Hooke's Depth Sounder (replica)
date: label: date made
content: 1959
name: label: maker
content: Eichner, Laurits Christian
notes: label: Description
content: Since England’s defense and prosperity depended heavily on mastery of the seas, it is not surprising that the Royal Society of London, established by royal charter in 1660, promoted projects pertaining to oceanic navigation. Nor is it surprising that Robert Hooke, the polymath who served as Curator of Experiments (1662-1672), understood that to know the depth of the sea may be “of good use, both Naval and Philosophical” and so sought ways to determine depths that would be better than the traditional lead line. This replica represents Hooke’s first depth sounder, presented to the Royal Society on September 30, 1663. When thrown overboard, the instrument would sink to the ocean floor; the wood sphere (6.5" diameter) would then detach from smaller lead sphere, and the time it took to rise to the surface would indicate depth. Since Hooke introduced a new model soon thereafter, we can assume that the original one did not work as well as expected.
label: Description
content: Ref: [Robert Hooke], “An Appendix to the Directions for Seamen, bound for Voyages,” Philosophical Transactions 1 (1665-1666): 147-149. This describes the original model but depicts a later one.
label: Description
content: [Robert Hooke], “Directions for Observations and Experiments to be made by Masters of Ships, Pilots, and other fit Persons in their Sea-Voyages,” Philosophical Transactions 2 (1667): 433-448. Here again, Hooke describes the original model but depicts a later one.
label: Description
content: Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society of London for Improving of Natural Knowledge (London, 1756), vol. 1, pp. 307-308.
label: Description
content: William Derham, <i>Philosophical Experiments and Observations of Dr. Robert Hooke</i> (London, 1726), pp. 225-230.
label: Description
content: Robert P. Multhauf, “The Line-Less Sounder: An Episode in the History of Scientific Instruments,” <i>Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences</i> 15 (1960): 390-398.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey
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.316644
label: catalog number
content: 316644
label: accession number
content: 226495
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Hooke's Depth Sounder (replica)
label: Object Name
content: depth sounder (replica)
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/4 in x 6 in; 33.655 cm x 15.24 cm