Accession No
1898
Brief Description
Pantograph, Wallace’s eidograph, by Robert Brettell Bate, English, c. 1824
Origin
Poultry; London; England
Maker
Robert Brettell Bate
Class
drawing
Earliest Date
1824
Latest Date
1824
Inscription Date
Material
metal (brass, lead) wood (mahogany); cloth; ivory; rope (string)
Dimensions
l of beam 752 mm; from centres of tracing arm discs 638 mm; d of tracing arm discs 156 mm; l of tracing arms 590 mm box length 800mm; breadth 180mm; height 95mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Purchased from R. A. and D.H. Morgan, Turret House, Wymondham, Norfolk in 11/04/1975.
Inscription
‘Eidograph
No 2
Invented by W.Wallace, Profr. of Math:
University of Edinburgh
Constructed by R.B. Bate, Poultry, London.’ (collar)
Description Notes
Pantograph, Wallace’s eidograph, by Robert Brettell Bate, English, c. 1824.
Mahogany beam; triangular section; brass suspension or pivot collar attached to a cloth covered lead base disk. Main beam with inlaid ivory scale graduated [75] - 0 - [75] by 10 subdivided to 1 with vernier to 0.1 on collar. Brass tracing arm discs conected by a brass fusee chain with tension adjusting screws. Mahogony tracing arms with brass fittings for pencil points. Ivory scale graduated 70 - 0 - 60 by 10 subdivided to 1 with vernier to 0.1 on discs. Pulleys and string for lifting drawing point. Fitted wooden box. Eidograph no longer fits in box.
Condition fair; complete
chain broken into three pieces (1996)
References
Events
Description
This eidograph was made by the London scientific instrument maker Robert Brettell Bate (1782–1847). The eidograph was an improvement on the pantograph invented in 1801 by William Wallace, later professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University. Like the pantograph, the purpose of the eidograph was to enable maps, plans, or drawings to be copied, reduced, or enlarged. A point that traced over the image to be copied was linked to a drawing point through a fixed pivot point. By changing the ratio of length between the bars holding the tracing and drawing points, images could be enlarged or reduced in any ratio between the limits of one and three.
For more on Bate’s life and works, see Wh.6262.
20/12/2013
Created by: Joshua Nall on 20/12/2013
FM:39855
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