Drawing Instrument on the Design of Henry Johnson, Volutor
date: label: Date made
content: 1858
label: date made
content: ca 1860
notes: label: Description
content: This is a brass instrument for drawing spirals, particularly the Ionic capitals on columns drawn by architects. A horizontal brass beam is marked in inches. The inches are divided to thirty-seconds along one edge of the beam and tenths along another edge. At one end of the beam, near zero, is a holder for a pen or pencil points. Both points are in the case that houses the instrument. At the other end of the beam is a reel made of bone that is wound with string. A support that slides along the beam carries a brass framework with two small wheels. One end of the support also has a pointer that marks the center of the spiral. Atop this is one of four brass cones, a ceramic and brass vertical column, and a brass and bone handle. The thread from the spool winds around grooves in the cone. Turning the handle releases the thread and moves the pen or pencil point in a spiral.
label: Description
content: Also included are two hollow brass pieces, a brass disc with a central hole, and a small, metal-lined wooden box. The box fits in a separate compartment. The entire instrument fits in a wooden case lined with green velvet. A mark on the object reads: The Volutor. (/) H. Johnson’s Patent (/) 1858.
label: Description
content: Henry Johnson was a wine merchant in London. He invented not only the Volutor but a deep sea pressure gauge. Both were shown at the International Exposition held in London in 1862.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: William Joseph Booth, <i>A Description of the Volutor...</I>, London: Judd and Glass, 1859. According to this publication, Henry Johnson authorized F. Hoffmann of Clerkenwell to manufacture the Volutor. Booth read his paper at the 1858 meeting of the British Association in Leeds.
label: Description
content: Joseph Booth, “On an Improved Instrument for Drawing Spirals,” <I>British Association for the Advancement of Science Report of the Annual Meeting [for 1860] </I>, 30, 1861, pp. 60-61.
label: Description
content: London International Exposition, <I>The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industrial Department...</I>, London: Her Majesty’s Commissioners, 1862, 2, pp. 17-18.
label: Description
content: Susan Piedmont-Palladino, <I>Tools of the Imagination: Drawing tools and Technologies from the Eighteenth Century to the Present</I>, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006, pp. 16-17.
label: Description
content: “Henry Johnson,” <I>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</I>, 39 #4, February 14, 1879, p. 227.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
label: Subject
content: Drafting, Engineering
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
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content: Single Drawing Instruments
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content: Science & Mathematics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2004.0175.01
label: accession number
content: 2004.0175
label: catalog number
content: 2004.0175.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Drawing Instrument
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal, brass (parts material)
label: Physical Description
content: bone (handle material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: felt (lining material)
label: Physical Description
content: string (control material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8.5 cm x 29.8 cm x 20 cm; 3 3/8 in x 11 3/4 in x 7 7/8 in