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Lightbulbs in Stand
These light bulbs were manufactured around 1905. They can be dated by the construction of the filament. To learn more about antique light bulbs,…
Edison Projecting Kinetoscope
This picture should be rotated 90 degrees clockwise to show how the instrument was actually used. This kinetoscope was manufactured by Edison Mfg, Co, Orange, N.J., USA. around 1902. Continuous 35mm film wrapped around the reel, and turning the crank…
Voigtlander Vag Camera
Manufactured about 1920 by Voigtländer & Sohn AG of Braunschweig, Germany. A folding plate camera using a 6x9cm film back. It has a Voigtländer Anastigmat Voigtar 105mm f/6.3 lens set in a IBSOR DDR shutter made by AGC and having the AGC…
Theolodite
An optical instrument used to measure angles in surveying, meteorology, and navigation. The earliest theodolite consisted of a small mounted telescope that rotated horizontally and vertically. Washington and Lee taught surveying in the mid-19th…
Prisms
Prisms have been standard laboratory equipment since Isaac Newton used one in 1666 to study the nature of the spectrum.
Most or all of these prisms were made by Duboscq in Paris.
Achromatic Prism
The three prisms hanging from the brass stand may be folded up in pairs to demonstrate achromatism (no color separation) or constant deviation (no color dependence of the angle of minimum bending of light.) These were made by Lerebours et Secretan of…
Newton's Rings
This device demonstrates “Newton’s Rings,” colorful interference fringes caused by a thin air layer first discussed by Isaac Newton in a communication to the Royal Society in December 1675, and presented an expanded account in his book "Optics"…
Heliostat
The heliostat takes light from the sun as it tracks across the sky, and redirects it in a fixed direction. To accomplish this, the light is reflected from a mirror that reproduces the motion of the sun, except at twice the rate. Although he did not…
Absorption Cell
These glass spheres were used to contain gases such as iodine, bromine, and hypo-nitrous acid in order to study their light-absorption properties, i.e. their absorption spectra. Light shown on the cell passed through the glass and was absorbed by the…