Scientific• • • Instrument Society

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 1987 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society

For Table of Contents, ~ inside back over.

Mailing Address for Editorial Matters

Dr. ion Darius c~o Science Museum London SW7 2DD United Kingdom

Mailing Address for Administrative Matters

Mr Howard Dawes Neville House 42/46 Hagley Road Birmingham BI6 8PZ United Kingdom

Mailing Addreu for Meetings

Mr. David Weston 44 Duke Street St. James's London SW1Y ODD

Executive Committee

Gerard Turner, Chairman Derek Howse, Vice-Chairman Howard Dawes, Executive Secretary David Weston, Meetings Secretary Brian Brass, Treasurer Jon Baddeley Jeremy Collins Jon Darius John Dennett Arthur Middleton Stuart Talbot

Editor of the Bulletin

Ion Darius

Editorial Assistant

Peter Delehar

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No Time like the Present Scientific Instruments. The two maior by modern materials, not just the fact science weeklies Nature and Science that some of them are radioactive but both carry regular instrument reviews more generally our ignorance of how The past is a foreign country, someone and Physics Bulletin issued a best to conserve novel materials such once said, but so is the present. If it is supplementary "Buyer's Guide" for as plastics. The Tare Gallery is battling hard to record the past without wilfully the first time this year. Then there are with this problem in respect of Nauru or inadvertently rewriting it, it is no the house journals like Befl System Gabo's acrylic sculptures. less difficult to take cognizance of the Technical Journal, Jena Review, present. In terms of scientific Marconi Instruments Contact, and Yet another complication arises from instruments and their manufacture, Sira's Measurement and Automation the continued usefulness of technology the same enthusiasts who deplore the News. The last few years have seen the consigned to the museum. A ten-year- inadequacy of company records, birth of a new type of instruments old X-ray telescope about to be lament the apparatus no longer journal, the controlled-circulation acquired by the Deutsches Museum surviving and condemn the trade magazines such as Electro Optics, was recently scrambled for a rocket maltreatment of that which does -- the or European Spectroscopy News- flight by German astronomers anxious same ones all too often somehow generally distributed free and more to keep the spectacular supernova in cannot bring themselves to than paid for by manufacturers' the Large Magellanic Cloud under acknowledge the importance of advertisements which will no doubt be observation. Earlier this year the existing firms, contemporary invaluable to future curators and National Air and Space Museum, part techniques, pristine examples of collectors. of the Smithsonian Institution in instruments in current production. Washington, parted with its Voyager So we need not feel too guilty about our That the present is the past of the spacecraft to act as an engineering test failure to span the gamut of 20th- future is to them empty rhetoric; they model for Magellan, the Venus radar century instrumentation, but at the feel no commitment to this ineluctable mapping mission. Only a few months truth. same time we would be foolish to ignore it. To redress the balance in part previously the Museum had relinquished components of a Transit With commendable perspicacity the this Bulletin includes a substantial 5A satellite on display to furnish an Scientific Instrument Society did not study of the absorptiometer designed upper-atmosphere research satellite. shackle its limbs by limiting itself in by Hilger & Watts, a book review geography or period. (After all, it concerned with modern astronomical might have been christened BASIS, spectroscopes and a mystery object These rather special considerations The British Antiquarian Scientific presumed to be of 20th-century aside, private collectors should not be Instrument Society!) but there is still a manufacture. afraid of venturing into the waters of quite overwhelming concern with modernity. Discerning collectors in the older apparatus to the detriment of Do museums collect 20th-century fine arts no longer wait for the Bacons anything too modern. I can think of apparatus? Where they exist, company and Hockneys to reach the West End several slightly sanctimonious excuses. museums will do so, of course. As for and Fifth Avenue; they are prepared to The range of older instruments as the national collections, not one would stake their good taste on relative judged from, say, 19th-century dare admit that it did not -- but newcomers to the art world. By the catalogues is large but tractable frequently collection policy allows time their scientific counterparts whereas the proliferation of modem such instruments to be acquired only realize that, say, the Brunsviga which equipment cannot hope to be in the most desultory fashion. Curators they so recently dismissed as a encompassed by a small society and its secure them the way some people calculating dinosaur actually slim Bulletin. Or we can claim that the adopt stray animals: the creature begs, represents a very significant and differences are not just in quantity but whines and cajoles its way into the successful stage in calculator design, it in character -- electronic components household. What we need is a far more will have become a rare species and constitute very different kettles of fish active policy of seeking out what correspondingly dear. A few prescient from sundials, sextants and appear to be significant representative souls already collect in this area, and saccharimeters. Or else we could argue examples of modem instruments. Why there are also some collections of that whilst we enjoy some sort of should museums wait to acquire them electronic pocket calculators. Other perspective on the circumstances -- bruised, battered, incomplete, apparatus may pose insuperable which engendered the need for and shorn of instructions, devoid of problems of size, mass and governed the nature of instruments of provenance or historical context, conservation for the private collector. the past -- how they were made, in priced outrageously for no other reason what numbers, of what materials, to than sheer rarity -- from an auctioneer what tolerance, for what market -- we or antique dealer in a century's time? ! am well aware that those who salivate cannot see the contemporary wood for at the mere mention of a ring dial by its innumerable trees. Admittedly museums encounter Thomas Heath will profess to be bored special problems in dealing with rigid by what the 20th-century has to Even laying these progressively lamer contemporary material. No official offer. They are self-deluding and excuses to one side, we could assert bounds may be placed on size, for moreover self-depriving. Having just with some justice that the Bulletin example, but there are practical limits. returned from an exhibition of "British should not unduly expand its 20th- The largest single object in the custody Clock and Watch Making Today" at century coverage for the simple reason of London's Science Museum is the Goldsmiths' Hall, I can vouch for the that other outlets exist for today's prototype of Concorde. Desirable as it craftsmanship manifest in these instruments, if not always from the might be, future acquisition of the instruments. Perhaps this example standpoint which a member of the SIS electron-positron storage ring from smacks of the anachronistic, however; might want to adopt. The most general CERN, 27 kilometres in circumference, the timepieces may be 20th-century periodicals include the likes of Journal would scarcely be feasible. (! suppose work but the underlying technology is of Physics E: Scientific Instruments, that it could in the event be run as an rather venerable. Digital watches, it Measurement and Control, Review of outstation!) Other problems are posed could be said, are rather more typical.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) Contemporary science and technology interferometer or the Curta calculator. himself moves forward, anxious to have granted us other instruments no show you his latest invention, the less exciting than those of the past, If you are not convinced that the double or compound microscope. Do :tom the electron microscope and laser present is as worthy of your attention you say thanks awfully but what you io the digital computer and the SQUID as the past, place yourself in the need for the mantlepiece is a nice :nat~netometer. Nor are this centurv's position of someone who drops in at antique backstaff? ! hope not. oltermgs wholly electromechanical the Reflecting Microscope and and electronic; think of the Michelson Spectacles about 1742. John Cuff ]on Darius

Report on the 1987 Annual General Meeting

Ihe Scientific Instrument Society held adoption by Stuart Talbot and Millburn as the "scourge of curators", its AGM for 1~87 on Saturday, 2(i June, seconded bv Arthur Middleton. feared because his claims generally in a lecture theatre of the British The Chairman Gerard Turner then turn out to be right. Although his Mu,~eum. [he minutes of the previous dealt with the composition of the interest in scientific instruments and AGM as rel~wted in the Bulletin were newly elt~'ted Executive Committee. their makers started as a hobby, he had approved and there being no matters become more professional than the Alan Stimson and Stephen Edell were arising, the Fxecutive ~C~retarv stepping down to be replaced by Derek professionals. His masterly work on Howard Dawes went on to give an Beniamin Martin, James Fergu.~m and Howse and Jon Baddeley, and Trew)r account of the membership. At the we hope in a few years' time George Waterman handed the mantle of time of the meeting there welt, 397 Adams, ahmg with his many articles, Meetings Secretary. to David Weston. paid-up members (the figure is certainly earned him the S~iety's Treww Waterman was thanked for the currently over 450) of which 00 were appreciation. "No one is better at exercise of his organizational skills and new "members. As a final all the officers of the Committee were digging up material from archives than encouragement to renew their John Millhurn," declared the sub~'ription, 87 lap~,d members had al.,~ thanked for their efforts over the past year. ]'he year's activity was Chairman; and with that he pinned on nevertheless received the last issue of the Society's medal. reviewed and in particular the Midwest the Bulletin. Symposium, the first American Under "any other business", the issue meeting of the Society. The Chairman of a higher subscription for dealers was The lreasurer Bnan Brass presented averred that he was especially pleased firmly trounced once again and the the accounts for 19~k~, and was pleased with the Bulletin and the fact that we virtues and vices of the collector were to announce a small credit balance. were now seeing substantial material aired. Collectors save material of merit Howexer, he predicted a shortfall in flowing in from abroad from dustbins, countered the 19~7 unles~ recrmtment were made Next the Chairman intrl~luced a new Chairman, and museums are in their more effective. |le entreated members debt. to consider a deed of covenant, ||onorary Member of the ~ciety to the es|~'t'ially the tour-year scheme which meeting -- unlv the ~econd person to guaranteed no increase over that bc-,' h,,ll,,url'd Ih' de'.(rlb~'d I,,hn R. peri~M, lhe apparent doubling in the cost of the Bulb,tin between 198~ and lm 1'4~, was queried; the Editor replied p that like w,P, not quite being compared with hke in that there were four issues, ~lth a greater number of pages, in 1986 as againM three in 198~. it was ~u~ge~ted that advertising revenue be included explicitly in the next annual account~ A differential subscription h'e for dealer members was prol~)sed but relected, it ~hould be made clear in tuture that there would be no I /' re~,trwtion on number,, attending the AGM and moreover that attendance is Iree. lhe Executive ~c-~,cretarydeclared that no charge had been or would be made for the AGM hut that it was entireh," constitutional to charge ft)r regular lecture meetings, which could be held in coniunction with an AGM Iohn Millburn. a new ttonor, wv Silwo Bedini, the tirst ! tonorary and which must be ~,lf-financing. ]'he Member of the Society. Both Member of the Society at his audited accounts were prolapsed for photographs by Jon Darius. in vestiture in Washington.

