his own decorated and interesting backgrounds globes. Although this engraving appeared, notably of Antwerp, the appeared in a b(mk by J. J. l~issardus home of Plantin-Moretus, (Fig.l, top). (Iconum Virus Virtute atque Eruditiont Finally we come to the compass lllustresRepraesen), engraved by Bry colophon designed by Peter Paul Leod and published in Frankfurt in Rubens (Fig.l, bottom). Rubens made 1599) Mercator was intimately 2253 works of art plus 484 drawings, u~` associatedwith Christopher Plantin and Fig.1 Compass colophons of the Plantin- and some of these include scientific Antwerp. Moretus prmtmg house, Antu~,rp. instruments. Fop: ! 504, a ~lnlple comt~tss; P]antin was not only a master printer MMdh': 1573, a pair qf decorated compas.~'s It is littleknown that the painter Peter but continued his business in the retail set against the background of the City of Paul Rubens (1577-1640) worked as a trade which had sustained him in his Antu'erp, including the Cathedral of Our book engraver for the house of Plantin- earlyyears when times were hard. This IJIdu: Moretus from 1605 until 1640, the year trade linked him closely with some of Button1: 1o08. the coh,phim d,'slgned ~ the of his death.:-'.'~ The firstengraving he the most noted scientists, including artist Peter Paul Rubens for the b0,,k made of the compass colophon was for Gerard Mercator. He sold all kinds of u'rtttcn by his l,roth,'r Philip Rubens. his brother Philip's book Eleetorum Libri things from ladies gloves to maps, 2{4 Bulletinof the ScientificInstrument ~ciety No.37 (1993) globes, astrolabes, quadrants and astronomical instruments. I'lantin's life is certainly worth ci(~er investigation by historians of scientific instruments. For example, we know that Gemma Frisius made his first globe about 1530 in Leuven and Gerard Mercator made his about 1541. Not only did Plantin stock the globes of botl~ men but he made a speciality of globes, and Mercator supplied him with ll~} maps and globes for sale between 1558 and 1589 when Plantin died. ' Between 1559 and 1573 Plantin supplied Mercator with the paper for his maps and globes. Interestingly, astrolabes in Antwerp at that time (z,i: 1568) were only about one third of the price commanded in Spain. Christopher Fig.4 The upper part of the frontispiece to an atlas published by Ioannes lansson, Plantin published Mercator's map of Amsterdam, 1653: globes, armillary and a cross-staffare to be .~,'en. Europe in 1572, but never printed any of Mercator's atlases. The English edition of Mercator's atlas, published in 16.12, shows compasses, an armillary and two cross staffs, one in use (Fig.3.). Christopher I)lantin printed 1887 books between 1553 and 1589. Although the majority were theological 147 were scientific,:'~* :' including 55 relating to geography, 33 to astronomy and astrology, 28 to the natural sciences, and 22 to botany plus a smaller number of medical works. Thus the works published by the Plantin-Moretus printing hou~ may serve as a /ruitful source of illustrations of scientific instruments. r I -~. i n i , "~ ~'~....~.. l,'~g~,~ ~u ~r-~-~1, "'- |('~.r, .... j,:~..~ However, I should not like to give the , -| .. '~ " - --- ~'~.J~, ~... ~" "~" (.~Z.~,I3...T~,~'~.Z.~: impression that illustrations of scientific H J ~J~ ||*'"."/,. Y .,',.J-.. m,',--~" ~ .... , , instruments are confined to scientific Ill[ II ~ ' . -a.-.:.. -- o I1,.I~~,.~:,-,ti l E .I.,. f~l ~'.~1 ~al-lo.AI, . • ~~h-- ,~,-~l"~.,~.."ffT.,I"~...~ ~ ¢,4,."~'' ~" books, or that Plantin-Moretus waslhe a~_~lb'~l~, ,,~,;~ ~1~'~, ~l ',~ff-~ used engravings of scientific Ill " " ...... I ~ II "" " .- a,~ "~ ~-- ~,,,;~,,a't,-,,,, , zA~"-.v:': instruments in their productions. 'I il m,~ " "~ "~'~ *~]~ ~" '¢~']ll ~~.~, I have searched many 10th and 17th I ,~ ~.,"~'t,t, i scientific instruments and, apart from : ~. ";~ ..,~ ~j~ T..~(~' ,~ "~'~ .~,,'&i|'~a being rather extensively found in , ~ . . ~;~{ ,~ ,~,.'-, . geographical atla.,~es, thev are quite rare, ii they are just as likely to be found in .~ religious works. Due to shortage of • - space ! can only give some isolated The illustrations of scientific instruments in early atlases may be found in the publisher's colopho'n as well as in cartouches on the maps • themselves. Thus, Joannes Jansson, Amsterdam, was a prolific cartographer Fig.5 Cartouctu~from maps published by. I~nnes lans~m, Amsterdam: and published many maps and atla.,~. Top:fromamapqftheLoireValh~t;puttiholdi~L£asurve~w'schain, compass~,andacross- Fig.4 shows the upper part of the staff., with an armiila~ in the centre, frontispiece to an atlas published in Bottom: from a map of Gascony; a Holland circle, surveyor's chain, mariner's astrolabe, 1653;we see an armillarv in the centre, ceh'stialgh)be, armillary, and an unknown instrument, globes to left and righi, and a figure Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument ~iety No.37 (1~3) 29 A v u.,,ing a crt~.,-staff to the left of the right hand g h~%,,. Other examples from the same puhli.,,hing hov.,,e are from cartot,ches: Fig.5, top. is from a map of the Loire Valley with pt, tti holding a sur~e*,or's chain, compasses and cross-staff, with an armillarv in the centre. Fig.5. lower, is from a map of Ga~onv. I do not know the nature of ihe X in,,trument which the man on the left is g, aligning with the .,,un's rays. this cartouche al~o illu~,trate,~ a llolland circle, surveyor's chain, mariner's aMrolabe, cele.~tial glolx, Ion the far left) and another armillarv. In Fig.0, from a map of l:h,rmuda by h,anne.,, Jan.,,~m, we i1!: hase navigator's equipment including rf: dividers, lead lint-, and a .,,andgla~,s. I'! l'robablv the book with the most lt- comprel:~en~,i~e repre.,,entations of ~-ientfflc in.qrt, ments is Lucas ]anz¢,,n ~,'~aghenaer van Enckhu~.,~,n's maritime •.: a~ atla.., Ecrst," ;'an dc Sl'te,('tlc/ d,' Zc'ci',hlrt, publi:hed by Christopher I'lantin from l.eiden in 1384. lhis ~a_~ one of the mt~,t important mariner's ~t,a-manua]s ever printed: a l'rivv Council-approved l[ngh~,h edition appeared in I.'388. My Fig.7 ~,hows the title page to the original l)utch edition; nine (or possibly ten) na~ igational in.,,truments are .,,hown as Lucas Jansz.Waghenaer follows: (~,tarting top left), I, quadrant; 2. cek,.-,tial globe; 3, centre, po.,,.,,ibl}' a van Enckhuysen burning glass, or lens; 4, terrestrial gloN.,; -~. mariner's a~,trolabe; e,, sandgla~,s; 7, cro,,,,-~,taff; 8, plumb line; 9, dividing De maritieme cartografie in de Nederlanden conH>as~; Itl, mariner'.,, compass? '*" in de zestiende en het begin van de zeventiende eeuw Finally, I have ~n~e illu,,trations from non-~cientilic publications. The lollo~ving are all from a hb, torv of the le~,mt',, publi~,hed by l'lantin-Morett,s in Ir~40: each m,,trument is set in the highly Fig.7 Frouti:t,h'ce of Lucas Wagenaer i,=m Enckhuusen's maritmte atlas of1583. Chrheise decorah~e ,,urround that is typical of from lop fi'ft: I. quadrant; 2, cch,stial flob,': 3, centre, possibly a burnin¢, glass or h'ns; 4. the highest ~landards of printing t,'rr,.str, ll ,~h,l,e; 5, mariner's astrohd~'; o, .