Demainbray's cometarium
- designer:
- John Theophilus Desaguliers
Cometarium made according to Desagulier's design, by unknown maker, London, 1750-1760. Once belonged to Stephen Demainbray.
This is one of the few objects to carry the name of 'Dr. Stephen Demainbray', who used it in his lectures on natural philosophy. This model was used to explain the path of a comet and was originally designed by Desaguliers, at one time a mentor of Demainbray. The central brass ball represents the Sun and the smaller ball in the elliptical groove represents the coment. When the handle was turned the comet moved round the ellipse while the pointer on the upper dial gave the time. The lines show that equal areas are swept out in equal times. Demainbray worked as superintendent at the King's observatory at Kew from 1768 and his collection of instruments and apparatus was absorbed into the King's own collection
Details
- Category:
- King George III
- Object Number:
- 1927-1254
- Materials:
- oak, brass (modern replacement), glass, box (wood), steel (metal) and paper (fibre product)
- Measurements:
-
overall (flat): 110 mm x 500 mm x 315 mm, 4.3 kg
- type:
- demonstration models and cometarium
- copyright:
- Unlinked Name
- credit:
- King's College, London