2 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No 15 (1987) lloward Dawes, himself a collector, Finally Richard Gc~nl of the British designed an extraordinanly accurate then opened the lecture portion of the Museum gave an illustratedtalk on the mechanism keeping solar (not mean) meeting with an account of "Scientific Baldewein globe, made in 1575 for the time and correcting for the equation of Instruments in Perspective". We hope Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse. The time. It is accurate to one minute per to pre~,nt a pr&~isof thistalk in a future globe it~Ifwas made of beaten copper day! Richard ¢hn~d is preparing a full issue of the Bulletin. by Hermann Diepel, silveredthrough a account for the Antiquaries Journal. mercurial process by Wolff Meyer of h,n Darius Gerard Turner spoke on "Monumental Nuremberg. Eberhard Baldewein Dials", from the large ma.~mry pillars of antiquity (notably one on the Field of Mars in Rome in the time of Caesar Augustus) through China, Egypt and Ulugh Beg in Samarkand in 1437 to Tycho Brahe in the 16th century and Gian Domenico Cassini in the 17th with his meridian lines in I~logna Cathedral and elsewhere. The outstanding example, however, is that of Jaipur, where Jai Singh Ii (1686- 1743) reigned from 1699. There he built not only his palace but al~ a very large observatory, along with four others at Benares, Delhi, Mathura and Ujjain. At Jaipur the Samrat Yantra ("king of instruments") is a polar ring dial of The lour.s('tTllclrctll, lr,~rc.',ot the ,%hsr, t "r,tt~tra. thv nl(~,t coml~h'x ot the' gigantic proportions -- 27.4 metres instruments at the]at Singh observatory in IX,ihi, show the hme at tour widelv high -- but it is really more of a grand separated sites. monument than an accurtate dial. Gerard Turner described and SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT SOCIETY illustrated a dozen more instruments at RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT Jaipur, including the Yantra Raja, the For the year ended 31st December 1986 two largest astrolabes in the world, 1985 over 2 metres in diameter, one in brass 5,431 RECEIPTS (seebelow) 7,300.43 and the other in iron. The Misra Yantra 4,993 EXPENDITURE (seebelow) 7,692.88 is a monumental dial found only at Delhi; it tells the time corresponding to 438 EXCESSOF EXPENDITUREOVER INCOME IN THE YEAR ( 392.45) noon in Delhi at four places round the (1985 -- surplus) world: Nalke, Japan (6:52), Syrichev 95 Add: Surplus brought forward 532.81 insel Piknam in the Pacific Ocean (7:24) Zurich (16:36) and Greenwich (17:08). £ 533 AccumulatedSurplusat31stDecember1986 £ 140.36 Im~immmmmE RECEIPTS 4,906 Subscriptionsand joiningfees 6,274.34 306 Donations 598.68 142 Mi~ellaneous income 172.83 77 Intereston depositaccount 254.58 £5,431 £7,300.43 ' I EXPENDITURE Insignia 2144.24 2,663 Cost of Bulletins(net) 5,146.94 1,80,3 Printing, postage and stationery !,892.4.~ _--" ik 399 Cost of meetings 106.27 53 Sundry expenses 112.9~ 75 Auditors' remuneration 90.00 £4,993 £7,092.8~

N ET ASSETS 3,126 Bank and cash balances 575. 748 Sundry assets 48.00 3,874 023.96 3,341 Creditors 483.o0 Horizontal shafts in the interior of the Rama Yantra radiating from a central £ 533 Net assetsat 31stDecember1986 £ 140.36 pillar, a monumental instrument used for measuring altitude and azimuth. Both photographs courtesy of Gerard B.D. Brass G.L'E.Turner Turner. Treasurer Chairman

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) 3 A Baroque Observatory in Southern Germany

Alto Brachner, spiritual and a secular sovereign of his Deutsches Museum subiects.

I he Monastery of Ochsenhausen Despite all this, the ideas of the Enlightenment finally turned against A number of great monasteries, like the monasteries, and Ochsenhausen, I.~'arls on a strmg, dot the landsca[~* too, did not escape secularization. north ot the Alps, confint~t to the west Klemens Wenzel Ff/rst Metternich approximately by the Benedictine (1746-1818) took possession of the Abbey of Engel~,rg or the more monastery in 1803. In 1806 it became famous of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, the property of the Crown of and to the east by KremsmUnster or Wiirttemberg. His influence won back Melk. Most of tho.~' monasteries were the monastery for Metternich in 1810. rounded in the l.~,rit~ between 800 and [n 1826 he converted his barely 1200 as centrt,,~ for cultivation and concealed annexation into 1.2 million chnstianizahon of the surrounding guilders cash, selling the monastery country. Over the centuries they grew back to the state. The library and Fig. 1. l'he B,'nvdwtmt. m,,rmst(,rv ,,t to bt.come important economic, scientific instruments he took with Ochsenhausen in Baden- I~htical and cultural centres. [his him, probably to the castle of Wfirttemberg, south Germany. it was tradition ended in most cases as late as Konigswart (nowadays in the USSR), founded in 1100, became an 1803, the year of secularization when his main residence. The Central State independent abbey in 1391 and a most ecclesiastical princedoms were Archive in Prague at least tells us that "Reichsstift " from 1495. In the year of abolished. Today we admire the story. secularization it was annexed by the marx,ellous bart~lue architecture of the Duke Metternich. From 1826 on it has remaining sites. Between 1740 and 1767 the monastery been the property of the state. Less well known is the r6le tht~e received under the FUrstabt Benedil~t abbeys played in the Enlightenment, Densel (1737-1767) its current baroque, conveying the ideas of natural sciences partly classical face including the four to thl,, region. Most of the monasteries towers on the convent. Geisenhof says tried to educate the young monks in about Densel: "He spent considerat~le mathematics, natural ~-iences and money on the .~-ienti fic education of his astronomv, even if the sole purpose young monks. Some of them he sent to was "to prevent them from the most the monastery of St. Blasien, learning spoiling evil, the idleness", according oriental languages, others to [the to Father G Gelsenhof in 182q in his monastery of] Irrsee for a thorough chronicle of Ochsenhausen. Each education in mathematics, fie enlarged mona.,terv with enough importance the library with a lot of excellent books, (and money) compiled an expensive ...the armarium with numerous collection of scientific instruments, scientific instruments." most called "mathematischastrono- Since 1842 the buildings had been used mi~'hes Kabinett" or "armarium". as an agricultural school; from 1868 Fig. 2. lhe tw,, t,,,ver~, used .smcv l;',s'~ Even k~av the relics of those cabinets they became an orphanage. From 1964 as astronomical observatorv. "[he left can in .,~,me cases be admired. The onwards the state, remembering its one houses the great azimuth most impressive and best preserved is cultural heritage, carried out a quadrant. that of the Benedictine abbey of restoration of the monastery buildings. Kremsmunster in Austria. In southern Germany, in another The Observatory Dating former monastery, Ochsenhausen, I made an exciting astronomical In the course of these activities, The chronicle of Geisenhof reads: "... attention was drawn to a rusty iron di~overv: a genuine bart~ue for a pleasant and useful occupation in observation,, the onh,, one surviving in construction situated in the southern recreation hours, he [the last Ftirstaht the area from that time. tower, the latter bearing a rotatable Romuald Weltin (1761-1803)] gave dome. The structure of the dome was orders to teach especially the young Midway between the small cities spanned with the original textile. The monks mathematics, geometry, Memmingen and Biberach on a small iron construction proved to be the physics and astronomy. For the same hill, the monastery dominates the skeleton of an azimuth quadrant of 3- purpose he had installed an village of the same name. First founded meter radius. The tower inclusive of its astronomical observatory by the in the lOth centu~', the monastery was content is the only surviving bart~iue learned astronomer and mechanician established a second time in the year observatory in southern Germany. Father Basilius Perger. This i 100, alter the Hun warriors had been Unfortunately all brass parts, like the observatory was equipped at least as thrown back definitively. The monks of alidade or the telescope, have vanished well as the one in Gotha. (.)ch,,enhausen owed ti~eir nomination in the wake of elapsing time. The comparison with the Sehberg as an independent abbey to the Schism Observatory in Gotha provided a first (the split between Protestant and Nevertheless, it was a unique find. The hint on dating the one at Catholic churches) and their loyalty to neighl~mring tower bore traces in the Ochsenhausen. The Sehberg Pope Boniface IX, canonically elected walls showing that this tower too was Observatory was founded in 1791 by in 1380. Since 1495 the monastery and very probably used as an obsewatory, the famous astronomer F.X. Zach the surrounding countryside have most likely equipped with a transit (1754-1832), known as the editor of the been governed by a "Furst'abt", both a instrument. first German astronomical journal