~m,lghlss: 7, cross-sta.ff; 8, ph,mb line; 9, dividin.¢ exercised in the sixteenth and t Ottll~a4~: ]0, ~tl, lrHlcr's t'OltlpllY,5. •,e~ enteenth centuries. In Fig.8 are t~o timekee|~'rs: a weight- distant fr~,m the meridian for which the Acknowledgments drixen wall clock with verge and a dial i~ calibrated (probably Antwerp). ~crtical ~,undial. lhe Roman numerals it is a pleasure to thank Stephen on the horns or antler~ surrounding the Fig.q (Upper) .~hows an apothecary in Gregory, the Librarian of Sion College, dial apl~'ar to indicate the time at places his ,,hop using a large wstle and mortar, John Carpenter Street, Victoria with many fine jars in the background Embankment, London EC4Y 0DN, for l he h,wer illustration is one of the many provision of facilitit~ and for permission fanciful ~.iews of Archimedes using a to reproduce the illustrations shown concave n~irror to ~'t fire to the Roman here. ship~ at the siege of Syracu.~'. References lhe e-~sential point I wish to make is that pictures of scientific instruments 1. B Edwards, 'Scientific b¢~)kplates', may De found disseminated in old Bulh,tm of th,, Scient!fic Instrument St~'iety bo~iks With apparently unconnected 1992, No. M, p. 6. Fig.h t',lrt,,uch,' from a real, tmbli~hed tw titles: there is much maierial for fruitful Ioan.,'~ /,m.~,,.. Am~.tcr,h;m. A .tal, Of" research 2. I'. I'. Rubens als Boekillustrator. ~t'rttlll,t,1 SJ/O~U~Hdi'i~,ltor'> t',llliptnt'tlt. Tentl~mstelling 7 Met - 4 Juli 1977. Stadt 30 Bulh.tin of the ."kwntific In...trument .'.~x'iety No.37 (i~3) Fig.8 Fn,m "A Historlc ,,f tlle /,'suits', 104¢1: T,,p: a u,,'~ht-drit,en fi~il oh,ok with v,'r~e. Bottom: a i~'rtical sundial. Antwerpen Museum Plantin-Moretus Vrijdagmarkt, 22, B-2000, Antwerpen. 3. Christ,,pher I'hmtin, Cas~,ll: London, 1"4~). For general references concerning Rubens ,,,t~-' chap. 13, in particular the following: "[he genius of Rubens was constrained to translate in his frontispieces the content of heavy and arid theological treatises which have today lost all their interest, and who~ only'value now lies in the fact that the great master of Flemish Baroque deigned to illustrate them' (p 228). v. 4. Christ,:ffel Phultijn eu de eX,lcte a~'teu~hcpp,'n in zijn tijd, Gemeentkredit, Brus~,l, 1989. Fig.9 'A History of the ]esuits', 1640: Top: An ,ll,Otllecary's shop. B,,ttom: Archi,l,,des 5. Br~,lns Dicti,,n,lr~ of Paint,'rs ,1rid l,urnm~ mirmr. EnRr,il,,'rs, London: Gelwge Bell, 1904 (3rd edition). 8. Lucas ]litlS=OOtl Wd,v,h('lhit'r i".il! Enckhuy~'n. D," Maritime c, lrto.~r,#ie in ,h' 6. Rul,eus Dall "Italia AIl'Eur,,t,a'. Edited Ne,h,rl,lnden in d," a,'sticnd," ,'n h,'t l,c~in by Caterina Limentani Virdis & van d," zeventwn,h" ceua,. Reprinted by France.,~'a Bottacin. Vicenza: Neri Pozza Vereniging 'Vrienden van het Editore, 1992; Michael Jaffe 'Rubens Zuiderzeemuseum', Enkhui/en, 1984. l,,']i,re 1o20. with/,articular refi'r,'n,'; to pp 89-95, 'Waghenaer's "lhe Mariner's aspects ,!f his c,,mlni~,ions for Ill, ~ Coml,an~t Mirrour, 1588, and its influence on of ],'sus, pp 13-20; Gerhard Wiedemann, English hydrography.' hi T,,mba di Ferdinand Pan den Eund,'n di l)uql,esnoy ,' hi scultura n,'ll,, .~t,irih, di Author's add rt.lss: RI,h'ns, pp 75-88. 19 Wl~lsttx:k Road Witnev 7. Catalog:u,' du Afus,',; I~l,lnti,-Mon'tus par Oxon OX8 6EB AhD Roos,'s, quatrieme edition: Anvers Imprimerie J-E Bu~'hmann, 18'4.',. Bulk.tin of the ~'it.Dti~it- In,,,trument ,'~;4~'i{'tv No.J7 (1~3) 31 Market Place Arthur Middleton (.)uatrain XXlll "Ah, make the most of Messrs. Ader, Picard and Tajan took Monsieur, il faut demander il what u,e yet may an entire art nouveau sale to Japan, Londres." Christies are content to swnd. where they considered the market play a waiting game, and so on this B,:fore u~' too into the was strongest for such items. It was a particular subject there is nothing Dust descend: runaway success and the best items further to report. Dust into Dust, and made very high prices, one man under Dust, to lie, buying them on behalf of a private The Hotel Drouot, where practically Sans Wine, sans Son~, and anonymous collector. The all Parisian sales are held, is by now ~ns Sin~er, and - ~ns Frenchmen flew home feeling very universally disliked: it is End!" satisfied. ]'he euphoria evaporated as overcrowded, cramped and stuffy. the weeks passed and no money ~)me of the major sales of expensive Quatra#n XXIV "Alike for those who arrived. Months went by and despite furniture and paintings are held in .~,r To-day prepare, urgent faxes, still nothing. Eventually the more genteel atmosphere of the Aml those that after a the buyer informed them that because Hotel Georges V (whose kitchens Tp- morrol~, star,', his private collector had suffered a were described in such graphic and A Afu,':zin tnm~ the large hiss on the Stock Exchange he unhygienic detail by George Orwell rou,er =!f l)arknes~ was no longer interested in the gtn~ds in his 1920s classic Doum and Out in cries and they would have to regard the Paris and London). There is sufficient ""t'~,~ls ~ your R,'u,ard sale as annulled. The auctioneers demand for another sale-room in is n,'Hlu;r /h'rr nor were increasingly concerned, for they Paris, and now Bernhard Steinitz has I'lu'rr! "° knew that while there was no come up with a proposal for one in St. Japanese Law governing their Ouen. You will remember that ! lhr Rubaiyat ,,f ()mar khauyam. English activities, they were still operating described in my last article (Bulletin tr,mslat.,n bu Edward Fit:.~rrald. 1859. under French Law, whether the sale no. 35, Dec. 1992) how his idea for a was held in Tokyo or Timbuctoo. One luxury hotel had run into a little local [his time. the narrative begins in the clause makes them - and any French difficulty with the planning Far Fa,~t. auctioneer - ultimately responsible authorities, who preferred to see for paying the vendor, and in this cheap housing for their impoverished I)td you know that there is no such case they were two million pounds immigrants. Mr. Steinitz, as an per.-on as a Japane.~, auctioneer? Or, short, ihe vendor had already alternative, has plans for a "super- until recenth', no >uch thing there as commenced legal proceedings, and Drouot" where the auction rooms will a public auction .,,ale? [he whole idea they were going to lose. The eventual be large and well supplied with and con~ept is completely unknown bill', counting two years interest and natural daylight - markedly deficient and allen to them. It was therefore legal fees, was nearer £2'/., million. in the present Drouot. This is not a ~tth ~ome trepidation that a major l'hev had only one recourse, and that bad idea: there are thousands of iondon auction house decided last was to hastily arrange the sale and dealers in the flea market, and it ~ear to mount a .,,ale in Tokyo. To lease-back of their pleasant 19th- would be easy to tempt some of the take It. they flew out one of tht, ir top century building in central Paris. auctioneers from the city centre. men A.