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Coalbrookdale by Night

Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg

1801

Coalbrookdale by Night by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, 1801. Oil on canvas in gilt frame. Signed and dated bottom right. Exhibited as 'A View of Colebrook Dale by night' at the Royal Academy London in 1801. It shows the Bedlam furnaces at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, with flames and smoke billowing from the centre of the picture. The picturesque gorge landscape to either side is lit by moonlight, and figures hurry in the foreground to transport raw materials and iron pigs.

Rotative steam engine by Boulton and Watt, 1788.

Motive Power

1788

Boulton and Watt Rotative Beam Engine - the 'Lap' engine. This is the oldest essentially unaltered rotative engine in the world. Built by James Watt in 1788, it incorporates all of his most important steam-engine improvements. The engine was used at Matthew Boulton’s Soho Manufactory in Birmingham, where it drove 43 metal polishing (or ‘lapping’) machines for 70 years.

'Puffing Billy' locomotive

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

1813-1814

Locomotive 'Puffing Billy'. Driving wheel diameter 3 feet 3 inches; cylinders 9 inches x 36 inches; working pressure 50lb; weight approximately 8 tons, exclusive of tender.

Wax anatomical model of a female showing internal organs, Florence, Italy, 1818

Anatomy & Pathology

1818

Wax anatomical model of female torso and head, showing internal organs, with removable heart, on wooden display cabinet, by Francesco Calenzuoli, Italian, dated 1818

Mrs. Sage

.Unattributed

1785

Painting. [Mrs. Sage] / artist unknown, 1785. Oil on canvas, 77x 63cm or 92 x 78.5 x 11 cm in gilt frame. Portrait, HL, of Mrs. Letitia Ann Sage, 'The first English female aerial traveller' in Lunardi's balloon ascent of 29 June 1785; with balloon motif. Head, bust, white fur mantle, hat and half-veil. aeronaut/balloonist

Theodolite used for the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain

Surveying

1791

Main part of three-foot geodetic theodolite, sometimes called the ‘great Theodolite’, used for the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain. Made by Jesse Ramsden, Piccadilly, London, 1791.

Trevithick's model road locomotive engine

Road Transport

1796-1802

Trevithick's original model road locomotive engine, unsigned, British, 1796-1802. This model is possibly constructed by either Richard Trevithick, or Whitehead & Co., of Manchester.

Moon globe by John Russell;England;1797

Astronomy

1797

Moon globe 12-inch in diameter on libration stand, by John Russell, R.A., London, England, 1797. Known as ‘Selenographia’, the globe shows the nearside of the Moon visible from Earth. It has a mechanical mounting which demonstrates lunar libration, and which also features a miniature terrestrial globe.

Reflecting telescope by William Herschel

Astronomy

1783-1785

Newtonian reflecting telescope with 6 1/8-inch diameter speculum mirror of 7-foot focal length with mahogany tube and altazimuth stand; includes accessories and a pamphlet of directions for use. Telescope made by Herschel for his friend Sir William Watson in Bath, 1783-1785.

Musical transposition calculator, in circular slide-rule format

Mathematics

1820

Musical transposition calculator, in circular slide-rule format, by J. Wilson, England, 1820

Maudslay 's Lord Chancellor bench micrometer

Industrial Metrology

1805

Micrometer made by Henry Maudslay about 1805.

'Bell-crank' engine, c. 1799

Motive Power

1795-1805 (original)

Model Boulton & Watt bell crank engine, c. 1799. The bell-crank engine design was devised for Boulton & Watt by William Murdock, one of their employees. It was the first 'independent' (self-supporting) engine to be built.

Sir Edwin Chadwick

1800 - 1890

1800-1890, social reformer; civil servant, British

Old Spitalfields hand loom with jacquard mechanism

Textiles Machinery

1810

Old Spitalfields hand loom with jacquard mechanism.

Pocket globe in case by Dudley Adams

Astronomy

1799-1802

Three-inch pocket globe in fish-skin case by Dudley Adams, Fleet Street, London, 1799-1802. A celestial map lines the inside of the case. The terrestrial globe is inscribed: ‘A New Globe of the Earth by Dudley Adams’. The voyages of Captain James Cook are also shown.

Model of William Murdock's Oscillating Engine, 1785.

Motive Power

1785

Original model of William Murdock's Oscillating Cylinder Engine, 1785

Conjectural model of Trevithick's locomotive 'Catch-me-who-can'

Railway Models

1808

Conjectural model, scale 1:11, of Trevithick's locomotive 'Catch-Me-Who-Can' 1808.

