Atwood Machine
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 probably one of the instruments bought by Frederick Hall, a Dartmouth graduate who became a tutor at Middlebury College in 1805, and then spent two years abroad, attending universities and scientific lectures, and purchasing apparatus for the school. It was probably made by Harris & Co. in London.
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: 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.315194
label: catalog number
content: 315194
label: accession number
content: 216217
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Atwood Machine