Spectrometer
date: label: Date made
content: 1945-1950
label: Date made
content: late 1940s
name: label: maker
content: Baird Associates
label: maker
content: Baird Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: During World War II, the Dow Chemical Company worked with Baird Associates to build a direct-reading spectrometer for analyzing magnesium alloys. Following the success of that instrument, Baird Associates designed a similar spectrometer that could handle the more complex spectra of iron. This is one of those instruments. Its diffraction grating has 15,000 lines per inch and a 3-meter focal length.
label: Description
content: Baird Associates was established in Cambridge, Mass., in July 1936. The founding partners were Walter Baird, John Sterner, and Harry Kelly. In 1956, following a merger with Atomic Instrument Co., the firm became Baird Atomic. By 1979 it had become the Baird Corporation, with headquarters in Bedford, Mass.
label: Description
content: Ref: David F. Walsh, “The History of Baird Corporation: A Broad Perspective on the Progress of Industrial Spectroscopy,” <i>Applied Spectroscopy</i> 42 (1988): 1336-1350.
label: Description
content: J. L. Saunderson, V. J. Caldecourt, and E. W. Peterson, “A Photoelectric Instrument for Direct Spectrochemical Analysis,” <i>Journal of the Optical Society of America</i> 35 (1945): 681-697.
label: Description
content: Ralph H. Muller, “Instrumentation,” <i>Analytical Chemistry</i> 19 (July 1947): 19A-20A.
label: Description
content: R. O’B. Carpenter, E. DuBois, and J. Sterner, “Direct-Reading Spectrometer for Ferrous Analysis,” <i>Journal of the Optical Society of America</i> 37 (1947): 707-713.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Baird Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0277.01
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0277.01
label: accession number
content: 1982.0277
objectType: label: Object Name
content: direct reading spectrophotometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: cabinet 1: 33 in x 36 in x 23 in; 83.82 cm x 91.44 cm x 58.42 cm
label: Measurements
content: cabinet 2: 33 in x 37 in x 23 in; 83.82 cm x 93.98 cm x 58.42 cm
label: Measurements
content: pallet: 39 in x 39 in x 48 in; 99.06 cm x 99.06 cm x 121.92 cm
label: Measurements
content: cabinet rear: 33 in x 36 in; 83.82 cm x 91.44 cm
label: Measurements
content: cabinet front: 64 in x 27 in; 162.56 cm x 68.58 cm
label: Measurements
content: frame: 30 in x 37 in x 140 in; 76.2 cm x 93.98 cm x 355.6 cm