4 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) "Monatliche Correspondenz zur The Azimuth Quadrant Beforderung der Erd- und Himmelskunde". Zach's observatory The remains of the late 18th-century quadrant were astonishing in more was repeatedly reported to be one of the best equipped in middle Europe. ways than one. Closer inspection of Zach's First, the shape of the iron skeleton was "Monatliche CorresFxmdenz" revealed described a hundred years earlier by indeed some information on Robert Hin~ke in his "Animadversions Ochsenhausen. On 2 September 1804 a upon the first part of the Machinae Coelestis of Hevelius", London, 1674. professor Philip Kyene wrote a letter to Zach: "... During the last 14 years we Therefore the Ochsenhausen quadrant determined our geographical position was in some sense anachronistic. by observing lunar occultations and Second, the mechanical construction eclipses of the Sun, the Moon and shows imperfections: for instance, the Jupiter's satellites, as well as by plumline casing was used as a trigonometrical measurements .... Our constructional element. The maker had Prof. Basil Berger will soon publish a to overcome another difficulty: the Fig. 4 I h~" Ir(m sk,¢'h,t~m o/the description of our observatory..." quadrant was tailored exactly to the quadrant. It has a radius of approximately 3 m. This | could not find unfortunately. But dome. There was no way to bring the quadrant as a whole up to the the letter shows that the observatory First they show that the monastery had had been working approximately since observatory. So the maker had to dismantle the instrument after its first a close contact with the Augsburg 1790 and still operated in 1804 under maker Georg Friedrich Brander 0713- the ownership of Metternich. assembly. After transportation, it had to be reassembled in the observatory. 1783). One reads in 1768: "The 12th May Mr. Brander of Augsburg The Instruments Score marks on the screws and the skeleton attest to this method. provided Father Basilius with the Some information about the following items..." There follow a instrumentation is provided by the Another surprising fact was that an number of scientific instruments like archive in Prague. In 1803 Metternich instrument as large as this had no microscopes, telescopes and lenses. In ordered an inventory list: "... a list of mural mounting. The lower quadrant 1769 "Father Basilius was sent to lrrsee the astronomical instruments to be bearing is situated on a massive (the Benedictine centre of natural wooden girder. made..." It remained hidden in the 27 sciences), to receive a more cases of archives on Ochsenhausen. sophisticated education in Another list, of the year 1810, Who was the Maker? mathematics and mechanics..." appeared. According to it, the Despite these disadvantages the The account of the following year following instruments were at the instrument remains one of the largest indicates that the monastery regularly observatory in 1810: I quintant, l quadrants built in that area at the time bought instruments from Brander. The quadrant of iron with 5-foot radius, I and it was an exciting question to work account of 1788 finally proves that the small (quadrant) lacking the objective, out its provenance. The puzzle was southern towers "were transformed I quadrant of stone, 2 watches, 2 solved with the aid of the Hauptstaats- into an 'Observatorium Astrono- culminatoria (transit instruments), 2 archly in Stuttgart. The "abbey's talcum' and provided with a quadrant telescopes, l heliometer lacking its accounts" of Ochsenhausen revealed and a sector". The monastery spent the objective, l zenith sector, l spyglass. definitively the story of the considerable sum of 8914 guilders for Makers are not mentioned in this list. observatory. this project. The aforesaid quadrant was not the great one of h~ay. The latter can be found under the year 1793: "This summer Father RP. Basilius had constructed and erected a very large quadrant of iron in the Observatorium Mathematicum, the work being done by the hammersmith Alovsius Weisshaubt ..." The puzzle was s~;Ived: The maker of the quadrant was the astronomer himself in collaboration with k~'al craftsmen. Now it was not unusual in those times that aristocratic or clerical men ~hot.ld spend a lot of time on optical and mechanical work. But it was exceptional that Father Basilius dared to make such an enormous instrument It must have been a status symbol for the monastery.

Restoration Fig. 3. The original textile {canvas?) of the rotatable dome and the upper It iS no secret: a rusty i:on skeleton, bearing of the quadrant. whose original function notx~lv

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1~#87) 5 kn,,~s, would .~L~mer or later go the t,

~av ot all |~.rishable things. [he same • a ~pinion was .,,bared fortunately by the ~te o.' Haden-Wurttemberg and they :3 for the restoration of the -crvatoP,' and the quadrant. The

, ,nh Londition was that the quadrant's function should be under.,,tandable and that the instrument could be used a', an lu~torical witness. t ."~, I decided to conser~'e the iron ,,kcleton, the beanngs, the stairs and the dome as carefully as possible. The onginal textile of thedome went to the monastery mum'urn and was replaced P by a similar new one. All other Fig. 6. Side view of the quadrant in the Fig. 7. Horizontal section of the top of remaining parts were thoroughly observatow. the quadrant with the helical string cleaned. No original part was changed. pulley To tulfil the a~we condition, an approximate replica of the telescope wflh its micrometer ca~" and its attachment to the alidade, as well as the alidade itself, was made with the provi~ that the original parts .,,hould not be changed in the slightest. Contem|~ra~' de.~'riptions of building quadrants served as m~Jels for the replica, like Le Monnier's "De~'ription et ut,age des instruments d'astronomie" (1774) and ~imilar works. The preparation was completed wflh a visit by the restoration team of the "Berufsbiidungswerk Munchen fur |lot- und Sprachge~chadigte" to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, to which I owe many thanks for kind help. Many ~tudies on remaining instruments of that time and of .,,outh Germany provided the restorers with the nt:t'essar),.' feeling for the style of that area. We could not .~lve all the problems. For instance, the meaning of a number of holes in the plumb care remained unclear. So we lett them as they were. Fven ~,o, an acceptabh, compromise for the replica was achie~ed and I hope the quadrant will be finished by the end of this year. Thus an impressive historical instrument in its onginal surroundings g' gl/ ml" f il will be preserved to delight all tho.,,e Fig. ~. The cleaned q~mdr,m/~keh,ton in the ~orl~shop. l he staircase proved who are lntere,,ted in the history of h, be the only place z~here it could be reassembled since the instrument was mankind. t, ,,, h..:h t, ,r it;t, ~, ,,L.h, ,p~

.4 ""

%.

/ /

Fig. 9. "'Fr,'e rt't~ht , ~t tl ,~ r~ m~t 't= 'r ca,e and teh 's~~ ~t)t, t ~~n tr~ ~1 r(Jd with Fig. 5. ~'('tional view of the dome. micrometer screw, all made ot brass.