~ he chmbed on to the ro..,trum Meanwhile, the unsold items had he ~ as greet~i b'c a packed n~m)full been returned and stored in a bank If you are unaware of the way the ot l~0 re~i.,,teredbidders, all talkin~ vault in Switzerland, where they French do things, this is it: the Hotel to each other. As he announced [.tit remain to this day. Technically they Drouot is owned and run by the One. ISO paddles shot into the air. As now belong to Messrs. Ader and Compagnie des Commissaires- he tried to .~ort them out. the hubbub [alan (M. I'icard having moved off to Priseurs, who rent out the rooms in >tilted a,~am anti he rap|~,d with his start hi.,, own business) but during the the building to their members for the ~a~, el for ~llellCe 1:'~ O| the lapane~,e elapsed time the market in such viewing and sale days. A small rix~m thought that he , a.,, actualh .,,elhng thin~s has fallen dra.~tically, and a for two days will cost FF6,000 (£800) the thing - =t t~a.,, alter all.the tir.,,t resale now would show a large loss. but a large double room on the first tm~e an~ of them had e~er bz~,n to a lhev may have to wait .,,ome years for floor for an important sale with a ~ale - and pandemonmm broke out as the market to rise again - if it ever three day view will cost FF30,000 the', l~.'he',cd they had n'u~'d it. and dL,,s. (£4,tX)()). For this the auctioneer will I ,,t.. 2 ~ 4 ~, r, and7 a~ ~ ell It t¢~,k an get the .~ervices of some porters and a interpreter a le~ rntnutes to calm [his is another law which will be couple of floor-walkers during the binding on the Fnglish auction sale itself. the building is thus self- houses when they start ~,elling in financing, but of course an auctioneer It ~ a~ not the ttr,t ~,ale ex er held France. Ilas anyone told them about is not bound to u.~ it; he could just as tht-rz' One or t~,~o of the better it? Apparently not. 'lhe lady in well hold his sale at Mr. Steinitz's r.ir,>1.1n auct=onet, r~ ha~e tried, with Sothebv'.., l're~,s ()tilts is geltiltg a m.w building where the o.~ts would a lair ,tc~ree ol .',ucce.~,. hokhng a ~ale little weary of my telephone call~: lie appreciably lower. I imagine there ,:,t Imrre,.-h*nl>t palntln~ at the "No.I don'! know...aml I really can t will hi, more I)orse trading before one itc, tel f~;eorge~. % t~ Ith a >atellite tell you when sah,,~ will begin there or other of his schemes is given the teh'~ ,.-~,~n link to another room in (and now pa,,.,e., the hm k and ral~,llv go-ahead. lok~ o ~ ~th b~dflm¢, ,~omg on m both ..,igns olt) ,. why dou't 'you a,,k o.r pla,'c, l he time dtlterence was ott,ce there ,~ l'm ,,ure llu, v'll know Ihe worhl-wide operations of ,.on~ ement tO .~am m Furo}~, betn~ more". I:I~e itllnllti,~ later file bm k i. .~othebys. including its I:kmd St. and 7 30pro =n lapin. [sso sears a~o returned equally ta,,t: "Ah, non, IItlltng.~hur...t sale-rooms, has now Ihtlh.tm ot Ihe h ,'uhth" h~tr,nlent hwietv hk~..T/ (l~ Fig.l Front and rear faces of a naz,icula sundial sold at Sotheby's on 25th Februa~ 1993. It is .,l(~,,htly lar~er than the Greenu,ich example. been taken over by an American lady, Venetians" (Fig.l). This had been with the idea of buying it for the Diana Brooks. She flew into London catalogued carefully but guardedly as Geneva Science Museum, but was in April to take charge of her new fief "English, possibly 18th century". This only the under-bidder. By chance and was described at the time by it was clearly not. it was either 15th Greenwich recently acquired another Geraldine Norman in The htdependent century, or an italian bauble made for example, whicJl Dr. Kristen as "a sort of brainy Doris Day". a Grand Tourist in the 19th, except Lippincott wrote up in this journal Before she arrived every that the positive results of the tests at (No. 35 I.h,c. 19~2). departmental head was ordered to Oxford did not come through until produce projected figures for the after the catalogue had gone to press. Pocket globes continued to make coming year. Flow absurd! How Mine Margharida Archinard flew in news when a rare example by could they possibly predict in advance what and how much they are going to be given, and how much it will sell for? - if indeed it sells at all! It is quite normal these days for a greedy vendor to play one auction house against the other and to eventually arrive at a "no sale no fee" agreement despite an unrealistically high reserve, although this happens more with highly priced paintings and furniture than the pathetically cheap scientific instruments. Sothebys first sale of the year, on the 25th Feb, started with 98 lots of opera glasses and spy glasses, a single- owner collection of gilt brass, tortoiseshell and ivory fit for a boudoir. To the auctioneers relief virtually all these sold, although two hours before the sale there was not a single bid in the book. The rest of the sale was undistinguished except for the consistently high prices made by early 19th century pocket globes (over £2,000 each). The star piece at £36,000 was a rectilinear brass dial in the Fig.2 Small il~,rl,ts, as dlspcr~'d I,ll t~(mh,l.l~ Hic httlc Ncwti,n .~l,,hc at thc t,, t, i. 2 I. manner of the "little ships of the diameter. Bulletinof the ScientificInstrument ~)ciety No.37 (1993) 33 l.eonard Ct,.~hee .,,old for £3,200 in an otherwise modest country sale. Cu,,hee only worked from 17~q to 17~,1, and the colours were so fresh it could hardly have been out of its ca~e. Marked in Africa were the "Zaara Desart", "Abba~,.,,ina", and "Negroland". In the 5th century I$C all this would haxe been part of the I'er~,ian Empire of Xerxes, who, a.,, the Book of Esther tells t,s, "reigned from India e~en unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and .~even and twenty pro~ inces". Another pocket globe appeared at Bonhams on 12th March and duly made £2,0~,). lhi,, one ~as by Dr, rile;, Adam,, - normal enough, btit he was u~,ing his lather'.,, engra~ed copper plates ~hich he had inherited from hi~, mother, and the geographical detail wa.~ long out of date. (Fig.2) lhis lime ~e had "'Barbary", the "l)etart o¢/.ara", and the "country of the Catre~". lrm or Phillip,, compt, ted by telephone from the ,,,aletv of his h~tel bedroom in 5wit,,erl,ind. lle ~ a.,, .,,till the under-bidder and would ha~e been better-off >la)ing on the On the r(~,ht is an e.wclh'nt e.~ample qf a Powel/ & Leahmd m~trumcul dated 18~i. >lope~ Chrl>tie'.,, maior >prlng .,,ale took place on tile ~th May and attracted a large turnout, and not iust becau~,e it ~a~, 3 da~.,, before the next Science Fair or L',ecau-,e they held a mo.~t ho~,pitable reception the e~ening beforehand. It ~a~, not a marathon, .',,uch a,, the .Mo~co~ it,: di~,per.~al ~ here ~otlr corre,,pondent nodded off and th,.,n bought the wrong lot: thb, ~a.- ]~ lot_,, ot ~,uch variety and intere.~t that several b'uvers conlmeflted that "it was the be~,t sale ,,ince the 1~0'~'" There were .'14 ~,~, heat~,tone-related item~, a fine and rare l,~th century concave mirror on a bron,,e ~,tand,a mid-l~th century [.ahore a.