Water testing kit, England, 1920-1940
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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Water testing kit, in wooden carrying case by Burroughs Wellcome and Co., England, 1920-1940
The kit contains equipment needed to examine water supplies at their source. It includes a spirit lamp, measuring cylinders, a tripod, ceramic dish, filter paper, a range of chemicals and printed sheets to record results. This kit was sold under the brand name ‘Soloid’ for £105 pounds, a considerable amount of money at the time. The kit was probably produced for use by the water companies that supplied people’s homes.
Such water testing shows a marked change from the situation a century earlier, when the quality of the water being drunk was of little concern to the companies selling it. Unfortunately, a number of diseases are transmitted through water including cholera and dysentery. In Britain a series of cholera outbreaks throughout the 1800s eventually led to major improvements in the quality of water supplied.
Details
- Category:
- Public Health & Hygiene
- Object Number:
- 1989-379
- Materials:
- brass (copper, zinc alloy), ceramic (unspecified), cork, cotton (fibre), felt, glass, incomplete, leather, mahogany (wood), metal (unknown), paper (fibre product) and rubber (unidentified)
- Measurements:
-
overall - closed: 120 mm x 317 mm x 275 mm, 3.25 kg
overall - open: 347 mm x 317 mm x 293 mm, 3.254 kg
- type:
- water testing kit
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- furnishing - artefact
- lighting device
- lamp - lighting device
- furnishing and equipment
- measuring device - instrument
- measure - volume
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- scientific equipment
- laboratory apparatus
- credit:
- D.H.S.S. (Russell Sq.)
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Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
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