Original preparation of quinine

Materia Medica & Pharmacology

1820

Original preparation of quinine by Pelletier and Caveton, 1820

Scientific Researches! - New Discoveries in Pneumaticks! - or, an Experimental Lecture on the Powers of Air

Hannah Humphrey

1802

"Scientific Researches! - New Discoveries in Pneumaticks! - or, an Experimental Lecture on the Powers of Air". Coloured etching by James Gillray, published 23 May 1802 by Hannah Humphrey St James's Street, London.

John Snow

1813 - 1858

1813-1858, anaesthetist; epidemiologist; physician, British; English

Part of electrostatic telegraph, 1816

Telecommunications

1816

Part of electrostatic telegraph, made by Sir Francis Ronalds, London, England, 1816

Two Perkins 'tractors'

Therapeutics

1795-1805

Set of two Perkins tractors, one grayish and one brownish, made of unknown metal alloys, in decorated red leather case, 1795-1805. These appear to be genuine, as each was stamped 'PERKINS | PATENT | TRACTORS' at the round end.

Castlereagh cabinet for weights

Weighing & Measuring

1815-1818

36-drawer wooden cabinet, with drawers numbered 1 to 36, from the Viscount Castlereagh Collection of weights, unsigned, 1815-1818

Model of Rotative Beam Engine by William Tongue, c. 1804

Motive Power

1797-1804

Model, rotative beam engine, c. 1805, scale 1:8, made by William Tongue, an apprentice with Boulton & Watt from 1797 until 1804. It represents the rotative steam engine as Watt left it upon the expiry of his patents in 1800. Cast iron has replaced timber in the main engine components, and the sun & planet gear has been replaced by a more straightforward crank. The nozzles (valve boxes that controlled the inlet and exhaust of steam at each end of the cylinder) each contain two concentric socket valves of the type introduced by William Murdock after 1800. The eccentric driving the valves was also his improvement.

Copy of Chamberlen obstetric forceps

Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Contraception

1813

Copy of obstetric forceps, invented and used by Chamberlen

Richard Grindall's combined knife and fork, Europe, 1795-1820

Orthopaedics

1795-1820

Admiral Grindall's knife and fork

Marine chronometer by John Arnold and Son, 1787-1799

Time Measurement

1787-1799

Two-day marine chronometer (No 63) by John Arnold and Son, Cornhill, London, 1787-1799.

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis

1818 - 1865

1818-1865, physician, Hungarian

Lunardi's second balloon ascending from St. George's Fields, 1785

Julius Caesar Ibbetson

1785-1790

Painting, [Lunardi's second balloon ascending from St. George's Fields] / Julius Caesar Ibbetson, c.1785. Oil on canvas, 52x62cm in gilt frame 60x71x5.5cm. Formerly thought to have been by George Day, this is now attributed to Julius Caesar Ibbetson, and is a fuller version of the smaller oil by him in the Museum of London. A version exhibited at the Royal Academy London, 1788 (cat. 126). Shows the ascent from St. George's Fields, Islington, London, of George Biggin and Mrs. Sage, 29 June 1785; showing crowds, gantry, gas apparatus and Lunardi's balloon; balloon ascension; gas balloon; gantry

Ivory Scales

James Watt's Garret Workshop

1790-1819

5 Ivory scales, four plain, one divided broken, in packet

Model, of Woolf's Water Tube Boiler, 1819

Motive Power

1819

model of Woolf's water tube boiler after A. M. Heron de la Villefosse, De la Richesse Minerale, 1819, scale 1:8, patented 1803. Type built by J & E Hall of Dartford, Kent.

Stanhope square demonstrator, c.1805.

Mathematics

c.1805

Stanhope Demonstrator, an instrument for performing logical operations designed by Charles Stanhope.

Filar micrometer by William Herschel, 1780-1800

Astronomy

1780-1800

Eyepiece micrometer inscribed E.2. in wood mount with brass frame and divided circle 1120 divisions, numbered 0 to 60) and steel screw, threads missing. Focal length 1.65 in

Papier mache snuff box featuring semi-nude woman

Smoking

1790-1820

Papier mache snuff box, cylindrical, with detachable lid painted with female figure, small content of snuff in well, made in France or England, 1790-1820

Stipple-engraved portrait of Margaret Bryan and two children

William Nutter

1797

Print. Stipple-engraved portrait entitled 'MRS. BRYAN and CHILDREN.' Engraved by William Nutter after a miniature of the same size painted by Samuel Shelley. 172x137mm engraved area.

Tin can used for the early preservation of food

Hand and Machine Tools

1812

Tin can used for the early preservation of food, Bryan Donkin and Co., London, England, 1812.

Electrical chimes by George Adams

King George III

1781-1790

Electrical chimes made by George Adams, Fleet Street, London, 1781-1790.

