Abbé Refractometer
name: label: maker
content: Valentine, Warren P.
notes: label: Description
content: Warren P. Valentine began making refractometers when World War I limited the import of European instruments into the United States. By 1920 the National Bureau of Standards had reported that his precision refractometer was "the most accurate Abbé refractometer we have so far tested." In 1928, Valentine received the Edward Longstreth Medal of the Franklin Institute in "consideration of the meritorious work shown in the improvement of the mechanical and optical parts of the Abbé refractometer, thereby increasing its accuracy."
label: Description
content: By that time, these instruments were used in the paint, oil and drug industries, and in chemical and physical laboratories. In dispensaries they measured the quantity of albumin or protein in blood serum and urine. They were also used to determine the oil content of flax, cotton, and other oil-bearing seeds, to control the melting point in the hardening of vegetable and mineral waxes and the hydrogenation of soap stock, to measure the total solids in tomato juice and catsup and the concentration of sugar syrups as in sugar manufacture and the sugar content of fruit jellies and preserves. An inscription on this example reads "WARREN P. VALENTINE, HADDONFIELD, N.J. U.S.A. No. 334."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Haddonfield
topic: label: Subject
content: Chemistry
label: Subject
content: National Bureau of Standards
label: Subject
content: Franklin Institute
label: Subject
content: World War I
label: related event
content: World War I
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Saccharimeters
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: National Bureau of Standards
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.318123
label: catalog number
content: 318123
label: accession number
content: 231765
objectType: label: Object Name
content: refractometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 8 5/8 in x 18 9/16 in x 7 in; 21.9075 cm x 47.14875 cm x 17.78 cm