Browse Items (3473 total)
Sort by:
A large brass wheel sitting on four smaller wheels, in a brass frame on a circular wooden stand. The smaller wheels spin at a much slower rate when the large wheel is spun.
Device exhibiting a low friction bearing. Friction wheels on circular base with holes for pulley cord - (top of Atwood's machine). Steel axles. Three 2 mm brass stud feet. Displayed in King's visitors' centre until 1993 - 2003. "Brilliant workmanship…
Aristotle's watering pot. A small tin watering can with small holes perforated in the base.
'Aristotle’s Watering Pot' was another demonstration piece in Professor Patrick Copland’s repertoire about 200 years ago.
Tipping up the pot while holding a thumb over the air-hole above the handle, it could be filled through the spout. With the…
Tipping up the pot while holding a thumb over the air-hole above the handle, it could be filled through the spout. With the…
Metal hearts. A wooden box with five heart shaped cavities inside which are an iron, a copper, a brass and a lead heart. One is missing.
Unsigned but very similar to the specimen in the George III collection. Complete with ivory-sided compass with transparent base. Hinged box has cut-outs for five metal hearts, only four are contained in the box. Various non magnetic metals. Gold…
Chinese compass. A small rectangular wooden box with two rows of notches along its length on the top side. There is also a circular cavity with a pin in the centre on which the needle would have been. The cavity and notches have Chinese characters around them. There is a panel of wood with concentric rings and characters on it which slides out from the underside of the box; it has feet allowing it to stand in the notches.
Portable dial combines a compass whose needle is now missing, equinoctial sundial of traditional Chinese design (unseen in base), and a noon dial for telling the time of year. The equinoctial dial has shaped feet cut into to give it the correct…
Head of Despair. A small wooden head with bared teeth, red lips and covered with flaking paint, with long white hair.
Wooden painted head, the hair is woven into a cloth scalp that is connected by an internal rod to the base. The hair stands on end when the head is sat on a electrostatically charged table, King's visitors' centre caption "Another of Professor…
Diving bell model. A glass bell with a brass fitting on top out of which a rubber tube projects. A length of string is tied to the fitting. Inside the bell is a rubber ring by the opening, suspended by wire from the top of the bell.
"Halley’s Diving Bell The diving bell made its appearance in the 16th century, under the name campana urinatoria, and accounts can be found of its use in the 17th century to recover sunken treasure. One adventure raised gold, chains and other…
Hadley's octant. An triangular ebony frame shaped like a section of a circle, with an ivory scale along the curved outer edge. A brass arm with a small scale and a screw at the end reaches from the point of the frame to the outer edge and can be rotated along it. There are three black glass discs in hinged brass frames on one side and the whole instrument stands flat on small brass legs.
Ebony frame with ivory scale having anchor engraved at its centre, calibrated in degrees, micrometer adjustment & Vernier to 1' arc. 1 green shade, 2 red shades. Double pin-hole site with moveable cover across a single pin-hole. Forerunner of the…
Dotchins. Small wooden boxes shaped like guitars with long necks, containing quills marked with scales from which metal dishes are suspended with string.
4 different sets of balances. Chinese balances in bamboo carrying cases known as Dotchins. They were used in the Chinese market place for weighing gold currency that consisted of irregular pieces stamped with their purity; violin-shaped wooden case…
Graham's deadbeat escapement model. Brass model of an escapement consisting of a 60 second clock face behind which is a toothed wheel which is struck alternately by the ends of a curved brass arm connected to a spindle. The spindle would have a pendulum attached to it.
Brass and wooden model of escapement with 60 second face. Pendulum ( ABDNP200022b ) fits on rear. Holes on right of base probably for small pulley wheel, now missing. Dial marked in seconds and labelled every 10 seconds. Escapement wheel 152 mm…
Dr. Lorimer's dipping compass. An octagonal wooden box from out of which projects four intersecting brass rings perpendicular to each other and incised with degree scales. Suspended in the innermost ring, which is oriented upright, is a needle which can rotate freely inside the ring.
Instrument for showing that a compass needle not only points to magnetic north but if freely suspended will point into the ground. This later phenomenon is known as the 'dip' of the compass needle. Horizontal scale 0 -90 in 1/20 on either side of N…