







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
On display
If you are visiting to see this object, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.
Related people
Details
- Category:
- King George III
- Object Number:
- 1927-1254
- Materials:
- box (wood), brass (modern replacement), glass, oak, paper (fibre product) and steel (metal)
- Measurements:
-
overall (flat): 110 mm x 500 mm x 315 mm, 4.3 kg
- type:
- demonstration models
- taxonomy:
-
- disciplines
- disciplines
- science
- natural sciences
- physical sciences
- credit:
- King's College, London
- copyright:
- Unlinked Name
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
View manifest in IIIF viewer
Add to Animal Crossing Art Generator
Download manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.