Gray-Milne seismograph made by James White

Made:
1885 in Glasgow
maker:
James White
designer:
John Milne and Thomas Gray
Gray-Milne seismograph made by James White Gray-Milne seismograph made by James White Gray-Milne seismograph made by James White Gray-Milne seismograph made by James White

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Gray-Milne seismograph, plus weights, winding keys and carton of parts, for recording both horizontal and vertical motion during an earthquake. Designed in Japan by Thomas Gray and John Milne, and made by the James White firm, Glasgow, Scotland, 1885. A plaque on the instrument reads: ‘Gray & Milne’s seismograph | No. 3 | James White | Glasgow.'

The Scottish engineer Thomas Lomar Gray and British geologist John Milne met whilst working as professors at the Imperial College of Technology in Tokyo, Japan. They designed this instrument to record the motion of the earthquakes they frequently experienced there. Several examples of their design were constructed in Japan, but this example was manufactured by the James White instrument firm after Gray returned to Britain in 1883.

Two conical pendulums register both horizontal components of motion, and the large flat curving springs are part of the lever mechanism that registers vertical motion. The instrument ran continuously, driven by clockwork, with a timekeeping device making a mark on the paper ribbon every ten minutes so that the timing of any disturbance could be recorded.

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Seismograph

Details

Category:
Geophysics
Object Number:
1885-115
Materials:
steel (metal), brass (copper, zinc alloy), glass and paper (fibre product)
Measurements:
overall: 758 mm x 578 mm x 490 mm, 45.5 kg
overall (lead cyclinder weights): 2.5 kg
type:
seismograph
credit:
White, J. (Scotland)