Bulletin of the Scientific lnstrument Society No. 15 (1987) Fifty Years of the Hilger Spekker R.H. Nuttall, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Introduction an early promotional exercise Hilger measured in the "sample" light beam, circulated information about the in the years following World War 11 and then balance the output EMF of the increasing levels of instrumentation Spekker to every pathological photocells to zero on a galvanometer. were characteristic of chemistry laboratory in the United Kingdom, but The sample was replaced with a laboratories worldwide. In this era a by 1938 their selling agents were being reference cell, typically containing water, and the null point again select few instruments came to be advised that metallurgical laboratories particularly associated with their areas were equally worthwhile target areas obtained by reducing the light falling of application, typical examples being for sales. on the sample photocell by closing provided by the Beckman DU for point- down the calibrated aperture. Under the impetus of World War 11, Variations of this technique were by-point UV-visible spectrophoto- and particularly on the basis of E.J. merry; the Perkin-Elmer Model 21 for recommended for batch-type analyses Vaughan's work at the Admiralty involving large numbers of solutions. infrared spectroscopy; and though Inspection Laboratory in Sheffield, the more restricted in its application, but use of the Spekker for metal analysis Spekker Models with a very widespread body of users, spread with great rapidity.' The extent the Hilger Spekker for colorimetric of this area of application was soon The importance of the Spekker was absorptiometry, particularly applied to demonstrated in Haywood and recognized from the outset as far as the metallurgical analysis. J Wood's textbook published by Hilger Royal Museum of Scotland collection in 1944 (and in greatly expanded form was concerned; though it was not at In the period extending from the early in 1957).s The rapidity with which the first realized that the evolution of the 1940s to the mid-1960s the Hilger Spekker attained a presence in the instrument had produced so many Spekker photoelectric absorptiometer North American market is suggested variations in physical appearance and was virtually synonymous with the by its inclusion as one of the few British in areas of application! Thus the colorimetric determination of metals. instruments in Ralph Mueller's prototype, in which all the components In the United Kingdom at least, it was extensive compilation on chemical were set in a line on an elongated base, an important analytical instrument in instrumentation which appeared in the is now known only through a half-tone virtually every laboratory associated Analytical Edition of Chemical illustration in the Journal of Sc/entff/c with the ferrous and non-ferrous Ensineering News in 1941.6 Instruments. 8 metallurgical industries. Its use was In the first production instruments particularly widespread in the Scottish At the time of its introduction the (H454) a special base casting with a steel industry and as such it is now Spekker was seen as taking over the space for a galvanometer was represented in the 20th-century role of the visual colorimeter, primarily introduced, and this feature remained instrument collection of the Royal of the Duboscq type. However, there in production for many years. The Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It were other directly competing read-out drum was placed at the end of may seem curious that so recent an photoelectric coiorimeters of which the the instrument, however, in a position instrument should figure in a museum Lange model was regarded by Hilger as which rendered it prone to damage. By collection but it must be recalled that the leader. Sales agents were 1939 the drum had moved to a less the rate of disappearance of accordingly carefully briefed as to the vulnerable position closer to the lamp instruments of the immediate post-war advantages of the Spekker by house and there thus appeared the era has been extremely rapid. For the comparison with this instrument. long-lived H560 model. This most part it has only been as a Through the use of two of the newly- development took place after the consequence of financial restrictions on developed barrier-layer photocells, introduction of a version providing for their replacement that examples of operating in a null mode, Hilger instruments in use prior to 1960 survive long Pathlength cells, intended foe considered that they enjoyed a faintly absorbing solutions (H525). No to be collected to the extent that they significant technical advantage over example of either the H454, the H525, do. the competitionT; and indeed though or the long-cell equivalent of the H560 the detailed physical construction and -- the H574 -- is at present in a Early History also the various control features of the museum collection. In 1941 a micro-cell Spekker were significantly varied over version appeared (H546) designed for The prototype of the Spekker appeared the years, the fundamental mode of biochemical work, and this made use of in 1936, with the first two production operation was not. instruments being delivered late in that a more sensitive galvanometer, which year. 2 Surviving records suggest that In all the Spekker absorptiometers a was too large to sit on the instrument base. in the same year a fluorimeter 22 more were sold in 1937, mostly to light source with a photocell on each modification (H553) was developed, laboratories in the British Isles but with side of it provided the basic means of with a mercury lamp as a light source, examples going also to Strasbourg, operation, in one direction radiation and transfer optics to allow comparison Leningrad, Madras, Kuala Lumpur, from the lamp passes through the and Batavia. The list of recipients, and of right-angle fluorescent scattering sample, then through a variable from a series of solutions. (Again, at the range of applications proposed in aperture (calibrated in optical density) the earliest Hilger promotional present, no examples of these two and on to the "sample" photocell; in instruments are in museum literature, indicated that pathology, the opposite direction the light collections.) pH measurement and food and water traverses an irisdiaphragm on its way testing were thought at first to to the compensating photocell. There was a maior redesign of the represent the most important areas of Although initially there was some Spekker in 1947 with the new version application. Significantly, however, an suggestion that the full output of the (H760) having a larger base plate, and a early report from the Glaxo light source might be used for all types finned lamp housing. 9 Internally the laboratories, reproduced by Hilger in of measurement, optical filtersin each calibrated diaphragm of the H560 was their Spekker literature, included the beam were quickly found to increase replaced by a rotating optical wedge. estimation of iron by thiocyanate, and both sensitivity and reproductibility. The long-pathlength version was the copper by thiocarbamate as examples The method of operation was to set up H675 while the fluorimeter version was of metallurgical analysis.3 Moreover, in the instrument with the solution to be initially supplied under the coding

Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No. 15 (l~J~7) HOT'q and later as H764. PrtMuction of Hilger & Watts appear to have made no In common with many of the these tinal versions continued until attempt to replace the Spekker directly instruments of the immediate lx~st-war about iqfl8 and oserall some 12,000 though a modernized form of the years, the majority of Spekkers have ",pekkers were manufactured) ° It is a fluorimeter version was available by now been discarded and itis salutary to nwasure of the iml~wtance attached to 1966. This omission is surprising given observe that with the exception of the the instrument that its production was the commanding ~sition it had London Science Museum, and more (ontinued during the Seomd World achieved, and particularly in view of recently the Royal Museum of Scotland War when much of the instrument- the success that relatively simple and in Edinburgh, no attempt is being manufacturing capacity available in inexpensive colorimeter-type instru- made to ensure the retention of a Bntain wa,~ directed It)wards the ments have continued to enjoy. In 1968 representative range of chemical produchon of military equipment and Hilger & Watts entered into a sales instrumentation and apparatus of this optical components. Evidently the partnership with Sir Howard GrubS, formative era, of which the Spekker is requirement for means of quality Parsons Limited and at about this time so characteristic. At present the Royal control of steel and other metals for production of the Spekker ceased, its Museum has collected approximately armament manufacture was seen as use continued for many years after 500 items from the post-war Period vital for the war effort, while the this, though it now seems likely that ranging from Bunsen burners to NMR application of the fluorimeter for the only surviving application may lie spectrometers -- and is stillseeking to vitamin assay appears to have in school project work for which it is obtain further material (including provided the iustification for its war- eminently suitable -- if spare parts instruments, relevant documentation time introduction and prt~iuction. Bv (notably light sources) can be obtained. and printed items such as catalogues) 1q45 these two Hilger products had for its reference and display collections established a significant market Somewhat confusingly the name Spekker (a registered trade name) has before it is too ]ate. i~sition and such instruments as the been applied to other instruments Unicam Colorimeter, prt~uction of manufactured by Hilger: most notably which was restarted after the war's References end, made comparatively small to a prewar ultraviolet spectrophoto- meter which combined a quartz inroads into the UK market. The I. H.A. Laitinen G G.W. Ewing, spectrograph with a double-beam expansion of the analytical application eds., A History of Analytfcal photometer; there was also for many of the Spekker in the steel industry, Chemistw (Division of Analytical and the dominance it achieved -- at years a Spekker direct-vision Chemistry of the American least in Scotland ~ was further Steeloscope, a prism instrument Chemical Society: Washington, demonstrated by the formation of a designed for visual survey of a spark DC, 1977) provides a general source. 14 Spekker Users Group which was survey. meeting regularly in the early 1960s. II

Fate of the 5pekker The Spekker was usually used in ass~L-iation with the Hilger large quartz SF~-'ctrograph in major metallurgical la[xwatories. Its use in this area gradually declined, however, with the spread of direct-reading spectrographs of the Polvvac type and with the intrt~luction of atomic absorption methods. For biochemical applications the Spekker was supplanted by the introduction of the Biochem single- photocell absorptiometer; at first of the ,type constructed, as was the Spekker, on a substantial base casting, to be replaced in 1953 by the more familiar sheet-metal encased, brick-shaped % version. I" Instruments such as the Beckman DU UV-visible prism spectrophotometer could of course also be used for the same applications as the Spekker, as well as for point-by-l~int / spectrum plotting. Demand for this type of instrument was in fact .,~ great that it was at the request of the Ministry of Supply that Unicam introduced the 5P500, and Hilger the Uvispek in an attempt to stem the drain on valuable dollars in the [~)st-war austerity years. I1 However, while in 1950 the Spekker cost a little over £1[)0, the SP~ was intn~luced at al~ut £475, and thus catered for a significantly Fig. 1. The HS~O Spekker ab~)rptiometer pn~ucecl from 1939 to 1947. Royal different market. Museum of Scotland, inv. no. 1986.248.

Bulletin of the Scientific instrument Society No. 15 (1987) 2. Science Museum Library of the Spekker Photoelectric Photoelectric Fluorimeter Archives. Hilger material HILG Absorptiometer (Adam Ftilger: (London, 1947). 1/7 and 2/8. London, 1944 and 1957). 10. From Small Beginnings, a Century 3. The Spekker Photoelectric 6. R.H. Mueller, "Instrumental of Achievement (Margate, n.d.) Absorptiometer, an Objective Methods of Chemical Analysis", "Colorimeter" (London, 1937). Industrial and Engineenng 11. Personal knowledge. The Glaxo report is bound in with Chemistry, Anal. Ed., 13, 667-754 12. G.E. Delory, Photoelectric other Hilger promotional (1941). Metht~s in Clinical Biochemistry literature. 7. Ref. 2, op.cit. (Hilger & Watts: London, 1949); 4. E.J. Vaughan, The Use of the with publisher's revisions Spekker Photo-electric Absorptio- 8. A. Hilger, "Photoelectric (London, 1953). meter in Metallurgical Analysis Absorptiometer", Journal of (Institute of Chemistry: London, Scientific Instruments, 13, 268-9 13. Communication from Messrs. 1941). (1936). Pye-Unicam. 5. F.W. Hayw(~

" o. .-11

Fig. 2. H760 Spekker absorptiometer produced from 1948 to 1968. Royal Museum of Scotland, inv. no. 1986.249.

