Accession No
2971
Brief Description
Crookes spectroscope, by Spencer, Browning and Rust, English, 1862 (c)
Origin
England; London
Maker
Spencer, Browning and Rust
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1862
Latest Date
1862
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass); glass
Dimensions
Box height 385mm; breadth 253mm; depth 209mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Tesseract, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, USA, 1983.
Inscription
‘Crookes,
Spectroscope’
‘CROOKES
SPECTROSCOPE’
‘Spencer Browning & Co
London
PATENT’
Description Notes
2 prism table Crookes spectroscope; brass 5 sided prism housing with screw-fit collimator and telescope; push fit slit mount; screw adjustment to slit width; horizontal slit and prisms; inclination of hinged telescope and wavelength in view adjustable by a screw; rack and pinion focus; push fit eyepiece; pillar stand. With claw foot; box with inscribed plate.
References
Events
Description
In 1814 Joseph von Fraunhofer noticed that the sun’s spectrum, when dispersed by a glass prism, is crossed by hundreds of fine dark lines. These lines could be used to determine the chemical composition of the sun, stars and many other substances by spectral analysis. The first photograph of the spectrum of a star (Vega) was made by Henry Draper using a spectroscope in 1872.
There are various different forms of spectroscope, but all use a slit and collimator to make a parallel beam of light, a prism for dispersing different wavelengths and a telescope to observe the dispersed spectrum. This instrument is the earliest patented form of spectroscope. The patent was applied for in 1861-2 and represents the beginning of retail manufacture of the spectroscope.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:44814
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