cumulative recorder
Datecirca 1950
Inventory Number1999-1-0004
ClassificationCumulative Recorder
Subject
Manufacturer
Ralph Gerbrands Company
1930 - 1994
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensionswithout cord: 23.5 × 42 × 20.5 cm (9 1/4 × 16 9/16 × 8 1/16 in.)
Material
Accessoriesbob hanging by green thread on side; black and red power cord; spare fastening pins in envelope; spare roll of paper
DescriptionThis instrument is most likely a prototype or one of the earliest cumulative recorders produced by Gerbrands.
This metallic box is essentially a mechanical pen that transcribes input signals on a sheet of paper rotating on a cylindrical drum. A plexiglass cover is used to protect the mechanism.
The case contains a roll of paper recording fed from a storage roll over a drive roll. This instrument is powered by an electric motor. The storage roll is rotated by hand with the metallic knob on the side.
The movable stylus is carried on a traversing carriage. There is no second fixed stylus, often found on such machines. The carriage is moved along its supporting guide rods by means of a cable clamped to the back of the carriage by two drums. Again, it appears to be an early model, before the complete and complex drive and clutch mechanism, at the heart of the novelty of this recorder, was added. In fact, a green wire and weight seems to be the only return or reset mechanism for the carriage.
To record operant responses in a Skinnerian conditioning experiment.
This metallic box is essentially a mechanical pen that transcribes input signals on a sheet of paper rotating on a cylindrical drum. A plexiglass cover is used to protect the mechanism.
The case contains a roll of paper recording fed from a storage roll over a drive roll. This instrument is powered by an electric motor. The storage roll is rotated by hand with the metallic knob on the side.
The movable stylus is carried on a traversing carriage. There is no second fixed stylus, often found on such machines. The carriage is moved along its supporting guide rods by means of a cable clamped to the back of the carriage by two drums. Again, it appears to be an early model, before the complete and complex drive and clutch mechanism, at the heart of the novelty of this recorder, was added. In fact, a green wire and weight seems to be the only return or reset mechanism for the carriage.
To record operant responses in a Skinnerian conditioning experiment.
Signedunsigned
FunctionAccording to the patent, issued later, "It is the object of this invention to provide a somewhat different form of recorder, adapted for indicating discontinuous phenomena, wherein the record is in the form of a step function rather than a smooth curve. It is a further object of this invention to provide a very high speed count recorder in which both the total number of counts and the varying rates at which the counts are received may be readily determined from the information provided by the record." [...]
"It is a further feature of this invention that the apparatus may be used to provide several types of information simultaneously on the same record. It is a still further feature of this invention that it will record a very high input rate of counts which may exceed 500 counts per minute while maintaining a clear and acurate [sic] record."
"It is a further feature of this invention that the apparatus may be used to provide several types of information simultaneously on the same record. It is a still further feature of this invention that it will record a very high input rate of counts which may exceed 500 counts per minute while maintaining a clear and acurate [sic] record."
ProvenanceProfessor John Michael Harrison, Department of Psychology, Boston University, pre-1998; gift to CHSI, 1999.
Ralph Gerbrands Company
Date: circa 1960
Accessories: grey power cord; spare roll of paper
Object number: 1999-1-0008
Ralph Gerbrands Company
Date: circa 1960
Accessories: grey power cord; roll of paper; spare pen; cleaning wire; rubber hat (under pens)
Object number: 1999-1-0007a
Ralph Gerbrands Company
Date: circa 1960
Accessories: Spare pen; roll of paper; power cord; cleaning wire; small sponge; gears (2)
Object number: 1999-1-0002
Ralph Gerbrands Company
Date: circa 1965
Accessories: power cord (attached)
Object number: 1998-1-0012
Scientific Prototype Manufacturing Corporation
Date: circa 1960
Accessories: roll of paper; instruction manuals
Object number: 1999-1-0086
Frank S. Baldwin
Date: 1897-1907
Accessories: instruction manual (in object file); history of instrument (both in very poor condition)
Object number: 1997-1-0246