Demainbray's optical model
- Made:
- 1752
Optical model showing the direction of rays through a prism, maker unknwon, 1752. Once belonged to Stephen Demainbray. A handwritten inscription on the base reads: 'Prism, 2 Screens and Convex Lens/ from single ray'..
This model is one of a series of optical models that were once owned by Stephen Demainbray and used by him in his lectures on natural philosophy. it shows light rays passing through a prism to form a spectrum on the first screen. If separate colours are allowed to pass through this screen, they are brought to focus on the second screen by the convex lens. Originally silk cords would have been used to represent the rays of light. 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:
- 1927-1436
- Materials:
- fruitwood, ivory, mahogany (wood), paper (fibre product) and incomplete
- Measurements:
-
overall: 75 mm x 230 mm x 75 mm, 0.26 kg
- copyright:
- Unlinked Name
- credit:
- King's College, London