Accession No
3894
Brief Description
direct-vision spectroscope, by Steinheil, German, 1890
Origin
Germany; Munich
Maker
Steinheil
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1890
Latest Date
1890
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass)
Dimensions
box length 122mm; breadth 58mm; height 29mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from Auction Team Köln, D-5000 Köln 50, W. Germany; “Alte Technik” sale, lot 717, 23/05/1992.
Inscription
‘Steinheil on Munchen.’
Description Notes
Direct-vision hand-spectroscope, brass. Width adjustable by milled ring. Slit on long draw tube. Fine early example of its kind. With original carton plus padding.
Condition: fine; complete.
References
Events
Description
Spectroscope
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. Direct vision spectroscopes consist of a series of prisms of different refractive indices arranged to produce dispersion of light without deviation.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:44818
Images (Click to view full size):