Fig. 3. The second model of Hilger & Watts" fluonmeter produced from about 1950 to 1965. Royal Museum of Scotland, my. no. 1986.162.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) Market-place

Although the interval between the (stroboscope), and was the first device use (Fig. 5) and a fine, early pyrometer publication of this issue of the Bulletin to give an impression of motion. This with nearly all its accessories, signed and the last is relatively short, activity example was designed by T.T. Bury "W.&S. Jones 30 Holbom London" ~n the trade has been very good. The and published by Ackermann & Co.,96 ca.1800 (Fig. 6). Habsburg, Feldman I bird International Scientific & Strand, London and dated 1833. S.A. in Geneva, Switzerland sold an Medical Instrument Fair was Sotheby's now have the distinction of unusual ring dial signed "Joann: Ad: considered a great success and it has selling the world's most expensive Burckardt. yon Piirckenstein Monachy obwouslv now become a social instrument (Fig. 2), a combined A ° 1692" (Fig. 7) and a compass dial in occasion as well as a place for collectors, the form of a geometrical compass dealers, investors and curators to signed "CHRISTOPHOVS ,ndulge in their passions. Many SCHISSLER. FAC: AVGVST~ ANNO vlsdors staved all day! Among the .15.78". many hundreds of |terns sold wasa fine Christie's sold the apparatus owned by electrodvnamometer of the type the famous astronomer Sir Norman dewsed by W,Ihelm Eduard Weber Lockyer (1836-1920), or rather what (18~kl-91) and made by Heinrich Daniel was left of it. It was disposed of by the Ruhmkorff (1803-77) of Paris; a delicate Council of the Norman Lockyer turned wood and ivory Russian Observatory Corporation (at Sidmouth abacus; half a human head that was in Devon), the body he set up to look iniected with coloured wax, dried and after his equipment, most recently in mounted in Italy ca.1750 and used for the "care" of the local university and teaching anatomy. The vendor had astronomical society. When placed it on a clockwork base so that it discovered it was in a deplorable and slowly rotated -- very, ghoulish. For the neglected state. Admittedly he was a first time the Society was represented Fig.2 at the Fair. A number of new members Ioined us and our funds were helped astronomical compendium and book- by the sale of Society. ties, back copies binding signed, "Pragae fecit Erasmus of the Bulletin and some books kindly Habermel. 1597". In the same sale the donated by Arthur Frank. Royal Museum of Scotland bought a compound monocular microscope in The auctions started with a marine sale almost mint condition signed, at Christie's at which David Weston "Microscope Pancratique de acquired an early brass octant signed, Professeur Alexandre Fischer de "Made bv GEO. ADAMS at TYCHO Moscou L'lngr. Chevallier [sicl BRAHE'S HEAD in Fleet Street Opticien du Rot Mbre. de la Societe LONDON" (Fig. l). The centre is in the Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou" (Fig. 3). Perhaps they are hoping to find out more about it during the Society's visit to Russia next year.

Fig.4 practical astronomer and would have cannibalized instruments, but with universities crying out for money, one would have thought they would be more careful with their assets. Most of the important instruments were acquired by the Science Museum, including a diffraction grating made by Fig.1 lr...... s D.D. Chapman on Lewis M. form of a curved V with a curved bar Rutherfurd's ruling engine, plus the above it. This shape was also used by seven-prism astronomical Jesse Ramsden and John Uring, and spectroscope (Fig. 8) with which appears on the trade card of John Fig.3 Lockyer discovered helium in the Sun Gilbert. At Phillips, the author bought in 1868 (The element was isolated by a set of Fantascope discs. A series of Another fine Russian obiect was sold Ramsey in 1895.) The Museum is trying coloured pictures are printed around by Harriet Wynter. This was a to rescue the remnants of the 61/4-inch the edge so that when their reflection is mechanical equinoctial dial on an refractor with which it was used; it is viewed through the slots a "moving ornate ormolu base, made about 1780 now languishing in a leaky shed! If picture" is seen. It was invented in and signed "Sauter St. Petersburg" members see any other examples of 1832, simultaneously by Prof. J.A.F. (Fig. 4). in Tesseract's recent catalogue, such abuse, perhaps they will kindly Plateau of Brussels (phenakistoscope), David Coffeen is offering an unusual inform the Committee of the Society and Prof. S. Stampfer of Vienna four-legged compass for navigational who will try to take appropriate action.

10 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. ]5 (1987) w

Fig.9 Fig.8

Fig.5

Fig.10

Fig.6

i Fig.7 Also in the Christie's sale were two examples of an interesting nineteenth- century recording technique. In this method a piece of glass is passed through the smoke from a piece of burning camphor. This leaves a thin black deposit that can be scraped with a sharp point. In the first instrument, a Fig.ll cycloidotrope (Fig. 9), the coated disc is the stylus moves with the micrometer celestial sphere which is pierced and placed in a cell in a wooden frame. A and can be drawn across when a beautifully engraved with the signs stylus, moved by eccentric gearing, recording of the spectral lines is and figures of the zodiac and draws a geometric figure which can be requirecL in this case a permanent constellations (Fig. 11). On stylistic projected in a magic lantern. The other record can be made by printing onto grounds for the sculpture, they have instrument is a recording micrometer photographic paper. described it as being South German, for a spectroscope by John Browning, late sixteenth century. London (Fig. 10), also from Lockyer Finally, on 10 December in a sale of and bought by the Whipple Museum. works of art Sotheby's offered a gilded Peter Delehar The coated slip of glass rests on the bar; bronze figure of Hercules supporting a London

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) I1 Book Reviews

The Analysis of Starlight by J.B. ("Introduction to Spectroscopy, descriptions of the individual items, Hearnshaw, Cambridge Universi~. Spectroscopes and Spectrographs') is with dates, descriptions, dimensions, Press: Cambridge, 1986, xv+5~U pp., shockingly weak, the basic concepts provenance, and an explanation of tllustrated, £r,o. being casually presented with neither how the instruments work. These ~vbtitled "One Hundred and Fifty equations nor diagrams. It then explanations are splendidly clear and ears of Astnmomical Spectroscopy", degenerates into potted history with concise; they could not be bettered. this b~,k covers not the last 150 years howlers like "Henry Draper in New There are cleanly reproduced black- -- as if its ewdution were wholly York State and William Huggins were and-white photographs of the major governed by that of photography the earliest pioneers of spectrum pieces, but no references to printed but the "tirst" 150. As a survey of the photography." What of J.W. Draper sources that would enable one to learn literature on the impact of and E. Becquerel? The author redeems more. This is regrettable; in this .~pectroscopy on stellar astrophysics himself in Chapter 3, but Chapter 1 respect, there is a recent model from from the time of Fraunhofer's reads like a first publisher's draft never the Smithsonian Institution (R.P. experiments to the mid-19~}s, this properly rewritten. The book improves Multhauf and G. Good, A Brief History considerably in subsequent chapters; account has no peer. As history it of Geoma~etism and A Catalog of the yet the author will sadly have put off leaves something to be desired. Collections of the National Museum of many readers quite unnecessarily. American History, Smithsonian The rationale for the boundaries of Institution Press, Washington, DC, coverage is not sufficientlyexplicit. We ion Darius 1987). Sciem~ Museum, London learn early on that "the mid-1960s The chronological range is greatest in represent a significantanniversary for seismology, from a reconstruction of astronomical spectroscopy", and so Geophysics and C,e~maSnelism: Catalogue of the Science Museum Chang Heng's seismoscope of 132 AD they did; but can we accept that single Collection by Anita McConnell, Her to a borehole seismometer of 1980. The justificationfor a cut-~ffdate now over magnification of oscillations is twenty years ago? One can sympathize Maiesty" s Stationery Office, London, 1986, v + 45 pp., t7-25. sometimes dramatic; e.g. 3000x in a in that the book might have trebled in Kew short-period vertical seismograph size had Hearnshaw carried on -- but Anita McConnell has followed her of ca. 1938. what a pity it is to ignore the Histork'al Instruments in Oceano- breakthroughs achieved with satellite graphy 1981 and No Sea Too Deep: The The items in the section on observations, above all in the crucial History of Oceanographic Instruments atmospheric electricity comprise ultraviolet region where most of the with a lucid and useful account of the lightning conductors, including a strong resonance lines of the geophysical and geomagnetic section of one from St. Paul's cathedral commonest atoms and ions in the instruments in the Science Museum; of ca. 1770, electrometers (beginning Universe are located. and, with the complementarity of the with a Volta repulsion electrometer) and devices for protecting power and No less serious are the bounds placed first two volumes in mind, I am putting in a request for a comparable general telegraph lines from lightning. The on subject matter: stellar classification section on gravity includes Kater's and and quantitative analysis are examined volume on instruments in the latter discipline. She will then have covered other pendulums, many of them made at length, but there is scarcely a word by Thomas Jones, and torsion on the spectra of planets or galaxies. the sea and the land, and we shall be the more indebted to her. apparatus. One is struck by the Nebulae rate only a few paragraphs, accuracy of the results obtained with and supernova remnants, for instance, Geophysics is broad enough. As simple, robust, and elegantly designed none whatever. Even to the Sun, star McConnel] states (p. 5), it is "the apparatus, and also by the long and far- that it is and the closest one at that, science dealing with the physical flung use of individual pieces. One scant attention is paid. properties of the Earth in its entirety". piece made by Jones was used What is the interest for the instrument The catalogue describes instruments throughout the century -- by the enthusiast? "This Ix~k is not primarily and occasionally apparatus for Admiralty, at Kew, and by the US intended h~r the science historian, nor exploring the Earth's structure coastal and geodetic survey on a world is it a popular book for the layman," (primarily through seismology), its voyage. McConnell not only presents Hearnshaw states. "Instead I have gravity, its magnetic and electricfields, the instruments, but describes their aimed at writing for the practising including atmospheric electricity,the range and limitations, so that one has a astronomer." Be that as it may, tides, and also instruments used in sense of the relative advantages and spectr(~scopes and spectrographs (the prospecting, in archaeology, and in disadvantages of simple and complex equivalent endowed with a other areas that depend upon a gravimeters. knowledge of geophysics. photographic plate) figure frequently Tidal measurements, based on float in text and illustrations and it is quite The collectionsare not vast in any one gauges on shore, and pressure gauges unnecessary to be a practising scientist area, but they contain unusually fine as in the open sea, were often self- to appreciate their significance and to well as representative pieces, some recording after Palmer in 1831. Tide- understand what is said al~ut them. acquired through purchase, but many predicting machines, after Kelvin, Measuring engines and microdensi- coming to the Science Museum from combined simple harmonic motions to tometers are also described, if rather the Admiralty, the Royal Society, and produce complex but regular motions, ~uperficially. On the whole government observatories. There are and they provide an example of models ilearnshaw treats the instrumentation advantages as well as complications in that aided conception and calculation as i~,riphera] to his principal theme. being a national institution. at once. Stellar spectro~opists will cherish this Each section begins with a page giving McConnell has worked on the history b~k, but those interested in the a briefintr(~uction to the history of the of the colonial magnetic observatory in spectroscope as an astronomical subdi~ipline, and an account of what Tasmania, and some of the instrument will be alternately the instruments do; their role in the geomagnetic items that she describes enlightened and frustrated. In development of geophysical science is here went south with J.C. Ross in 1839- particular, the first chapter made clear. Then come brief 43; the only misprint that I caught in

