Spectrophotometer, Perkin-Elmer model 12A
date: label: date made
content: 1945-1960
name: label: maker
content: PerkinElmer, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: Richard Scott Perkin (1906-1969) and Charles Elmer (1872-1954), one an investment banker and the other a court reporter, organized the Perkin-Elmer Optical Company in 1937, incorporated the firm in 1939, built a factory in Glenbrook, Connecticut, and produced optical instruments for military purposes during World War II. In collaboration with chemists at the nearby Stamford Research Laboratory of American Cyanamid, who were working on the federally-funded program to develop synthetic rubber, optical engineers at Perkin-Elmer developed an infrared spectrophotometer. A commercial version, the Model 12A, was unveiled in 1945. This is one of those instruments. An inscription reads "Infrared Spectrometer / Model 12A / Serial 101 / The Perkin-Elmer Corporation."
label: Description
content: Ref: R. Bowling Barnes, Robert S. McDonald, Van Zandt Williams, and Richard F. Kinnaird, “Small-Prism Infra-Red Spectrometry,” <i>Journal of Applied Physics</i> 16 (Feb. 1945): 77-.
label: Description
content: Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay, “The Rise of Instruments during World War II,” <i>Analytical Chemistry</i> 80 (2008): 5684-5691.
label: Description
content: Y. M. Rabkin, “Technological Innovation in Science: The Adoption of Infrared Spectroscopy by Chemists,” in Peter Morris, ed., <i>From Classical to Modern Chemistry</i> (London, 2002), pp. 3-28.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Perkin-Elmer Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0149.01
label: accession number
content: 1993.0149
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0149.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Spectrophotometer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: insulated wire (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 77.5 cm x 57.1 cm x 24.1 cm; 30 1/2 in x 22 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 in x 29 in x 37 in; 43.18 cm x 73.66 cm x 93.98 cm