Accession No

2047.3

Brief Description

Macalaster Wiggin type X-ray tube, by Victor, U.S.A., c. 1915

Origin

U.S.A.; Boston

Maker

Victor

Class

physics

Earliest Date

1915

Latest Date

1915

Inscription Date

Material

glass; metal (brass, copper, tungsten, at least two other metals); paper; stone (mica)

Dimensions

length 575mm; breadth 220mm; height 210mm

Special Collection

Cavendish collection

Provenance

Transferred from Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 1974.

Inscription

‘VICTOR
TRADE MARK
MADE IN BOSTON U.S.A.
TUNGSTEN’
‘PAT. SEP. 5:11 DEC. 30:13
JUN. 23:14 NOV. 30:15’ (target)
‘MACALASTER WIGGIN TUBE
Sold by
British Manufacturers & Wholesale Agents
NEWTON & WRIGHT LTD
72 WIGMORE...’ (paper label on cathode tube, partially obscured by later label)

Description Notes

Glass tube with central spherical chamber, tinged purple from gas. White metal anode in side arm ending in disc. Long tube from sphere containing white metal cathode ending in concave disc at top of short cylinder. Opposite the cathode is a long glass tube containing the connection for the target, which consists of an open white metal ring, linked to a copper (?) cylinder cut at an angle with a central mica (?) disc. Side arm evacuation tube with carbon regulator. Copper section of target carries serial number and patent details. Metal caps on electrodes to aid electrical connection; spiral brass wire connects anode and target. Broken metal wire between evacuation tube and cathode. Paper label with details of inspection by the Ministry of Munitions. Also a paper label obscuring this and the retailer’s label with MS reading ‘Punctured Dr Swann 1922’.

Condition good; complete.

References

Events