Weissenberg-type X-ray diffraction camera
Datebefore 1947
Inventory Number1996-1-0151
ClassificationX-Ray Diffraction Camera
Subject
Maker
Otto van der Heide
Place of Use
Dimensions26.5 × 68.5 × 29.8 cm (10 7/16 × 26 15/16 × 11 3/4 in.)
Material
DescriptionA heavy black crackle isosceles-triangular base with a leveling screw at each corner. The mounting allows fine one-dimensional movement along the axis of the non-similar side, which is regulated by a crank. On one side is mounted a motor, and behind it, a switch; on the other side is a cylindrical metal X-ray tube with a scaled dial (0 to 270) on the outside end. The two sides are connected by a shaft.
Signedunsigned
FunctionAn X-ray diffraction camera can be used to determine the atomic arrangement of crystals.
The wavelength of an X-ray is similar in size to the distance between atoms in crystalline substances. Thus, by recording how a material scatters X-rays, and causes variation in their intensity, one may determine its crystal structure - the pattern by which its atoms are arranged as well as the precise distance between them.
Of the four moving film methods developed in crystallography, this camera features the Weissenberg method. One major component of this method is equi-inclination: inclining the primary X-ray beam to synchronize its angle with specific sets of diffracted rays. Two benefits, among others, were the ability to record central lattice rows as straight lines (and rows of all layers as curves of similar shape) and to eliminate blind areas about the rotational axis.
The wavelength of an X-ray is similar in size to the distance between atoms in crystalline substances. Thus, by recording how a material scatters X-rays, and causes variation in their intensity, one may determine its crystal structure - the pattern by which its atoms are arranged as well as the precise distance between them.
Of the four moving film methods developed in crystallography, this camera features the Weissenberg method. One major component of this method is equi-inclination: inclining the primary X-ray beam to synchronize its angle with specific sets of diffracted rays. Two benefits, among others, were the ability to record central lattice rows as straight lines (and rows of all layers as curves of similar shape) and to eliminate blind areas about the rotational axis.
ProvenanceUsed by Department of Earth and Planetary Science starting in 1947.
Historical AttributesTag attached has this information: Made by Otto Van Der Heide / Purchased by Frondel / ~1947-48
Otto Von der Hyde
Date: circa 1955
Object number: 2004-1-0326
Martin J. Buerger
Date: 1941-1944
Accessories: film holder (a); metal screen (b); small rectangular metal counterweight (c)
Object number: 1996-1-0185
Martin J. Buerger
Date: 1945-1960
Object number: 1998-1-1673a
Clifford Frondel
Date: ca. 1925-1940
Accessories: metal piece with screw, and piece of rock, in two archival baggies.
Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1725
Clifford Frondel
Date: 1930-1955
Accessories: loose part (knob) on shelf
Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1722
Clifford Frondel
Date: 1950
Accessories: Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1721
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1950
Object number: 2004-1-0334
Clifford Frondel
Date: 1950
Accessories: electrical cord
Reprint, A PRECISION X-RAY POWDER CAMERA by Clifford Frondel, American Mineralogist, 40:876-884 (1955), stored in instrument file, 1997-1-1721
Object number: 1997-1-1726
Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken N.V.
Date: 1950-1959
Object number: 1997-1-1720
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1955
Object number: 2004-1-0321
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1955
Accessories: knobs
Object number: 2004-1-0320
Mineralogical Museum, Harvard University
Date: circa 1955
Object number: 2004-1-0319