12 Bui|etin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) this book refers to a Fox instrument private collections in the USA has Rittenhouse. It is, after all, his name made by George and similar to those greatly increased, and a specialist which appears on the cover! used by Ross in 1939-43. But there are branch of the antiques trade has been Each of the more substantial articles more serious difficulties in dating, and developed by dealers like David and successfully conveys the experience McConnell rightly is precise only Yola Coffeen, and Raymond V. where she has firm evidence; Giordano. and expertise of its author. Peggy A. otherwise instruments are described Kidwell on the Webb adding machine as, for example, a mid-19th-century Rittenhouse represents a collaboration (no. 1) is a model case study of a specific Fox. between these groups: the two dealers instrument and its inventor--and she mentioned are its joint publishers, and is not afraid to fill the last paragraph After a final section on geophysical Deborah Jean Warner is its editor. It with unanswered questions. Her prospecting, the book concludes with has obviously been prompted by the shorter piece on Prentice's protractor an index to instrument makers. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument (no. 3) is equally interesting. Silvio A. Altogether, the material is clearly and Society, adopting a distinct and Bedini (no. 2) elucidates an instrument elegantly presented, the organization pleasant format of its own, and taking thought to be Roland Houghton's is helpful, and the catalogue is warmly as its field instruments "made and/or "new theodolate" of the 1730s. In the to be welcomed. sold in the United States'. With its same issue Gregory A. Good Trevor H. Levere, narrower scope and sharper focus, introduces us to the specialized world Institute for the History Rittenhouse has quite a different of geomagnetic instruments. Deborah and Philosophy of Science flavour from the Bulletin. The four Jean Warner's history of the American and Technology, issues comprising its first volume surveyor's compass (no. 3) is extremely University of Toronto (1986-87) read like a pooling of useful, and cross-refers to various information "towards a reconstruction matters raised in other articles. The Art of Sundial Construction: With of a full and accurate history" of "the Norman E. Wright continues the an Appendix by Peter 1. Drinkwater, American scientific instrument surveying theme (no. 4) with a simple Shipston-on-Stour, second edition, enterprise" -- and this is exactly the account of different sorts of odometer 1987, 80pp., illustrated, £3-95. editor's intention. It might be that it and their development. Ronald K. will run short of contributions after a Smeltzer (no. 4) writes the most In Bulletin No. 6 (Spring 1985), p. 22, I few years; but meanwhile it is full of academic article in the four issues, reviewed an interesting and interest for any reader of this Bulletin. analysing from probate records the idiosyncratic book by Peter library and instrument collection of lnnocentius Drinkwater, The Art of After a first issue consisting mostly of John Prince, the clergyman-scientist Sundial Construction. This has now short articles of two or three pages, a who was very influential in the been reprinted in a second edition better mixture including several longer dissemination of practical science in which includes a page on pieces became the norm. Almost all the America. "Amendments for the Southern articles are illustrated; and further Hemisphere" (the author gently illustrations (of instruments, or One of the things that emerges strongly explains that those down under can reproducing old photographs, from all this is the overwhelming manage if they read South for North in documents, or advertisements) importance of land surveying in the the book, and so on), and a six-page accompanied simply by extended history of North America. The study of Appendix on how to construct a captions have become a feature of the its instruments, techniques, and declining/reclining or a declining/ journal. The most interesting of the practitioners is actually a direct inclining dial. These are rather nasty short articles are, similarly, those contribution to the history of the trigonometrical constructions, at least which explain a single instrument, a colonization of America, the formation for those who have only done picture, ora document. Budd I. LaRue's of the American state, and the social "modern" mathematics. study (in issue no. 1) of an invoice for and economic life of its people. In these microscopical sundries from a retailer senses it has more immediate Part of the joy of this book lies in the in Birmingham (England), and Linda ramifications than the equivalent quaint typographical embellishments Simmons's facts and hypotheses studies in Europe. and use of words, while the diagrams arising from a painting of David Wiley Although mostly written by academics marked up in black and red are clear with his electrostatic machine (no. 3), and attractive. As I said before, it and museum staff, all the articles are are fine examples of what can be done would make a good Christmas present. interesting and accessible to the with isolated source documents. Other collector, amateur enthusiast, and This book is obtainable from the author short articles focus on individual professional enthusiast too. The at 56 Church Street, Shipston-on- makers of firms, and on the general illustrations come out well, and the Stour, Warwickshire, England, or from history (in America) of types of typeface is clear. There are occasional the Museum of the History of Science, instrument. Murray Kamrass takes a printing errors and factual slips -- Broad Street, Oxford OXI 3AZ. different, materials-science angle in Halley gets knighted and Wright of tracing the application of "aluminum" Gerard Turner Derby christened Thomas. But to telescopes and surveyors' transits Oxford Rittenhouse brims with lively and (no. 2). useful information, much of it Rittenhonse : Volumes I to 4 Strangely, the least satisfactory short unfamiliar to the rest of the world. In Some of the great pioneers of collecting article is the very first, Brooke Hindle's the present state of the subject there is and studying scientific instruments on David Rittenhouse, most of it plenty of scope for it alongside the were from the United States of quoted from an existing publication. international SIS Bulletin, as the first America. in recent decades, especially, Doubtless the hero of the American and only periodical devoted to antique there has been the work of historians "enterprise" will receive further notice scientific instruments in general and to and scholarly curators such as Silvio A. in future issues. Far more of a the history of instrument making. Bedini, Robert P. Multhauf, Derek J. desideratum, however, would be A. !/. Simcock, Price, and Deborah lean Warner. In something about his younger brother, Museum of the History of Science, addition, the number of public and the instrument maker Benjamin Oxford

Bulletin of the Scientific lnstrument Society No. 15 (1987) 13 Letters to the Editor