~trolabe, (£I0,000) a 17tJ~ centt, rv gt, nner~, .~ector in ivory gi~ ing details of .,,hot and powder for Italian. French, Dutch, and English cannon, (£I,00t11 and a large Smith and Beck micro.,,cope with a hand- rltten note signed by F.H Wenham hlm,,elf .,,tating that ;'...the original binocular arrangement made and fitted by him.., these parts being nece~,~,arilv Detachable having been the fir~,t exer adapted". (£%5(10) (Fig.3) One of the cleanest examples e~er seen of Ed~vard Nairne'.~ che.~l micro.,,cope made a total of £12,00(I (Fig.4). The .,,ale was odd in that it .,,eemed to divide between inexpem, ive and reasonable, or very expem, ive. The unu,,uallv high prices commanded by the top ten items - Fig.4 /I ,llc.I mr, ro.., OlpC I'll I.d,em,I Nmrnc. I hc LI_).IIII/I i,m,I tot It ,t k'hn>llc :. oH Ma|l onl,v t~o of which could po.,,ilively be OIII i~ I,r,,I,a/,l~a ill,rid recar~I ~ilr ~llCtl lill in~lrl#.lenl. Bulb.tin of the .~u'ntitic In~,trument ~.'iety No.37 (l~Jq3) identified as late 18th century - was business seemed steady but not delete them. So far he has found no due to the determination of two dramatic, with an interesting variety reason to do so. telephone bidders, so much so that of items on display. Jeremy Collins on his rostrum paid Finally, the verse from the Rubaiyat scant attention to the people standing 1 gather that some of my comments that you have been wondering about or sitting in front of him. in this case about a previous fair were not well while reading this article: we were superfluous. received by some exhibitors. Well gentlemen, that's too bad. ! record my "'The Moving Finger u,rltes: and, havin~ The latest Science Fair, number 14, own impressions at the time, and writ, took place on Sunday 9th May. This afterwards talk to some of the people Moves on: nor all tltt/ Piety nor Wit time the queue at two minutes to ten I know best - not just those with Shall lure it back to ~ameJ half a line, was satisfactorily long, and by two tables but buyers from England and Nor all th~ rears u,ash out a W,,r,t of it. "" minutes past ten Peter Delehar had overseas - to try to form an overall sold his fine example of Wheatstone's picture. If you sold something that wave machine. He also showed an you thought was rare and marvellous, early electric lathe, of the type first then tell me: but don't complain to introduced for instrument-making by Peter Delehar much later, as there is the French engineer Gustave Froment nothing he can then do and you are around 1845. (Fig.5) Rob Robinson wasting his time. If the Editor from Hamble showed a matching pair considered my remarks to be unjust, of sextant and reflecting circle by inaccurate, or not in the public Gambey of Paris. The volume of interest, then he has every right to Fig.5 An early eh'ctrically-inmvred lathe, circa 1860, which appeared at the Sci=vtt!fic Instrument Fair on the 9th Mau Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1~3) 35 Current and Future Events Cambridge, England 21-25 June 1993, Chicago Merseyside Maritime Museum. Further details from The Executive Secretary, Empin's" t~ Physics is an important special The XV International Conference on the The Newcomen Society, Science exhibition now open at the Whipple History of Cartography will be Museum, London SW7 2DD. Mu~um, Free Sch(x~l Lane, Cambridge organised by the Herman Dunlap Smith CB2 3RH. Arranged on two thaws, it Center for the History of Cartography at 7-14 July 1993, i.,1 Jolla explores the relationship between the Newberry Library, Chicago and the instruments developed in English and International Society for the History of The Fifth International Congress on the German laboratories and their public Cartography. Details from the Center, History of Oceanography will mark the presentati(~n in internati~mal exhibitions O0 West Walton Street, Chicago, Illinois founding of Scripps Institution of at the end of the 19 'h century. The 606010, U S A. Oceanography. Details: ICHO V, museum is open Monday to Friday University of California, San Diego, 14:00 to 16:00. admission free. 25 June 1993, London Office of Conference Manager, Mail Code 0513, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Joila, The museum has also organized a The Royal Society and the Fourth CA 92093--0513, U.S.A. programme of workshops for A level Dimensi~m: The History of Timekeeping students ba.~,d ~m the exhibition. Details will be the theme of a one day meeting, 8 July 1993, London from the curator. jointly SlXmsored by The Royal Society and the Antiquarian Horological The Scientific Instrument Society will be Munich, Germany Society, to be held at the Royal Society holding its Annual General Meeting on on Friday 25th June 1993. The papers Thursday 6 July 1993 at 14:00 in the The new Surveying C,allery is now open will reflect the role and influence of the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington in the Deutsches Museum, Royal Society during the development House, Piccadilly, London W1. This will Museuminsel 1, D-8000 Munich 22, of precision timekeeping in England be held in conjunction with a meeting at Germany. Situated on the top floor fnnn the 17th to the 19th century - from which the following short research opposite large windows, the Huygens and Hooke, including the papers will be presented: instruments are beautifully illuminated years of the Board of Longitude, and well displayed. through to the culmination of the full Alison Morrison-Low, Royal Museum development of the marine chronometer of Scotland Until 26 September 1993 Museum by Arnold and Eamshaw. Speakers will Economies of Scale: Instrument Boerhaave, Leiden include Rodney Law, John Leopold, Contracting in Early 19th Century Jonathan Betts, Michael Wright, England The travellin¢, astronomer: Dutch Andrew King and Derek Howse. astronomical es~'ditions to the East and the John Burnett, Royal Museum of Wt~t 1993 is also the tercentenary of the birth Scotland of John Harrison. Harrison will be the How Common were Thermometers in the Dutch astronomers t¢~k their share in subject of one of the papers being 18th Century? the international effort to ob~rve the presented. His achievements in the transits of Venus in 1874 and 1882. The history of timekeeping and navigation Paolo Brenni, lstituto e Museo di Storia first expedition to Reunion near will also be demonstrated in the context della Scienza, Florence Madagascar failed owing to weather of several other papers. The Discovery and Conservation of conditions, but the second one in 1882 to Father Secchi's Meteorografo of 1857 Curaqao in the West indies was a it is hoped to mount a small exhibition complete success. of manuscripts and artifacts related to S R Sarma, Aligarh Muslim University, the meeting. Aligarh, India ,~dar eclipses were another reason for A Survey of indian Astronomical astronomers to travel to distant parts of For further information, please contact