Atwood Machine
name: label: maker
content: Fortin et Herrmann
notes: label: Description
content: George Atwood, a mathematics tutor at Trinity College, Cambridge, described this type of instrument in 1784, explaining its use for verifying the laws of motion with constant acceleration. The Atwood machine soon became a common piece of classroom apparatus, suitable for teaching classical mechanics.
label: Description
content: This example was used at the U.S. Military Academy. The “Fortin et Herrmann Genre à Paris” inscription refers to Adolphe and Émile Fortin-Herrmann, brothers who, in 1831, took over the shop of their grandfather, Nicholas Fortin, a leading scientific instrument maker in Paris.
label: Description
content: Ref: George Atwood, <i>A Treatise on the Rectilinear Motion and Rotation of Bodies, with a Description of Original Experiments Relative to the Subject</i> (Cambridge, 1784).
label: Description
content: Daniel Grand, “Notice Nécrologique sur Adolphe et Émile Fortin-Herrmann,” <i>Mémoires et Compte-rendus de la Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France</i> (1908): 692-700.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: France: Île-de-France, Paris
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Military Academy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.315758
label: catalog number
content: 315758
label: accession number
content: 217544
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Atwood Machine
label: Object Name
content: Atwood machine
label: Object Name
content: atwood Machine
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall (object): 98 1/2 in x 25 3/4 in x 25 3/4 in; 250.19 cm x 65.405 cm x 65.405 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall (in case): 112 in x 35 in x 35 in; 284.48 cm x 88.9 cm x 88.9 cm
label: Measurements
content: cr.20: 112 in x 37 in x 36 in; 284.48 cm x 93.98 cm x 91.44 cm