Siren
date: label: date made
content: after 1897
name: label: maker
content: F. E. Becker & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: Traditionally, only musicians could reliably produce tones of a specific frequency. With a siren, even scientists could produce specific tones. Charles Cagniard de la Tour (1777-1859), a French engineer, described the first successful siren in 1819. This very simple instrument (it lacks the dials found on most other examples) is of that sort. The inscription on the ivory tag on the wooden base reads “F. E. BECKER & CO. / W. & J. GEORGE (LONDON) LTD. / PROPRIETORS / HATTON WALL / LONDON.” The Becker firm was founded in 1872, and acquired by W. & J. George Ltd. in 1897.
label: Description
content: Ref: F. E. Becker & Co., <i>Illustrated Catalogue of Physical Apparatus</i> (London, 1913), p. 731.
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.330312
label: accession number
content: 287887
label: catalog number
content: 330312
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Acoustic Siren
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 4 in; 25.4 cm x 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/8 in x 4 1/16 in x 4 1/8 in; 25.7175 cm x 10.31875 cm x 10.4775 cm