Spectroscope
date: label: date made
content: 1865-1900
name: label: maker
content: Browning, John
notes: label: Description
content: This is a direct-vision spectroscope with a seven-part prism. The three sections (collimator, prism train and telescope) screw together to form an instrument 18 inches long overall. The “John Browning / London” inscription refers to John Browning (ca. 1831-1925), the first important English spectroscope maker. The “Alex. R. Newman” inscription on the top of the mahogany box has not been identified. The “1173” incised on the inside of the box may be a serial number.
label: Description
content: Browning introduced the seven prism form in 1869. A reliable text published in 1872 stated that this instrument “commends itself by the excellence of its performance, the facility of its use, the smallness of its dimension, the purity of colour, and its low price.”
label: Description
content: Ref: John Browning, <i>How to Work with the Spectroscope</i> (London / New York, 1878).
label: Description
content: H. Schellen, Spectrum Analysis in its Application to Terrestrial Substances, and the Physical Constitution of the Heavenly Bodies (London, 1872), p. 119.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Optics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.327561
label: catalog number
content: 327561
label: accession number
content: 317962
objectType: label: Object Name
content: spectroscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 in; 45.72 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 2 11/16 in x 7 1/4 in x 5 1/8 in; 6.82625 cm x 18.415 cm x 13.0175 cm