Kromskop device
Datecirca 1900
Inventory Number1997-1-1463
ClassificationStereoscope
Subject
Seller
Scientific Shop
1902 - 1909
Inventor
Frederic Eugene Ives
1856 - 1937
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensionsdevice: 16.7 × 12.2 × 23.5 cm (6 9/16 × 4 13/16 × 9 1/4 in.)
case: 20.5 × 29.4 × 15.3 cm (8 1/16 × 11 9/16 × 6 in.)
case: 20.5 × 29.4 × 15.3 cm (8 1/16 × 11 9/16 × 6 in.)
Material
Accessoriesdove-tailed wooden box with leather handle and lock with key; two cardboard box es of labeled Kromograms; 12.9 cm x 25.2 cm x .2 cm piece of frosted glass with wood frame on two sides and small metal chain with a loop at the end attached to top piece of wood framing.
DescriptionInvented by Frederic Eugene Ives in the late 19th century, and first marketed in 1895, the Kromskop was a device for viewing stereoscopic images made by a Heliochromoscope, or Photochromoscope camera, also invented by Ives.
The instrument consists of a stepped wooden box with a series of metal hinges for keeping it upright in a tilted position when in use. There is a mirror attached to the front, which is also tilted to filter in the incoming light necessary to create the image. A small cylindrical viewing piece allows one to see the images created. A small box of various cardboard-reinforced Kromograms, which were the glass slides of the Photochromoscope images, are marked with their subjects, and would be held in place on the opposite side of the box from the viewfinder.
Although the first color images were produced by Scottish physicist James Maxwelll in 1861, the Kromskop device represents the first commercial application of color photo technology. It remained popular for a while, but the Kromskop never ultimately caught on because of its expense, and the technical skill required to operate it. It required a steady, strong light source, and the Kromograms needed to be very precisely aligned with the Kromskop device in order to create a good image. It was also sold exclusively by the Scientific Shop of Chicago, which tended to cater to universities and observatories rather than to a larger public.
For this information and more, please see the following website.
For a complete technical description, see the 1899 patent here.
The instrument consists of a stepped wooden box with a series of metal hinges for keeping it upright in a tilted position when in use. There is a mirror attached to the front, which is also tilted to filter in the incoming light necessary to create the image. A small cylindrical viewing piece allows one to see the images created. A small box of various cardboard-reinforced Kromograms, which were the glass slides of the Photochromoscope images, are marked with their subjects, and would be held in place on the opposite side of the box from the viewfinder.
Although the first color images were produced by Scottish physicist James Maxwelll in 1861, the Kromskop device represents the first commercial application of color photo technology. It remained popular for a while, but the Kromskop never ultimately caught on because of its expense, and the technical skill required to operate it. It required a steady, strong light source, and the Kromograms needed to be very precisely aligned with the Kromskop device in order to create a good image. It was also sold exclusively by the Scientific Shop of Chicago, which tended to cater to universities and observatories rather than to a larger public.
For this information and more, please see the following website.
For a complete technical description, see the 1899 patent here.
Signedon metal plaque above viewing piece: THE / SCIENTIFIC SHOP / CHICAGO
Inscribedon white plaque below viewing piece: IVES KROMSKOP SYSTEM / U.S. PATENTS / JULY 22 1890 NO. 432. 530 SEPT. 24 1895 NO. 346. 683 / MAY 17 1892 NO. 475. 084 APRIL 4 1898 NO. 622. 480 / DEC. 18 1889 NO. 831. 443 SEPT. 5 1899 NO. 632. 573 / OCT. 17 1899 NO. 635. 253 / OTHER PATENTS APPLIED FOR [CHECK NUMBERS]
FunctionBy series of mirrors and filters, the Photochromoscope camera invented by Ives used a subtractive color process to record an image in three sets of two glass slides through a filter for each primary light color (red, green, and blue). These slides were black-and-white, and taken through monochrome filters, but they contained a record of chromatic changes within the object. These were bound together to form the "Kromograms," which were placed inside this instrument and carefully aligned with its mechanisms for viewing.
The Kromskop, then, was a stereoscopic viewer by which the Photochromoscope images were built back up again through another series of mirrors, glass screens, filters, and a light source to create a 3-dimensional, or stereoscopic, color image within the box. The images could only be seen through the viewer, and were not fixed.
The Kromskop, then, was a stereoscopic viewer by which the Photochromoscope images were built back up again through another series of mirrors, glass screens, filters, and a light source to create a 3-dimensional, or stereoscopic, color image within the box. The images could only be seen through the viewer, and were not fixed.
John Cuthbertson
Date: 1770-1815
Accessories: brown storage box, descriptive tag, thin strip of paper in box with the inscription "lucernal microscope" in David P. Wheatland's handwriting (which refers to figs. 47-48 and 51 in this series), page from the book "Old Science and Medicine" with a photographic copy of the first print from this series, entitled "The Large Electric Machine at Haarlem."
Object number: 1998-1-1087
Crosby Steam Gage & Valve Company
Date: c. 1880s - 1930s
Accessories: one tablet indicator diagram cards titled: INDICATOR DIAGRAM / TAKEN WITH THE CROSBY STEAM ENGINE INDICATOR. 1 x 7.6 x 17.s cm
Object number: 2013-1-0005
Edmund Scientific Corporation
Date: 1968
Accessories: 3 lenses altogether; other lenses are 26.8 X 26.8 X 0.2 cm and 15.1 X 15.1 X 0.3 cm
Object number: 1998-1-0335
J. Halden & Company, Ltd.
Date: circa 1890
Accessories: Spring hinged & velvet-lined aluminum case, with notch for slide rule chain loop to remain exposed. Instruction booklet, 5.7 x 5.7 cm, 95 numbered pages, with index, printed by "Bradbury, Agnew & Co., Ld., Printers, London and Tonbridge." Upper left corner of leather cover has come off.
Object number: DW0488
Wild Heerbrugg Ltd.
Date: circa 1970
Accessories: cut film holders 6 x 9 cm (2); photo eyepieces (2): 15x phot, 10x H phot; long (6.3 cm) Exakta adapter; short (4cm) Exakta adapter; phototube for Leitz microscopes. All accessories are catalogued separately as 2003-1-0026b.
Object number: 2003-1-0026a
Jakob Amsler
Date: circa 1906
Accessories: instrument is in four (4) parts; the rail is in own box and is inventory # 2006-1-0002b; letter from Prof. William Brower containing the complete history of ownership and use (missing)
Object number: 2006-1-0002a
James W. Queen & Company
Date: circa 1875
Accessories: measurements are of prism plate is 3.1 X 3.2 X 0.2 cm
Object number: 1998-1-0403
Scientific Shop
Date: 1902-1909
Accessories: box
Object number: 1997-1-0752
Georg von Békésy
Date: 1950-1965
Object number: WJ0236d-g
Georg von Békésy
Date: 1950-1965
Object number: WJ0236h-i