Siren

Made:
1870 in London
maker:
William Ladd
Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870. Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870. Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870. Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870. Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870. Syren.

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

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

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

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

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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 

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

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Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870.
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870.
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870.
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870.
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Syren, made in London by William Ladd, 1870.
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Syren.
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Siren, wood and metal, London, 1870.

Built by London-based instrument maker William Ladd, this siren was designed by Charles Cagniard de la Tour in 1819.

Originally developed to measure the number of vibrations of a body in a given time, Cagniard’s siren was the first artificial sound source with a frequency that varied depending on the speed of rotation. The siren worked by pushing in pressurised air through a cylindrical cavity (most likely coming from a wind chest and bellows under it) through two discs. The faster the disk rotates, the higher the sound. The number of turns was registered on the dials that sit on top of the siren indicating the number of vibrations per second. It is said Cagniard named its siren because of the object’s ability to produce sound underwater (when water is pushed in as opposed to air), evoking the chants of mythical Greek sirens luring sailors to death.

Details

Category:
Acoustics
Object Number:
1872-10
Materials:
wood (unidentified) and metal (unknown)
Measurements:
overall: 300 mm x 165 mm x 165 mm, 1.04 kg
type:
siren
credit:
Ladd, W.