Accession No
2592
Brief Description
direct-vision spectroscope, by John Browning, English, 1883
Origin
England; London; 63 Strand
Maker
Browning, John
Class
optical
Earliest Date
1883
Latest Date
1883
Inscription Date
1883
Material
metal (brass); wood; cloth (baize)
Dimensions
box length 485mm; breadth 84mm; height 63mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from P. Delehar, London, England, 05/1980.
Inscription
‘John Browning,
63, Strand, London’
‘25 1 83’ (scratched on box)
Description Notes
Direct-vision spectroscope, by John Browning, English, 1883.
Direct vision spectroscope, brass, with pivoted telescope. Slit, brass jaws, width adjustable by screw moving against spring, with drum divided 0-10. Reflecting prism on pivoted arm. Brass collimator tube. Brass barrel containing prisms. Pivoted brass telescope with knurled brass changing screw. Screw-in eyepiece. Second eyepiece screwed into tube (in box). Fitted baize-lined wooden box.
Condition: good.
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 makea parallel beam of light, a prism for dispersing different wavelengths and a telescope to observe the dispersed spectrum.
18/10/2002
Created by: Saffron Clackson on 18/10/2002
FM:39530
Images (Click to view full size):
