Davis-Bruning Colorimeter
date: label: date made
content: ca 1951
name: label: maker
content: Fisher Scientific Company
notes: label: Description
content: Armin J. Bruning, an employee of the H. B. Davis paint company in Baltimore, designed a colorimeter so that distant shops could create paints of the exact same colors, and received a patent (#2,566,079) in 1951. The Fisher Scientific Co. in Pittsburgh offered the Davis-Bruning colorimeter between 1952 and 1960, noting that it cost $650 and could be used for plastics, ceramics, textiles, printing inks, and paints.
label: Description
content: Each unit had eight porcelain panels of different primary colors. In use, light of variable intensities from a standardized source is reflected off four of these panels and combined on a screen to form the desired color. This example is marked "DAVIS-BRUNING COLORIMETER FISHER SCIENTIFIC SERIAL No. 123 Pat 1951 MADE IN U.S.A.” and “115 VOLT 60 CYCLE." The Department of Chemistry of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute donated it to the Smithsonian in 1981.
label: Description
content: Ref: Fisher Scientific Company, <i>Modern Laboratory Appliances</i> (Pittsburgh, 1952), p. 285.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
topic: label: Subject
content: Color
label: Subject
content: Optics
label: Subject
content: Paint
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
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content: Saccharimeters
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Chemistry
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0496.09
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0496.09
label: accession number
content: 1981.0496
label: serial number
content: 123
label: serial number
content: 2507624
objectType: label: Object Name
content: colorimeter
label: Object Name
content: Colorimeter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: aluminum (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: bakelite (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: chrome plate (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: housing and base: 22.8 cm x 61 cm x 70.2 cm; 8 31/32 in x 24 1/32 in x 27 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: dial panel: 40.3 cm x 60.5 cm x 55 cm; 15 7/8 in x 23 13/16 in x 21 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 55.5 cm x 61 cm x 78.4 cm; 21 7/8 in x 24 in x 30 7/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall30: 43 in; 109.22 cm