Instruments the globe. To observe these, nineteen Mrs Sheila Edwards at The Royal Dutch expeditions were organized Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, There is no charge to attend this between I~1 and 1~73. London SWlY 5AG. Tel No. 071-839 meeting or the AGM, which will follow 5561, extn 261. at 16.30. ~me of the instruments used during these expeditions will be shown at the 25 June - I0 October 1993, Antwerp 9-11 July 1993, Essex exhibition. Within the scope of "Antwerp, Cultural William Gilbert and the ElizabethanWorld A touch of the exotic will be added Capital of Europe, 1993" an exhibition is is the topic of a conference jointly through an evocation of the 1q26 eclipse to be held in the Hessenhuis entitled organized by the University of Essex camp on Sumatra in the Dutch East Antwerp, Story of a Metrota~lis (16th-17th and the History Group of the Institute of Indies. Visitors may try their skills at a centuries). Physics. Speakers will include Jim computer-simula'ted" Venus transit. Bennett, J.V. Field and Patrick There is a 32-page bax~klet in Dutch to Eight Antwerp-made scientific Collinson. Details from Prof. L.J. accompany the exhibition. instruments will be shown, together Jordanova, University of Essex, with other artifacts from the mid-16th to Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3AQ. For details contact G. Kreeftmeiier, mid-17th centuries. Presentation Department, Museum 22-29 August 1993, Zaragoza, Spain Ih~erhaave, PB 11280, 2.~}1 Leiden, the 26 June 1993, Liverpool Netherlands. 19th International Congress of the The Newcomen ~K'iety is organizing a History of Science. It is the intention to meeting on the theme Perceptians of hold a Scientific Instrument Symposium Great Engineers: Fact and Fantas~ at the for one day, on a date to be- decid ed , BullHin of the .~-K~ntific Instrun~nt ~cicty No37 (1993) during the course of this congress. Science Museum. Details from Dr. Alan For information write to Peter de Clercq, Details from Mariano Hormigon, Morton, The Science Museum, Museum Boerhaave, PB 11280, 2312 EG Facultad de Ciencias (Mathematicas), Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD. Leiden, The Netherlands. Cuidad Universitaria, E-50009, Zaragoza, Spain. 17 November 1993, London Compiled by. Peter Delehar 8-11 September 1993, Oxford, The Society's firstInvitation Lecture will England be given by Dr. R.G.W. Anderson, Director of the British Museum, at the An international conference on the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington theme of Technological Change will be House, Piccadilly,London WI, 18:30 to held at Rhodes House, Oxford, from 20:30. The title will be: People and 8-11 September 1993. The conference, Museums: Expectations and Responses. which is organised by the University of This is a public lecture, and admission is Oxford in collaboration with a number free. Details: Trevor Waterman, of partners, will provide an opportunity Meetings Secretary, 75a Jermyn Street, for a fundamental re-examination of the London SWlY 6NP. state of the discipline of the history of technology in its widest sense. In this 3 - 6 May 1994, Paris respect it deliberately resembles the conference on "Scientific Change" that A number of events have been planned was held in Oxford in 1961. Details from to mark the bicentenary of the execution Professor Robert Fox, Modern History of Lavoisier on 8 May 1794. Details: Faculty, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BD. Michele Goupil, Secretaire du Comite Bicentenaire Lavoisier, Academie des 31 October 1993, London Sciences, 23 Quai Conti, 75006 Paris, France. The Fifteenth International Scientific & Medical Instrument Fair will be held on 8 May 1994, London Sunday 31 October 1993 at the Portman Hotel, Portman Square, London WI, The Sixteenth International Scientific & I0:00 - 16:30.Details: 081-866 8659. Medical Instrument Fair will be held on Sunday 8 May 1994 at the Portman 4--6 November 1993, Cambridge, Hotel, Portman Square, London WI, USA 10:00 - 16:30. Details: 081--866 8659. The Longitude Symposium at Harvard 7--9 Sept. 1994, Leiden University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U S A will celebrate the tercentenary of A conference Origins and Evolution of the birth of John Harrison. Speakers will Collecting Scientific Instruments will be include Alan Stimson "Development of held at the Boerhaave Museum in instruments for determining direction Leiden. and distance travelled: latitude, local time and lunar distances"; John Leopold Early scientific instruments make up "Christiaan Huygens", Owen Gingerich distinct parts of applied arts and science "Cranks and Opportunists: nutty museums. They are objects of interest to solutions to the Longitude Problem"; collectors, archaeologists and historians William Andrewes "Harrison's early alike. Instruments have been included marine timekeepers"; Catherine in collections continuosly since the Cardinal "LeRoy and Berthoud" and Renaissance, but the reasons for their David Penney "Mudge" etc. acquisition have changed in response to changing needs and inclinations of the The meeting is being organised by the collectors. Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, in From 7 to 9 September 1994, the association with the National Museum Boerhaave, the Dutch National Association of Watch and Clock Museum of the History of Science and Collectors. Medicine, will be the venue of a conference devoted to this theme. Some For a brochure and registration form fourteen speakers will address this write to Will Andrewes, The Longitude subject in the general context of Symposium, Harvard University, collectingas a European phenomenon. Science Centre B6, Cambridge, Mass 02138, U.S.A. To coincide with the conference, the Museum Boerhaave will mount a 13 November 1993, London special exhibition on collecting scientific instruments. Science Lecturing in the Eighteenth Century is the subject of a meeting in Offers of papers are being considered. conjunction with an exhibition at the Poster sessions may also be envisaged. Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) 37 Book Reviews -- m Opinions expressed by. revieu~,rs are their own, and do not neces~rih/ reflect the vieus of the Editor or the Society. Hislo~ of Electric documents would be especially useful that have taken place in the LAiRht and Power when placing these technical histories in development of the electrical supply Br~n Boucrs. their social context. The maiority have industry. Peter Peregrinus Ltd. in association with been written by engineers who have a The Science Mu~um, London. 