Images(2)

rotary box vacuum pump

Date1910-1920

Inventory Number2007-1-0094

ClassificationVacuum Pump

Subject

Manufacturer E. Leybold Nachfolger 1870 - 1967

User Percy Williams Bridgman 1882 - 1961

Inventor Wolfgang Gaede 1878 - 1945

Cultural Region

Place of Origin

Dimensions29.5 × 54 × 32 cm (11 5/8 × 21 1/4 × 12 5/8 in.)

Material

Bibliography

Catalogue of Physical Apparatus

DescriptionA cast iron base supports two parts. On one side is an electric motor, type GA3, working on 110 volts and rotating at 1500 turns per minute. This motor drives, through a (now broken) leather belt, the box pump. The two pipes sticking out are intake and outflow pipes that respectively produce a vacuum or air pressure.

This instrument was often used as the forepump for a rotating mercury diffusion pump or another type of higher vacuum pump.

Signedon top of motor: E. Leybold's Nachfolger / Coeln-Rhein on front of pump: E. Leybold's Nachfolger / Coeln-Rhein / D.R.P. on plaque, base: E. Leybold's Nachfolger / Cologne, Germany

Inscribedon front of pump: 780

Curatorial RemarksA circa 1963 tag mentions that at some point in time this instrument was used by Percy W. Bridgman.

FunctionAccording to the trade catalogue mentioned, this pump was made "for driving by electric motor, may be used both as an air pump and as a blower and produces a vacuum of 0.01 mm mercury. As a blower the box pump produces a pressure of 1 atmosphere and is an efficient substitute for a large bellows. Its small size is surprising when compared with its high efficiency and output but its most important feature is its indifference to water vapour which causes so much inconvenience in working with oil pumps. Its action is rapid and reliable and being easily started and running without any supervision the pump is a most valuable aid in lecture and class demonstrations."

ProvenancePhysics Department, Lyman Laboratory, Harvard University.