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Historical Scientific Instruments

Engravings of various early scientific devices and machines, illustrating advancements in technology from the 18th and 19th centuries.

18th century engraving by T Jefferys, Diagram showing a machine for measuring the relative expansion of different metals when heat is applied.
18th century engraving by T Jefferys, Diagram showing a machine for measuring the relative expansion of different metals when heat is applied.
342 assets in this story
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Illustration depicting Thomas Edison's phonometer which used the energy generated by speech to drive a flywheel. Edison claimed the power could be used to drill a hole in a wooden wall, or other small tasks. Thomas Edison (1847-1931)an American inventor and businessman. Dated 19th century
1746-111357476
Engraving depicting an Louis Pasteur experiment demonstrating that fermentation and putrefaction are caused by air-borne organisms. The contents of the flask are sterilised and the flask is then left with the S neck open, but any organism entering falls into the bend in the S. It is only when the neck of the flask is broken and air admitted that any change takes place. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vacci
1788-22075371
Cotton beater, produced by Asa Lees & Co, Oldham, United Kingdom, illustration from L'Industria, Rivista tecnica ed economica illustrata, Milan, 1909.
1848-54924315
Interior view of Edisons chemical telephone. Originally published 1879 in Scribners Magazine
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October 1929. Research against rabies. In the image, a crematorium oven, used to incinerate the remains of rabbits sacrificed to obtain rabid bone marrow. This photograph is part of a report on anti-rabies treatment, participating in the Black and White photographic information contest in 1929.
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ASTRONOMIA. CIRCULO DE REFLEXION. FABRICADO POR PISTOR Y MARTINS. BERLIN HACIA EL AÑO 1863. RADIO 26 CMS. OBSERVATORIO NACIONAL. MADRID.
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An air pump          Date: 1882
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nitrous oxide apparatus, medical equipment, surgical instrument, history of medicine
1746-28999653
Engraving depicting refractor on a 'German' equatorial mounting. Dated 19th Century
1788-21789177
Guglielmo Marconi in the engine room of the Wireless telegraph station in Monte Mario, Rome, Italy, drawing by Dante Paolocci, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year XXX, No 21, May 24, 1903.
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A portable steam engine. Engraving by C. Livesey, 1805.
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Engraving showing the instrument, designed by Ansell, for the detection of fire-damp in underground mines, 1880.      If 'fire-damp' gases built up then the risk of explosion increased, often followed by heavy loss of life.     Date: 18 September 1880
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Ader-Bell telephone - wall mounted model. From Louis Figuier Les Nouvelles Conquetes de la Science, Paris, 1883.
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Machinery used in the making of combs, and details of its components. Engraving by E. Turrell after J. Farey.
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Edison Pyro Magnetic Engine. Old 19th century engraving from La Nature 1887
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Medicine, use of the laryngoscope, laryngoscope, in 1890  /  Medizin, Benutzung des Kehlkopfspiegel, Laryngoskop, im Jahre 1890, Historisch, historical, digital improved reproduction of an original from the 19th century / digitale Reproduktion einer Originalvorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.
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Model of first high-speed test engine in a museum, Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
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A diagram of Cowpers writing telegraph.  Invented in 1878 by William Cowper (1819-1893), the machine was able to reproduce a message written some distance away by a process of interrupted electrical currents.  This principle extended to recreating a hand-written message as a pencil transposed the movements of the current.     Date: November 15th 1879
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model of a toothless Endless Screw, alternating motion of the Toothed Wheel, which lifts or lowers an object just by turning the hand crank. based on a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian artist and polymath. Madrid Codex I, folio 17 v.
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Steam engine by Cornish engineer Arthur Woolf (1766-1837). Engraving, 19th century. (Later colouration).
1746-28999122
Engraving depicting a scientific experiment on vibration nodes. Dated 19th Century
1848-50215951
View of a work table in the chemistry laboratory of the University of Leipzig, 1888, Germany, Historic, digitally restored reproduction of an original 19th-century original, Europe
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England, London, South Kensington, Science Museum, Charles Wheatstone's Printing Telegraph Machine dated 1841
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Morse electric printing telegraph. Front view of instrument showing roll of paper for recording messages and the transmitting key at A. D are wet cells (batteries) providing electricity. Chromolithograph c1882
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Swift & Son's new patent microscope.
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G Demeny's design of a movie camera, built by Gaumont. Series of frames obtained by intermittent drive of take-up spool.
1899-17318960
Egrot apparatus. Alcohol destillation. Gold medal. Exposition of Paris, 1878. Engraving by Victor Rose. La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana, 1897. Colored.
1848-19359835
Ansicht eines Arbeitstisches im Chemielabor der Universität Leipzig, 1888, Deutschland, Historisch, digital restaurierte Reproduktion einer Originalvo...
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Electric Room. Electric light at the Paris Opera House, France. Old illustration by Louis Poyet (1846-1913) from La Nature 1887
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A851760 U12T MIGHTY OAK RING EXPERIMENT ASSEMBLY WILLIAM BARRETT (Project Engineer) DEC 17 85 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 12/17/1985  ASSEMBLIES; CABLES (NON ELECTRIC COMPANY); COMPONENTS; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; EQUIPMENT (SNL); INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT; MIGHTY OAK; MIGHTY OAK NUCLEAR TEST; MIGHTY OAK TEST; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; RING EXPERIMENT; RING EXPERIMENT ASSEMBLY; T-TUNNEL; TEST SITES; UGT; UNDERGROUND TESTING; MIGHTY OAK-RING EXPERIMENT  historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.
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Estados Unidos. Nuevo aparato telegráfico para transmitir fac-símiles y copias de manuscritos. Inventado por el ingeniero industrial Mr. W. E. Sawyer. Grabado. La Ilustración Española y Americana, 8 de abril de 1876. Coloreado.
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Engraving depicting a Bunsen cell, a zinc-carbon primary cell composed of a zinc anode in dilute sulphuric acid separated by a porous pot from a carbon cathode in nitric or chromic acid. Invented by Robert Bunsen (1811-1899) a German chemist. Dated 19th century
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Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material. Bäckström was Sweden's first professor in photography at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 1948-1958.Grid grid for the recovery of tri-color seal. For more info see: Bäckström, Helmer. Photographic manual. Nature and Culture. Stockholm. 1942. p. 1198.
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Hydrographer's 18 Inch Wye Level, Engineering - Surveryor's Instruments
7192-70582012
Phonograph. Created in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison (Milan, Ohio, 1847-West Orange, 1931). Colored engraving.
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Phonograph. Created in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison (Milan, Ohio, 1847-West Orange, 1931). Colored engraving.
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Russia, St Petersburg.  Instruments of astronomy, in the observatory of the Kunstkamera Museum.  St Petersburg, Russia.
1746-28993385
Illustration depicting the use of Mangin's optical telegraph. Dated 19th Century
1746-19632721
Wollaston's reflecting goniometer for measuring the angles of crystals. William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828)Wood engraving 1874.
1746-29953964
Advertisement for an acetylene bicycle lamp. A Carbide lamp, or acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene (C2H2) which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide (CaC2) with water. Dated 20th century
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the magazine Practical Electrics March 1924 front cover. Hugo Gernsback, known as the Father of Science Fiction’ invented and built an early electronic instrument called the Staccatone in 1923 which was later developed into one of the first polyphonic instruments, the Pianorad in 1926.
1746-28997605
Advert for 1899 model of the Alfa-Laval Cream Separators from Stockholm, Sweden. Dated 19th Century
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