1991 (soft specialist knowledge of their subject, Wiilem Hackmann, back reprint), viii + 278 pp. and wish to emphasise the development Museum of the History of seience, Oxford. ISSN 0-906048-71-0, illus., £35. of the particular technology in which they are interested. By contrast, most Reviewing this book provides a good historians make up in historical skills opportunity to take a brief look at the what they may lack in technical Science Preserved: A Directory of Institute of Electrical Engineers (lEE) expertise, it is salutary to compare the Scientific Instruments in Historu a[ Technohugy Series of which this different perspectives in Paul Collections in the United Kingdom volume "is number three, and which is Tunbridge's treatment of Kelvin's and Eire under the general editorship of Brian involvement in electrical measurements Mary Holbrook, with additions and ih~wers. in this series with that by Crosbie Smith revisions by RGW Anderson and DI Br~len and M. Nork~n Wise, Energy and Empire. HMSO 1992, £35 The series had a rather inauspicious A Biographical Study of Lord Kelvin ISBN 0 11 290060 7 Start in 1979 with P.H. Sydenham's (Cambridge University Press, 1989). Measuring Instruments: Tools of This book is described by its publisher Knowledge and Control, a fascinating it is unfair to criticise this series for as the Domesday Book of historical sub~ct about which the author knows a something it is perhaps not intending to scientific instruments in Britain. Well, great deal, but which was not treated be, and technical histories can certainly it's not quite that old - but it has been 25 very successfully. There have been be a very useful source of information. years in gestation! Also, William would eighteen volumes to date covering a In my opinion, the best works in this have grossly undervalued his kingdom wide selection of topics. There is V.J. series are those by Robert Clayton and if his survey was as incomplete as this Phillips on early radio wave detectors Joan Algar on the GEC Laboratories, one, for 6 major collections (the Science, (no. 2,1980) which is in many respects a Russell Burns on early television, V.J. Wellcome and National Maritime companion volume to his more recent Phillips on radio detectors and S.S. Museums in London, the National history of early t~cillographs published Swords on the first radars. Several Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and by Adam Hilger (1987); S.S. Swords on volumes would be useful for SIS the University Museums in Oxford and the origins of radar (no. 6, 1986); R.W. members interested in identifying and Cambridge) are merely summarized. Burns on the formative years of British dating electrical devices, in particular television (no. 7, 1986); J.G. O'Hara and Vivian Phillips's on radio detectors, The first 78 of the 271 pages in this long- D.W. pricha on Hertz and the Brian Callick's on magnetrons and awaited production are occupied by a Maxwellians (no. 8, 1987); p. Povey and related devices, and Peter Povey and glossary of instrument types. Clearly RA.J. Earl on vintage telephones (no. 9, Reg Earl's on vintage telephones. annotated and lavishly illustrated, this 198~) E.B. Callick on wartime radar is certainly valuable in its own right - magnetrons and other microwave It is in this context that Brian Bowers' A but is this the place for it? No, it's not - devices (no. II, 1990); G. Bussey on History af Electric Light 6, Pouw (the soft but its presence betrays the underlying earls, wireless receivers (no. 13, 1990); back reprint of the 1982 publication) problem that afflicts current studies in and Paul Tunbridge on Kelvin's should be judged. It is again a useful this field. Any modem scientist knows influence on electrical measurements technical history in the format that it would be impossible to list every and units (no. 18, 1992). R.J. Clayton and presumably established by him under type of scientific instrument in Britain J. Algar have been responsible for two his editorship - his own volume on the today, so implicitly recognizes that what volumt.,,~: no. 10 (1989) on the history of origins and growth of the supply is meant are historical scientific the GEC Rt-~,earch Laboratories, and no. industry and the development of the instruments. To most, this conjures up 14 (iC,~l) which is a transcript of the war main uses of electricity. The book is images of brass and glass, mahogany diary of Sir Clifford Pater~m, the first divided into h)ur sections: (1) 'Origins' and microscopes; others are reminded Director of the same laboratories. Two (The beginning of static and current of obsolete apparatus quietly corroding volumes were published in 1991 to electricity, Faraday's researches, early in a basement store. Either way, only a celebrate the bicentenary of Earadav's telegraphs, electric motors [misprinted few want to know more. But does birth: nos. 16 and 17 being respectively 'meters' in the Contents list], and 'historical' mean old, beautiful, or an Faradav's European travel diary, edited electrical science); (2) 'Practical invention seminal to the progress of by Brian ib~Wers and L. Svmons; and his possibilities' (Early dynamos, arc and science? Surely it should cover all these chemical notes of 1822, t-dited by R.D filament lamps); (3) 'Public supply' criteria but (as we see here) in practice it ] wt'eney and D. C,~N~ling. (Early supply schemes, legislation, is the early instruments that tend to be ~wer generating stations, metering of prized and collected. Many are in fact lht~, topics indicate that the series is a the supply); and finally (4) 'The far from unique, but the appeal Very mixed bag indeed, in general, it is consumer' (Domestic installations, (certainly to private collectors) is, ! fair to define the majority of these lighting, heating, electric motors and think, that the instrument is complete in volumes as technical histories, in which traction). Most chapters are very brief itself, represents a satisfying blend of the authors have concentrated on and to the I:x)int, and end with a list of science, art and craftsmanship, and that published primary technical sources. references. In line with the series its working and function are For instance, Gordon Bussey's almost generally there is no separate understandable to the non-specialist. .'~fle s(~urce h~r the development of early bibliography, but there is an index. The radio sets was the magazine Wireless author's discussion of any possible After World War i science became World. Little attention is given to social consequences are compressed into increasingly complex and specialized, archival and other documentary the final chapter of three pages. and this is reflected in the associated material which would have allowed a Nevertheless, this is a most valuable instrumentation. An ever-widening fuller historical assessment. Such summary of the main technical trends background is necessary to appreciate Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) what a 'grey box' does, and even more mentioned clearly fall into the old and could save a journey to know what they to understand how it does it. beautiful class. Fair enough - but about as had (or didn't have) 20 years ago. Specialization has brought penalties as relevant to current science as jars of well as progress, and the frenzied pickled animals to the molecular biologist. This book is no Ek)mesday but at