Accession No

3316

Brief Description

slide-wire DC Potentiometer, Crompton type, by Crompton and Company Ltd., English, 1900 (c)

Origin

England; London and Chelmsford

Maker

Crompton and Company Ltd.

Class

electrical

Earliest Date

1890

Latest Date

1910

Inscription Date

Material

wood; plastic (ivorine, ebonite); metal (brass); glass

Dimensions

length 895mm; breadth 256mm; height 150mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Transferred from Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 1986.

Inscription

“CROMPTON & CO. LTD. / LONDON & CHELMSFORD / CROMPTON POTENTIOMETER” (on central ebonite plate)

Description Notes

Slide-wire DC Potentiometer, Crompton type; made by Crompton & Co., dec.1900;
Rheostat, three rotary switches, and tapping key mounted on top of wooden box; slide wire with ivorine scale, 670 mm long, with 1050 divisions, and marked from ‘0’ to ‘105’; another 210 mm scale on same ivorine plate (for calibrating, using standard cell at different temperatures), marked from ‘5’ to ‘35’ and labelled ‘CLARK CELL VALUE AT ...DEGREE CENTIGRADE’; brass cursor with glass window; sixteen threaded brass terminals (for battery, galvanometer, and six potentials to be measured) mounted on ebonite plates on back of box. Loosely set into wooden base, with glass-topped wooden lid.

Condition: fine (glass in cursor cracked); complete

References

Events