Cowley vs. Cowley currently liaising with the Science instrument and equipment makers and Sir, Museum, South Kensington on the is at present being derived solely from exchange of research data. in return, the Guildhall Library series of London As you mention the Heath/Cowley Pro~..ct SIMON has supplied all Trades directories. Only those who glass celestial sphere in your "Market- material relevant to their research have attempted an index of this kind platY" feature (Bulletin No. 14, p. 13), work. can appreciate the amount of work may I take this opportunity to correct required simply to read through the an error which unfortunately crept into One of the splendid things about these researchers is that they have all been larger unclassified directories, and Geared to the Stars and was equally appreciate the relatively small promulgated in the dealer's brochure working in separate areas and therefore have been able to extra effort required to note, in on this instrument? concentrate. There has been virtually passing, categories of occupation The John Cowley who engraved the no overlap. Because we knew about outside the main thrust of the exercise. sphere ca. 1740 was not the same man their research, we have not gone over Thus duplication of effort is not as as John ~ge Cowley, FRS, who the same ground, except for the odd wasteful as it may at first appear; in fact succeeded Thomas Simpson as a check here and there to assess the it may provide a useful reciprocal check teacher of mathematics at the Royal validity of the work (and all were on the work of others. Military Academy in 1761. John accurate within the parameters they set As Michael Crawforth says, directories Cowle)', who revised, and engraved themselves). have considerable limitations, but they the maps for, the third edition of A can provide an extremely useful New and Easy Introduction to As to semi-private lists of makers, starting-point for further research. C~)~¢raphy (London, 1746, from the when individuals, working in a relatively small field, have a current How useful a starting-point seems to German of Johann Huebner) was me to depend on how consistent a appointed Geographer in Ordinary to need for better information than is available from published sources, what consensus is obtained about a his Maiesty (George 11) on 16 March particular maker based on the 1740/1. On 14 March 174516 Emanuel are they to do? Until such time as maximum possible number of Bowen was appointed to this post "in accurate and comprehensive data are contemporary directory entries for that the room of Mr. John Cowley available, what choice have they other maker. deceased." This information comes than to do their own research? from the Lord Chamberlain's I hope your editorial will not The disadvantage of this approach is, Appointment Books, PRO LC/3/65, p. discourage well-conducted research in obviously, the time it takes and the 120 and p. 196 respectively. specific areas by the implication that it frankly mind-numbing tedium of the should be left to those who have As John Lodge Cowley's Geometry task. The advantage is that it reduces already started. Will it reach those who made easy (London, 1752) was sold by some of the anomalies Michael matter? it's the usual problem that several instrument makers including Crawforth mentions. He quotes the those whom you wish to target are the Thomas Heath, it is quite likely that the example of the Evanses, based on least likely to read the periodical, or two Cowleys were related, but so far as entries from Holden's triennial attend the lectures where source 1 am aware this point has not been directories, in the period to 1809, at material is appraised, or to meet others investigated yet. least, this particular anomaly is doing the very thing they are starting. simplified by examining some further John R. Millburn directories, and a consensus is reached A ylesbury, Bucks To extend your editorial, how about organizing the publication of an (see box). Cataloguers" Reply ongoing list of research projects on Although Holden's is much the most science history subjects with their comprehensive of the London Sir, compiler and address, so that directories of the time, it does have its With regard to your editorialin Bulletin duplication is reduced and people can limitations, which can often be No. 14, [ thoroughly agree with so contribute to other projects? A similar overcome with reference to its humbler much of what you say. The sooner a listfor the general history of London is contemporaries. In this case they assist stop is put to inaccurate publications, being compiled by the Institute of in the problem of John Evans, optician. the better. The more that are Historical Research, University of Here, Hoiden lags behind in the published, the less impact any accurate London. change of street number in 1799, and publication has m who except a very Michael Crawforth inexplicably misses him out altogether few researchers will be able to tell the Project SIMON in 1805 (as, too, does Kent after 1804). difference? The continued use of c/o Museum of the History of Science, Thus by the time we arrive at 1809, secondary material is very worrying, Oxford when John Evans, rulemaker, has not only as a source of reference, but appeared, we may become confused. sometimes as a basis for statistical Cataloguers' Reply (2) As it is we can be reasonably certain analysis, even by established Sir, that John Evans, optician of academics who should know better. Bishopsgate Street, and William Evans, As one of those "curators... [who,] mathematical instrument maker of Project SIMON is not being conducted vexed and frustrated at the inadequacy Clerkenwell, flourished separately in isolation (as some other projects are, of existing material, have initiated their or have been), but is receiving throughout the period, and that there own semi-private index" (of was some connection, possibly father generous co-operation from many instrument makers) mentioned in your sources. For example, Dr. John and son, between William and John editorial (Bulletin No. 14), l was most Evans of Fetter Lane. We may, Chaldecott, David Bryden, Alison interested by Michael Crawforth's Morrison-Low, John Burnett, Andrew however, suspect that something may article "Makers and Dates" in SIS have happened to Bishopsgate Street Crawforth, plus the Museums at Bulletin No. 13. Liverpool, Bristol, and Edinburgh, Evans around 1805. have provided our project with all their My own "semi-private index" is Of course, this will by no means be the relevant research material, and we are primarily intended to cover medical end of the story, and it may in fact be

14 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) Imlmme~l Maker collectors. 17q~l;~qFvans, Iohn O~m, 17~K. 17~7K. 17q~K Deborah lean Warner 87 l~h~ w~hm National Museum I~lq- 1810Ev~. ~n Optlod~, 17~qK. 17~qL. 179~H (r~. ii100K, I~00 PO, 1801K, I~0| PO. 1~0"2K.1802PO, I~O2H. IflffIK I~O~PO, I~[NIg, o[ American History, i~4 PO, I~0~ PO, 1806PO, 1807PO, I~ORPO, 180~PO. Washington, DC 180~H I~IOPO 17~ H. 1102H(noe 10~, IROSH I0 Dean ~e~e~. Fe,~le,rL,Ine I~WEvams, Iohn Rulema~er, I~H g Oe~snS~n~, r-e~ t.~w 11]02.lflO~Evam. Wsl~amn k41~il~,lhf~me, nlmalurr, I~O~H, I~0~ H, IIIO~H (41~ 41111Rc~n ~. (:'lerkenwell Moral Support Sir, 11102Anone, Fr~nct,s Tt,~. ba~meler anti la0~ H, I~lmequenlb ( I~1~ H) a lmmaaqk~r Ihcrm~mw.h.r~nu fach.s-r. 2~ H,[~h Ho~ons ! am moved to write to you following Im)2C~. ~ph&Co Saro,ne~r m~s. Ig02 H. ~dy ( IgO'lH. iH0e H) a Io,lunB-i~am amd the SIS Annual General Meeting at the 3 Lons L~ne. ~m,thheld psctum-~r~e ~actm~r ~ S4 Red I.mn Smeee British Museum on Saturday, 20th I ~02- I R03 .~laml~ Son & Co Lo~mig-RJoss dmd IR02 H (pnntse4k.r and IoolunllPRbmlen~k~r). 1~03PO. baru~w~ makers. 1#04PO, 1807g (Iook,nl~l~la~ m~lu~r~ June. It was a lively discussion, and 74 Laam~ Lane many useful suggestions were made l~03-1~vJS~laml~C &Co Ikm~mnek,~,mdkefs, ii03 H ~uppk.,~t [~-III¢~ maker). 11105PO some of which will no doubt be 25 K,rbv ~met. I'la~n C,a~len (~lam ~ll ~, CO ), | RO~ H (k~Jkln~-g~ md~kes'.Cgl~e~r iplder). IIII~ PO octwaMs ~d also subseqm.ndy m H adopted by your Committee. ~antq,mlv Constructive criticism is the Ere-blood Ke7: H = tk~lem, K = Kent, I = I.ow~k.~, PO = Po.a tNhce Dev~uon~ tnwn (~m~.n~u~ mwled m I~emmlhe,~es of any new or progressive Society, but completely wrong! All that can be said outside London as well as those /n there was one important aspect of the is that, using these Particular sources, practice inside, but only has a classified proceedings which I felt was totally this is the kind of consensus that index for those working (or entitled to overlooked and ignored. appears: in most cases it will have some work) inside. The 1809 edition includes The Committee organized a very value, and in some it may actually be only surgeons in practice inside comprehensive programme for the quite accurate. Only further research London in the unclassified section and members, and the Officers, notably the using other sources will show which. has two separate classified listings for Chairman, Secretaries, Treasurer, and Michael Crawforth also mentions the members of the Royal College of yourself, have considerable problem of Lewis Casartelli, barometer Surgeons, one for those inside London administrative demands on them. Of and thermometer maker. While I and the other for those outside. course from time to time, there will be myself have not come across him yet, it ("Outside" includes overseas in both shortcomings in the organization, but I seems, from the directories, that many cases.) it is worth looking up surgeons should like to remind my fellow of those who are described specifically in London in the unclassified section members that the Committee provide as barometer makers either did not where possible because the addresses their time and services quite concentrate entirely on these are more comprehensive and up-to- voluntarily. We should all be grateful. date. But beware: the 1808 edition of instruments or often changed their An apprec~tive member occupations -- in the case of many of Holden is a reprint of 1805! the Italians, shortly after their Finally, my index is "unclassified" in appearance in the directories. both senses. It is far from complete, but Examples are given in the box. I am more than happy to provide any Stampa has a particularly confusing information I might have on Particular selection of entries (above all the one in makers or practitioners. Kent: Kent's directory is erratic at this David Wright, time) but it does illustratethe extremes Department of Medical Sciences, of variation in the description of ,Sc/ence Museum, london occupations which may be ForthcomingMeetings encountered in the directories. Of Telemeters and Cataloguers It might be worth mentioning a few A meeting is planned for February to points about Holden's directories at Sir, mark the Australian bicentenary and this time, since they are relatively so another is to be held at the Science useful and comprehensive. The 1799 In response to the query from John B. te Pas, l would say to look in the Museum next Easter with scientific (Ist) edition is really the first reliable demonstrations in the style of starting-point for 19th-century makers. Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers Catalogue du Musee, Section Benjamin Martin. Details to follow. The supplement of 1801 and the By special arrangement the Society will editions of 1802, 1805 and 1809 are M: ~ie / Lev~ des Plans / Photogramn~trie (Paris, 1953), p. 36. be visiting Leningrad and Moscow as likewise very useful, though if one is described in Bulletin No. 13. Becauseof interested in the (classified)listings of The telemeter signed Tavernier-Gravet was apparently devised by Colonel the huge resl~)nse, Jeremy Collins will surgeons and apothecaries (which may GouSer in 1884. be organizing this event. Registration be useful in dating medical equipment for the USSR trip is now dosed. inscribed with an owner's name), one I enjoyed reading your latest splenetic should be aware that they are compiled caveat to cataloguers. Do understand, The Annual General Meeting will be from earlier listings (by up to three however, that my "semi-private held on 18 June at the National years) from the respective colleges. The index', however haphazard, serves me Maritime Museum along with a 1805 edition includes, in its well. Members of the Society might like meeting celebrating the 500th unclassified section, all members of the to know that ! am always happy to anniversary of the defeat of the Royal College of Surgeons working share my data with other curators and Spanish Armada.

