60° liquid prism
Date1850s
Inventory Number2007-1-0404
ClassificationPrism
Subject
Maker
Whitall Tatum & Company
1857 - 1901
User
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
1878 - 1970
Cultural Region
Dimensions9.1 × 6.2 × 5.8 cm (3 9/16 × 2 7/16 × 2 5/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionTriangular glass bottle with a ground glass stopper (missing). 60° angles. Two sides have circular apertures where polished glass sheets would have been cemented to the bottle (the glass sheets are missing). There is a sharp pontil mark on the bottom of the bottle, indicating an 1850s fabrication date.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedhandwritten in black ink on paper label: Manufactured for / the Coast + Geodetic / Survey -- by Whithall / Tatum + Co., P.O. Box / 3814 New York, N.Y.
stamped in black ink on glass: 9 122
FunctionLiquid prisms enabled the experimenter or spectroscopist to use liquids with a different refractive index than glass in their dispersion of light.
Liquid prisms were also used to measure the refractive index of different liquids.
Liquid prisms were also used to measure the refractive index of different liquids.
Whitall Tatum Company
Date: circa 1900
Object number: 4891
