Floor-standing instrument rack
Datecirca 1947
Inventory NumberWJ1011
ClassificationInstrument Rack
Subject
Maker
American
User
B. F. Skinner
?
1904 - 1990
User
Department of Psychology, Harvard University
founded 1934
Cultural Region
Place of Use
Dimensions211 × 53 × 57 cm (83 1/16 × 20 7/8 × 22 7/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionA standard relay rack with "power bars" for modular equipment. Pairs of metal bars are mounted on bakelite insulators. The top bar of each pair carries +28 volt DC current. The bottom bar is the ground (-). The pairs support and supply power to the modular devices attached to them.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedwritten in white across top of rack: POS. #224
Curatorial RemarksThis rack currently holds the following banks of instruments:
row 1: WJ0962a (#21)
row 2: WJ0963 (#20), WJ0524 (#22), WJ0964 (#23), WJ1013 (#24), WJ0965 (#25), WJ1014 (#26)
row 3: WJ0966 (#27)
row 4: WJ0971 (#28), WJ962b (#29), WJ0523 (#30), WJ0972 (#31)
row 5: WJ1128 (#32), WJ0967 (no #)
row 6: WJ0974 (#2), WJ1006 (#3), WJ1007 (#4), WJ0981 (#5), WJ0975 (#6), WJ0525 (#7)
row 7: WJ1008 (#8), WJ0979 (#9), WJ0978 (#10), WJ1010 (#10), WJ0980 (#11)
(The numbers in parentheses refer to old exhibit numbers when the instruments were on display in the basement of William James Hall.)
In the summer of 2016, during preparation for new exhibit in William James Hall, the modular devices currently on rows 6 and 7 were removed from a tabletop instrument rack (WJ1005) and installed on the free-standing rack.
FunctionA standard relay rack with "power bars" for modular equipment.
Historical AttributesThe rack contains apparatus used by B. F. Skinner's laboratory at Harvard for his operant conditioning experiments.
The top banks of the rack contain examples of commercial and shop-built equipment developed in the 1960s and 1970s. These were used in Skinner's second and third types of set-ups. The lower two banks hold mostly shop-built apparatus used by Skinner in his set-ups in the late 1950s.
Ernst Leitz (company)
Date: 1935-1940
Accessories: oculars (3 pairs): 4X, 5XB, 6XB; objective/condensers (4): 11, 3.8X, 22-100, and UO 6.5; magnification table; standing case.
Object number: 2009-1-0065
Date: 1890-1930
Object number: RS1425a
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Date: 1984
Accessories: (b) original red box with foam and packing material, (c) accessories
Object number: 1998-1-1640a
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Date: 1984
Accessories: in original red box with foam and packing material
Object number: 1998-1-1640b
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Date: 1984
Object number: 1998-1-1640c
Andreas Koehler
Date: circa 1980
Accessories: large copper template (3), large circuit board (3), black metal frame (3), metal connectors, Texas Nuclear booklet, catalog sheets from RIDL, a plastic 12-inch ruler
Object number: 2003-1-0269
American
Date: early 20th-mid 20th Century
Accessories: 12 test tubes; 2 corks; wooden rack
Object number: 1997-1-1528