Accession No
3115
Brief Description
prism train, by Adam Hilger Ltd., English, 1932
Origin
England; London
Maker
Adam Hilger Ltd.
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1932
Latest Date
1932
Inscription Date
1932
Material
glass; metal (silver)
Dimensions
1st prism length 92mm; breadth 85mm; depth 55mm; 2nd prism length 102mm; breadth 88mm; depth 55mm; 3rd prism length 86mm; breadth 51mm; depth 55mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, 12/1983.
Inscription
Description Notes
Two 60˚ glass prisms and one half prism silvered on the face opposite 60˚ angle; all 3 marked in pencil ‘McClean’.
Scratched on 60˚ prisms: ‘AH LTD 1932’; ‘11’ on one, ‘111’ on other. Pencilled on half prism ‘refigured Hilger 1936’ and ‘4’.
Condition
References
Events
Description
Prism
A prism consists of a translucent piece of glass or crystal, usually triangular in cross section, which is used to separate light into a spectrum of its separate colours.
The instrument works because different wavelengths of light are refracted (bent) by different amounts as they enter and leave the prism; the shorter wavelengths (towards the blue end of the spectrum) are refracted by the greatest amount, and the longer wavelengths (towards the red end) are refracted the least. This spreads out normal white light, which is a mixture of all the different colours, into its constituent parts and produces the rainbow effect of a spectrum.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:43425
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