Marine chronometer by John Arnold and Son

Clockmakers

1795

Spring detent escapement marine chronometer by John Arnold & Son, London. Held in a wooden octagonal case without gimbals. 4 inch silvered dial. Helical balance-spring with terminal curves. OZ balance. Signed ‘John Arnold & Son, London No. 92 Invt. et Fect’ c.1795.

Pivoted-detent escapement watch by Larcum Kendall 1786-7

Clockmakers

1786

Silver pair-cased pivoted detent escapement watch by Larcum Kendall, in which the passing spring is operated by an inclined plane on the balance staff. White enamel dial with subsidiary dials for hours and seconds. Brass balance with spiral bi-metallic compensation curb, Signed 'L. Kendall London B+y', London, hallmarked 1786-7

Silver pill box engraved with a triangular pattern, Birmingham, England, 1801

Wellcome (general)

1801

Silver cachou, patch or pill box, cylindrical with push on lid, hallmarked in Birmingham, possibly by Joseph Taylor, English, 1801

Small screw-cutting device or fusee engine for clock-maker's use

Hand and Machine Tools

c. 1800

Small screw-cutting device or fusee engine for clock-maker's use, c.1800

Ebony and brass octant.

Navigation

1805-1815

Octant made by Spencer, Browning and Rust, London, about 1810. Ebony frame and limb with a brass index arm and fittings, a brass stop for the index arm; inlaid ivory plates on the crossbar and on the back of the frame. Signed on the ivory plate on the crossbar: Spencer, Browning & Rust London. Marked (stamped) at the centre of the scale (at 47°) SBR. Inlaid ivory scale from -2° to 99° every 20', measuring to 89°. Ivory vernier to 1', zero at the right. The tangent screw is on the top of the index arm; the clamping screw is on the back. Three socket shades (two red, one green). Index-glass adjustment by screw; adjustment of the horizon glass by lever, worm gear, and a milled clamping screw; adjustment of the back horizon glass by a lever, wing nut and a milled clamping screw. The sight vane has two pinholes and a swivelling shutter; the back sight vane has one pinhole. A capped screwdriver or pencil is missing from the crossbar. No box.

Lord Byron’s orthopaedic boot, England, 1781-1810

Orthopaedics

1781-1810

Child's orthopaedic boot, reputedly belonging to Lord Byron, 1781-1810

Hedley's experimental model for testing adhesion.

Railway Models

1812

Hedley's experimental model for testing adhesion.

'Dr Syntax and his wife making an experiment in pneumatics', print, London, England, 1820

Thomas Rowlandson

1820

Aquatint, col. 'Dr Syntax and his Wife Making an experiment in Pneumatics'. Plate [15] from 'Dr. Syntax in Paris' [W Combe, 1820]. platemark 15x23cm, image 11x19cm. Caricature, scene dancing in drawing room, Nooth? chemical apparatus on lower left. In frame 29.5x35.5x1.5cm

Stipple-engraved portrait of Benjamin Martin

R Page

1815

Print (stipple engraving). Engraved by R. Page, London, 1815. Titled ‘BENJ. MARTIN.’. The print is a bust-length portrait of Benjamin Martin, shown against a plain background in a simple oval frame. Facing to the right, he wears a wig, coat, waistcoat and cravat. A small, framed, rectangular vignette below the portrait shows a globe and a telescope, both mounted on tripods. Lettered underneath the composition with title.

Satirical print of a failed balloon launch from Foley House, London in 1784

Paul Sandby

1784

Print (etching with aquatint). Satirical depiction of John Sheldon and Allen Keegan’s failed balloon launch from the gardens of Lord Foley’s house in Portland Place, London, in September 1784. The balloon’s enormous shape is exaggerated to resemble a human bottom from which flames erupt and smoke billows. A much smaller balloon appears to shoot out of the fire, in the form of a grinning head with ass's ears wearing a jester’s cap lettered ‘THE ENGLISH BALLOON 1784’. Spectators watch from the ground and the garden wall as people attempt to bring the situation under control. Lettered underneath the image ‘Caelum ipsum petimus Stultitia’ ['In our foolishness, we reach for the sky itself'], from Horace, Odes 1.3. Designed and etched by Paul Sandby, probably London, 1784.

Rutherford maximum and minimum thermometer, 1794

Meteorology

1794

Rutherford type maximum and minimum thermometer, by Lake & Son, Taunton, Somerset, England, 1794

Two Guillotine blades

Wellcome (general)

1790-1794

Two Guillotine blades and plinth, unsigned, French, 1790-1794. Used at the execution of Jean-Baptiste Carrier in 1794.

Medal awarded by the Royal Humane Society, England, 1781

Wellcome Medals

1781

Medal, silver, with elaborate loop at top, awarded to Dr. Houlston by the Royal Humane Society for restoring Mr.W. Young, Aug 22, 1781, English, 1781