least it turnover of the larger items of If the study of scientific instruments is to is a start, although the inadequacy and equipment (currently 2 years for a gain credence and respect within the delay do mean that a proper scholarly computer, 8-10 years for an electron modern ,scientificcommunity then it inventory extending into more recent microprobe) that is encouraged by their seems to me that effort si~ould be made to times is fully justified. (e.g. does the manufacturers sets another problem. extend it beyond the 19th century. original vapour phase chromatograph Buried in the pile are the instruments still exist?) Such a work would now be that will be seen as the foundation The entries that occupy pages 87 - 239 able to benefit from the excellent models stones of tomorrow's science. They of the present work are then the provided by some of the recent national won't be manufactured by big locations of extant examples of the type inventories of other countries, such as companies, and they won't be much to shown in the glossary, listed Ireland. It must also make the best look at, so the skill will be to recognise alphabetically by the town in which the possible use of modern computers, and conserve them before they are holding institution is itself located. As software, data and image storage cannibalized or scrapped. stated above, the most important facilities.The disc b commonplace, and institutions are not included. Entries any inventory should obviously be There is no sign of any such skill or appear to have been compiled from the additionally available in a standard consideration in the present work - holder's own catalogues or labels - no format to permit computer extraction although 1 did come across a one-line critical comments, no photographs, and and grouping of the information. But is reference to Moseley's apparatus for the few references later than the 1970s. One any institution really tackling the determination of atomic number. What would think there had been no research difficult problem that scientific the book really represents is the image of over the past decade! However, it is at instruments have a modern history too? science held by 'historians of science', not least a pleasant surprise to see how by scientists themselves. The instruments many smaller museums exist, and it AllanMiUs Letters to the Editor Instruments in Spain Origin of the term 'scientific [ca. 1856]), and John Griffin, Descriptit~ instrument' Catalogue of an Organized Set of Scientific A useful additional reference to our Apparatus .for use in Elementary Schools article on scientificinstruments in Spain Several years ago, in an essay review (London, 1856). We also learn that the (Bulletin 36, pp.22-24) has just come to entitled "What b a Scientific Instrument, one known example of Griffin's my attention. This is: When Did it Become One, and Why?" Illustrated Catalogue of Scientific published in British Journal for the Apparatus for Use in Elementary. Schools El Obsen~atoriode Cadiz 1753 - 1831 History of Science 23 (1990): 83-93, l (London, 1856) is bound with the A. Lafuente and M. Selles suggested that the original meaning of catalogues of the Department of Science Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, the English term "scientific" instrument and Art, and that the title page of the Madrid, 1988. and/or apparatus pertained to devices 1858 edition of Griffin's Descriptipe intended for elementary education, and Catalogue refers to the list of apparatus Jane insley only later was it applied to devices for appended to the "Special report on Curator, Environmental Sciences advanced training or research. The term Apparatus for Elementary Instruction in Science Museum was apparently introduced by the Science" written by Frederick Temple, London SW7 2DD Department of Science and Art which, Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools. in 1853, reported to the Committee of Tach/.omMre Moinot-Richer Council Education, that it was Deborah lean Warner "superintending the preparation of Curator, History.of Ph~ical Sciences Referring to my letter in Bulletin 36 Scientific Diagrams and Apparatus Smithsonian Institution (p.37) I should like to inform members suited to elementary schools." Support Wa~ington, D.C. 20.560 that, thanks to this English-language for this etymological analysis appears in publication and the help of German and the Handlist of Scientific Instrument- Dutch connoisseurs, my French Makers' Trade Catalogues 1600-I 914, theodolite can now be completely prepared by R.G.W. Anderson, J. restored. Burnett and B. Gee, and published in 1990 by the National Museums of John B. te Pas Scotland in association with The Science ]an Ligthartplein 36 Museum. Among the catalogues listed 3706 VD Zeist in that remarkable publication - known Holland from single copies now in private hands - are Elliott Brothers, Committee of Council Education. Scientific Apparatus for the Use of Elementary Schools (London, Bulletino~ the ScientificInstrument Society No.37 (1993) 39 STOP PRESS: £8 Million for Calculator A RARE 19th-century mechanical calculator (Fig.l), expected to raise no more than £20,000 at auction, was sold for almost t~ million on l~th May in a bout of unprecedented competitive bidding which stunned staff at Christie's. Two bidders were determined to ~'~ure the gilt and lacquered instrument, made by the German Johann Christoph Schuster. The sale ended when one of the telephone bidders, the Swiss collector Edgar Mannheimer, raised the price to £7,701,500 - an auction record for any scientific instrument. The machine came from a "family of an astronomer and mathematician in the service of an Indian prince, and then by descent", Christies said. Fig.1 The £8 million calculator. Classified E G R TAYLOR REPRINTS: These rates allow placement according "Mathematical Practitioners of to the run of the printing; for a Hanoverian England" or "... Tudor & desinated page position add 20~. A Stuart ..." £40 each postpaid. The block booking over one year (four Gemmary, Box 816, Relondo Beach, issues) entitles the advertiser to a 10~ CA 90277, USA. di~ount. MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS wanted, The rates quoted above cover especially cased sets and unusual publication of the advertisement in instruments, eg stethoscopes, camera-ready form only, any artwork phrenology items, leech jars. Good requirt~l on the part of the printer must prices. be charged for separately. Advertisers Phone 0705 376518 after 8pm or Fax will appreciate that some latitute must 0705 201479 be allowed for in the space occupied according to the format supplied. "WANTED: Koenig Photometer c. 1930s. Tom Reitze, 444 Kempton Road, Please send your advertisements, along Glendale, California 91202; phone 818- with a cheque or money order for the ~5-9228: FAX 818-548-7166" appropriate amount, to Desmond Squire, 137 Coombe Lane, London UNIVERSAL EQUINOCTICAL RING SW20 0QY. DIAL, signed I. Coggs. c1720. 