Bulletin o| the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) 15 Instrumental Events

Until December 1987, Cambridge, 17 February 1988, London Wollaston's Microtechniques for the England Electrolysis of Water and "Thereza and Nevil Story Maskelyne" Electrochemical Incandescence" etc. "Newton's Principia, 1087-1987" is an is a lecture given by Vanda Morton (a Details from Dr. John T. Stock, exhibition at the Whipple Museum of descendant) at the Challoner Club, 61 Department of Chemistry, University the History of Science, Free School Pont Street, London S.W. l at 18:30 and of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06268, Lane. Cambridge CB2 3RH The organized by the Royal Photographic U.S.A. exhibition has been reproduced on ten S~ety. wall-charts and a poster, copies of 11 to 15 July 1988, Manchester which are available to institutions with 22 February 1988, London suitable wall space for a nominal cost. A joint BSHS-HSS Anglo*American Details from the museum. Dr. Anita McConnell will give a lecture Conference has been organized at This exhibition also be seen at the "Factors Influencing the Instrument Manchester University. The papers can Making Trade in London" in the Science Museum in South Kensington will include Carolyn Cooper, "Latent on the mezzanine of the Astronomy Council Room of the Royal Institution Technology Transfer: English and Gallery. at 16:30. Details from Frank James, American Woodworking Machines, RICHST, 21 Albemarle Street, London 1620-1865"; Christine MacLeod, "The WIX 4BS. Peculiarities of the English Patent Until January 1988, Florence System: A Comparative Approach, 28 March 1988, London 1660-1852"; Raj Williamson, "The "L'E~ di Galileo" is the titleof a new Manchester School of Physics"; and gallery and accompanying catalogue Dr. Marl E.W. Williams will give a William B. Ashworth, "Claude Mellan sponsored by IBM Italyat the Istituto• lecture "Precision Instrument Making and the Selenographical Tradition" etc. Museo di Storia della Scienza di in France: The Military Dimension, Details from J.V. Pickstone, Centre for Firenze, Piazza dei Giudici I, Florence, 1914-1930" in the Council Room of the the History of Science, Technology & Italy. Royal Institutionat 16:30. Details from Medicine, Mathematics Tower, Frank James, RICHST, 21 Albemarle University of Manchester, Oxford Until 17 January 1988, Litge Street, London WIX 4BS. Road, Manchester MI3 9PL.

"The Figure of the Earth", a touring 17 April 1988, London 23 October 1988, London exhibition organized by the Fi~deration lnternationale de G~m~res, will be at The Fourth International Scientific & The Fifth International Scientific & the Maison de la Science, Quai Van Medical Instrument Fair will be held at Medical Instrument Fair will be held at Benerlen 22, Lit'ge, Belgium. (Its next the Portman Hotel, Portman Square, the Portman Hotel, Portman Square, stop will be the Stadtsmuseum in London W.1 on Sunday, 17 April 1988, London W.I on Sunday, 23 October Dortmund, 22 February to 23 March.) 10:00 to 17:00. Admission £2. Details 1988, 10:00 to 17:00. Admission £2. from the Organizer: Peter Delehar, 146 Details from the Organizer: Peter Portobello Road, London WII 2DZ. Delehar, 146 Portobello Road, London End of 1987, Haarlem Tel: 01-866 8659. Wll 2DZ. Tel: 01-866 8659.

An exhibition on Martinus van Marum Monthly, Los Angeles and his times is being organized by the 16 to 22 May 1988, Moscow and Teyler's Museum, Haarlem, Holland. Leningrad The Los Angeles Microscopical Society meets on the third Wednesday of every 1987, The Netherlands These are the provisional dates for the month at the Page Museum, Wilshire meeting being organized by the Boulevard, Beverly Hills, 19:00 to Het Barometermuseum, Dorpsweg Society. It is anticipated that we shall 23:00. They organize guest speakers, 187, 3738 CD Maartensdijk, The be able to visit collections normaEv demonstrations, exhibitions and Netherlands is a new museum opening closed to the public. The cost wiil competitions relating to microscopy. this year. It is devoted to the history, include all necessary arrangements Details from Gil MellO, President, manufacture and use of the barometer and will be in the region of £550. LAMS, 33016 Pacific Coast Highway, and related instruments. The curator Further details from the Meetings Malibu, CA 90265. Tel: (213) 457 7729. Bert BoIle is seeking the loan of any Secretary, David Weston, 44 Duke relevant object, books or ephemera. He Street, St. James's, London SWlY Monticello, Virginia can be contacted on (31) 13461 2400. 6DD. Tel: 01-839 I051. A recently installed permanent S to 11 June 1988, Toronto exhibition devoted to the domestic life 7 to 8 January 1988, London and hobbies of America's third A symposium entitled "History of president, Thomas Jefferson, is now To celebrate the bicentenary of the Electrochemistry" will be part of the open at his Virginia estate. Amongst settling of Australia, a conference on Third Chemical Congress of North the items on display are his copying Anglo-Australian Science has been America organized by the Division of machine and his polygraph. organized at the Royal Institution, the History of Chemistry of the London in association with the British American Chemical S(~ety. The Braunschwei 8, West Germany Society for the History of Science. Fees papers will include Stella Butler, "Joule of £,30 (members) and £35 (non- and the Electrical Equivalent of Heat"; The Braunschweigisches Landes- members) should be sent to Wing- B. Jaselskis, "The Development of pH museum fOr Geschichte und Volkstum Commander G. Bennett, 31 High Measuring Instruments: Historical has opened a new gallery devoted to Street, Stanford-in-Vale, Faringdon, Perspective"; and M.C Usselman, "A early calculating devices. Amongst Oxon. SN7 8LH Pioneer in Miniaturization: those on display are various abaci and

16 Bulletin of the ScientificInstrument Society No. 15 (1987) Napier's rods and many calculating machines including examples by Pascal, Leibniz, C_a.rsten, Hahn, Miiller, Thomas, Maurel, Jayet, Burkhardt, Felt and Burroughs. A Documents include a 15th-century mathematical text and descriptions of Moreland's and Polenus's World Auction instruments. Details from Gerd Biege], Museumdirektor, Burgplatz I, D-3300 Braunschweig, West Germany. Record New Advertising Options

From the first issue of 1988 (March), it will be possible to book a whole page of the Bulletin for an advertisement. Moreover, the back cover, kept blank in previous issues, will also become available to interested parties. The revised rates are as follows: Back cover £500 Whole Page or flier £150 Half page L~)3 Quarter Page £40 Eighth page Classified f.5 (min charge up to 24 words, then 20pIworcl up to max of 10 lines) Note that there has been no change in the charges at the lower end of the scale. These rates allow placement according to the run of the printing; for a designated page position add 20%. A block booking over one year (four issues) entitles the advertiser to a I0% discount. The rates quoted above cover publication of the advertisement in camera-ready form only; any artwork required on the part of the printer must be charged for separately. Advertisers will appreciate that some latitude must be allowed for in the space occupied according to the format supplied. A rare Erasmus Habermel ~lt brass and silver ,'omhined astronomical c~,npendium and book bindine, siljrned. Please send your advertisements, 15".a~ae.fedtErasmus Habermd 15q7. 21 by 16 ~' 6.'x-re. along with a cheque or money order Sold on 16th November 1987 for fiB1 ,,~). a world auction for the appropriate amount, to Peter record for a scientific instrument. Delehar, 146 Portobello Road, London Wll 2DZ. Our next sale will be held on 18th April 1988, closing date for entries Classified is 15th February 1988. Advertisements Enquiries: Jon Baddeley COLLECTOR PAYS BEST PRICES for 34-35 New Bond Street. London W I A 2AA any material relating to typewriters. Telephone: (01) 493 8080 Telex: 244M SPBLON G Please make an offer to: Dr. reed. dent. Dieter Zibrowius, Koelnstrage 18, D- 5170, Juelich,West Germany. CALCULATING DEVICES & MACHINES pre 1950 wanted. Arthur Cheslock, 2510 Smith Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21209, U.S.A.

Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No. 15 (1987) 17 R.A. MARRIOTT F.n.A.S. STUART TALBOT 24 Thirlestane Rd., Far Cotton, Northampton NN4 9HD. BUYS & SELLS Tel: (0604) 765190 FINE Rare, Anthluarian & Secxmd-hand B~ks 18TH & 19TH CENTURY on Astronomy, Astrophysics, Geophysics, Optics SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS and Every Saturday at Rogers Galleo/ Rel,ate, t Physical and Mathematical Sciences 65 Portobello Road, London Wl 1 15th to 20th century Tel: 01-969 7011 Catak~ues and Bulletins issued. Ik~stal business only. If?0 (Plea~" quote BSIS)

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20 Table of Contents

Editor's Page: No Time Like the Present ...... ion Darius 1

Report on the 1987 Annual General Meeting ...... ion Darius 2

Baroque Observatory in Southern Germany ...... Alto Brachner 4

Fifty Years of the Hilger Spekker ...... R.H. Nuttall 7

Market-Place ...... Peter Delehar I0

Book Reviews ...... 12

Letters to the Editor ...... 14

Forthcoming Events ...... 15

Instrumental Events ...... 16

New Advertising Options ...... 17

Advertisements ...... 17