Accession No
6726
Brief Description
electron microprobe, the third complete instrument ever produced, by Tube Investments Ltd., to the design of Peter Duncumb and V. E. Cosslett, English, 1965
Origin
England; Cambridge; Hinxton Hall
Maker
Tube Investments Ltd.
Class
metallurgy; microscopes;
Earliest Date
1965
Latest Date
1965
Inscription Date
Material
wood; metal (aluminium alloy, stainless steel, others); glass; plastic (bakelite? acrylic? others)
Dimensions
approximate: 3m (width), 2m (depth), 2m (height)
Special Collection
Provenance
Donated by Tecvac Ltd. in 2009. Sold to Tecvac Ltd. by the Cavendish Laboratory in 1998. Given to the the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Superconductivity at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1988. Commissioned for internal use at Hinxton Hall in 1970. Built by Tube Investments Ltd. from 1965.
Inscription
Description Notes
Electron microprobe, the third complete instrument ever produced, by Tube Investments Ltd., to the design of Peter Duncumb and V. E. Cosslett, English, 1965.
L-shaped instrument with green frame and yellow desktop. The analysis chamber on the left-hand side consists of a thick stainless steel vacuum chamber on a frame. The electronics racks on the right-hand side includes multiple, removable electronics units and screens. The instrument can be dismantled into numerous parts.
Complete (but some connecting cables originally from the instrument may be missing)
References
Events
Description
This electron microprobe is the third complete one ever produced. It was built from 1965 and commissioned in 1970 for internal use. When Tube Investments Ltd. closed down, it was given to the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Superconductivity at the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1998, the Cavendish Laboratory sold it to Tecvac Ltd.
08/03/2021
Created by: Morgan Bell on 08/03/2021
Description
Invented and first built in Cambridge, the electron microprobe is an instrument for very accurately determining which chemical elements something is made from. A sample is placed inside the column on the left of the instrument, and is then bombarded with electrons. The atoms in the sample absorb some of the energy from the electrons, re-emitting this energy in the form of X-ray radiation. By measuring the energy and intensity of this radiation, the microprobe can determine which elements are present in the sample, and in what proportions.
The electron microprobe design was developed from 1953 to 1956 by a PhD student, Peter Duncumb, working under metallurgist Prof. V. E. Cosslett in the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. A local Cambridge firm, Tube Investments, developed this design for industrial use, making the instrument on display here, which is the third complete microprobe ever produced. Another local firm, Cambridge Instrument Company, subsequently developed the first mass-produced version of the instrument, the very successful ‘Microscan’.
[Object label from display in the Learning Gallery]
08/03/2021
Created by: Morgan Bell on 08/03/2021
FM:47490
Images (Click to view full size):