6" (I 52mm) dia £1200. MARINE COMPASS, turned wood box, signed John Syeds, cl800. 4'/.," (115ram) dia. £400. Further information and photographs:- V. (310) 37~69 Burness, 2, Cross Keys Cottage, Ashgrove (Ass & Fat) Road, Sevenoalcs,Kent, TN13 ISX. Advertising Charges Science& Technology BookCatalog $2.00 Whole page or flier £150 Half page £75 ScientificInstrument Ouarter Page £40 Catalok.~$.0O ~~ Eighth Page £25 Classified £5 (for up to 24 words, then 20p per word up to max of 50 words) 40 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993 Medical Instruments Christie's first sale of Medical Instruments will be held on 19 August and our next sale of Scientific Instruments, Tools. Ornamental Turning and other Apparatus will be held on 1 July, 1993. For.fimher it~rmation please contact Patrick Grant (Scientific and Medical bzstniments) on (071) 321 3139, Christopher Proudfoot or Lefla M, miera (Tools and other Apparatus) on (071) 321 3277 Catalogues: (071) 321 3152 (sales) 85 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LD Tel: (071) 581 7611 Fax: (071) 321 3321 CHRISTIE'S Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (19q3) 41 ~ Since 1956, many of the world's most O' beautiful and historically significant Scientific Instruments have passed through our hands. BUY AND SELL with confidence with the best. ~ HARRIETWYNTER LTD ARTS AND SCIENCES 50 REDCLIFFE ROAD, LONDON SWI0 9NJ, UK Telephone: 071-352 6494 Facsimile: 071-352 9312 NAVIGATIONALINSTRUMENTS, SHIP MODELS, NAUTICAL~vc iRKS ov ArT MARINE PAINTINGS LON DON, 21 sr.J u I.Y 1993 ; ,d ,%)ihcllv's nrxi sah, of Sricniillc, Technical I, ~; Ml'lhaliical nil~ilal Inslrllnirnls is llll 71h ()ciolwr 11.~13. Ciosin I date for mlu'ies: 1st August, 4 i P~lr liirlhl, r ililililiialilln pll'a.si, COlilacl Jllll Ba(Idch,v (ill ((i7l) 4()14 5205 ',. "'; ~i~ " lllu tlltllt'd I Illllh~,rtlel are apllilllble. Ill ,lidcr I)~ i icdil lal(I lih',i~! • tall 10234) a41043 ,iv lax dl'i,iil~ oil 102:1.II ~41041 (liilliing rl'lr[rncr ~;iMIIN. i ~hilhrtll "~. 3-I - 35 Nc~' Pl~llid .%111'¢'1,[.llll(hln lit'lA 7AA SOTHEBY'S A g,,wl PH~,r'l-,I.V,'ar ml.h.I ol the Flagship tl.M.S Vk Ion. Flrn~ h, t'ark" 19lh {filllll3. r(I I~l. illdiided !"( )I'N I)l-.I) 1711 in the 21st july .~h, f'.slinlaie: £11'I,(XX)-~.rLIXX). 42 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) Trevor Philip & Sons Ltd SCIENTIFICMARINE AND MEDICALINSTRUMENTS MARINE PAINTINGSAND SHIP MODELS A 2¾ inch, late 17th. Century Pocket Globe by Johan Battista Homann of Nuremberg in a tooled leather case containing celestial gores. The terrestrial globe opens to reveal a miniature armiilary sphere. The globe and its case are signed on both hemispheres. It is one of only four extant examples, of which only one other is complete with its armillary sphere. 75a Jermyn Street, St. James's, London, SWIY6NP, England. Tel: 071-930 2954 Fag: 071-321 0212 J Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) 43 I.- 41, ALAIN BRIEUX Earlx .'~lt'lltlllt [ll,lrtlllWIll~ 48. rue Jacob. 75006 Paris. France TEI..{I)42~)21t)8 FAX(I)42~)5524 Catalogues TESSERACT issued quarterly History of medicine & .~ience, Rare I~mks, I~,~ I~1 Autographs. Rare scientific, medical & surgical i I,,.t,nt:. ,,n } lud,,m Nt'~ York 10700 instruments, B(~)ks of documentation. t')14~ 47S 2~'+4 Bought - Sold - Apprai~d Every Pro/essionHas A History'! ~~ 'l'lwst..Jamt.sX l-h,use t tardm~~lalt.x~ m a~,tne ,~t~ t~ ~r ~'~ ~ 4742 West Peterson ~.~ ,I Chicago. Illinois Lakt,m kf &-~ tn the ¢1'~ "~- 00646 USA t V " SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. CLOCKS, EPHEMERA. t ART WORK. MAPS,AND BOOKS RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY t Visit us at our new location Immediately off !-94 (Edens) at the Peterson exit. (312) 545-0OI I 44 Bulh.tin of the ~tenhfic Instrument .~)ciety No.37 (1993 Table of Contents Appn~priate material will be referenced in Pttysics Abstracts Editorial and Anrmuncements ...... 1 Meeting Report - Was there an Elizabethan Telescope? ...... 2 An Experimental Generator with a Gramme Ring Armature ...... H Ja~pe~ ! I A Matter of Degree ...... Anita McConnell 14 Conference Review - Instrument Seminar in Stockholm ...... tlemming Ander.~m 15 100 Years of Prismatic Binoculars ...... Hans Seeger 16 A Very Peculiar Italian Instrument: De Rossi's 'lcnographic and Orthographic Machine for Surveying Catacombs'...... Paolo Brenni 19 A Panoramic Teleidl~cope ...... David L. Hirsch 21 Mystery Object ...... 22 Mystery Object Identified ...... 22 The History of the 'Avometer'...... Ba,,~l on material prepared by R P Hawes 23 Compasses and Colophons ...... David J Boullin 28 Market Place ...... Arthur Middleton 32 Current and Future Events ...... Peter Delehar Book Reviews ...... Willem Hackmann, Allan Mills 38 Letters to the Editor ...... Jane Insley, John B. te Pas, Deborah Jean Warner 30 £8 Million for Schuster Calculator ...... 40 Advertisements ...... 40 The Scientific Instrument Society Membership The Scientific Instrument ~ciety (SIS) was h)rmed in April 1983 to bring together pin)pie with a specialist interest in scientific instruments, ranging from precious antiques to electronic devices only rl'cenfly out of production. Collectors, the antiques trade, museum staff, professional historians and other enthusiasts will find the varied activities of SIS suited to their tastes. The Society has an international membership. Activities Regular evening meetings are held in London, as well as occasional one-day and week-end conferences in attractive provincial locations. Speakers are usually experts in their field, but all members are welcome to give talks. Special "behind- the-scenes' visits to museums are a useful feature. Above all, the Society's gatherings are enjoyable ~'ial occasions, providing opportunities to meet others with similar interests. The SIS Bulletin This is the Society's journal, published four times a year and sent free to members, it is attractively produced and illustrated, and c(mtains inh~rmative articles about a wide range of instruments as well as b(~k and exhibition reviews, news of SIS activities, and meetings of related ~cieties. There is a lively letters page, and 'mystery objects' are pre.~,nted. Another feature is a classified advertisement column, and antique dealers and auction houses" regularly take advertising .~pace, .~ that collectors may find the Bulletin a means of adding to their collections. How to join The annual sub~ription is due on 1 January. New members are asked to pay a joining fee in addition to the annual suh~ription. Current Subscription rates Suh~riptions Joining Fee U.K. Members £25.00 £10.tX) U.S. & non-U.K. Members £30.Lk3 $15.(Xl Students £20.00 Waived Overseas Subscribers: Please note that higher cost is due to additional postal rates. Please contact:. ] Mr Howard Dawes, Executive Secretary SIS, P.O. Box 15, Pershore, Worcestershire WRI0 2RD U.K L ", t° • '. iI .L. ~ HOROLOGIA F'ERi/K,A . (Rota ~t~ua ~ferrea cetheriflq~ voluitur, 'Recludzt ,tqu,; et /~a-, et ilia temtvra.