Spectrophotometer, Coleman Model 14
date: label: date made
content: 1947-1964
name: label: maker
content: Coleman Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: The Coleman Electric Company of Maywood, Illinois, was organized by Edwin Dewitt Coleman in the 1930s, made “precision tools for the technologist” during World War II, and became Coleman Instruments in the 1940s. It was bought by the Perkin Elmer Co. in 1964, and became the Coleman Instrument Division of Perkin Elmer.
label: Description
content: The spectrophotometers that Coleman Electric introduced in 1938 were designed by (or in conjunction with) Robert W. Wood, a renowned professor of optical physics at The Johns Hopkins University, and they incorporated Wood’s replica diffraction gratings. By 1955, Coleman was boasting that over 10,000 of their spectrophotometers were in use in industrial, medical and academic laboratories all over the world.
label: Description
content: The Model 14 spectrophotometer introduced in 1947 provided greater accuracy and sensitivity than the time-tested Model 11A. New, it cost $455. A tag on the front of this example reads “UNIVERSAL / SPECTROPHOTOMETER / PATENTS PENDING” and “COLEMAN INSTRUMENTS INC. / MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.” and “INST. NO. / D 2140” and “MODEL 14.”
label: Description
content: Ref: Edwin D. Coleman, “Spectrophotometer,” U.S. Patent 2,339,053 (Jan. 11, 1944).
label: Description
content: “Coleman Spectrophotometers,” ad in <i>Analytical Chemistry</i> 27 (March 1955): 14A.
label: Description
content: “Two Ex-Wives Benefit From Coleman Will,” <i>Chicago Tribune</i> (Aug. 25, 1959), p. C5.
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: Transfer from NIH
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0535.01
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0535.01
label: accession number
content: 1981.0535
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Spectrophotometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 cm x 47 cm x 35.3 cm; 8 11/16 in x 18 1/2 in x 13 7/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 3/8 in x 13 3/4 in x 17 in; 21.2725 cm x 34.925 cm x 43.18 cm