double sound pendulum
Date1920-1930
Inventory NumberWJ0084
ClassificationSound Pendulum
Subject
Maker
C. H. Stoelting Company
1886-present
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions37.5 × 61.3 × 14.5 cm (14 3/4 × 24 1/8 × 5 11/16 in.)
Material
DescriptionThis instrument consists of two pendulum rods suspended from one central steel pillar. Each pendulum is terminated by a hard rubber ball. When the pendulums fall, they strike a box of ebony at the base of the central pillar. (The ebony is cracked in the middle.) Two graduated arcs (0-90°) are also fixed to the instrument's base. Six adjustable release mechanisms are added to these graduated arcs. They are used to hold in place the pendulums at various degrees of inclination.
Signedon wooden base: C. H. STOELTING CO. / CHICAGO, ILL.
FunctionThis instrument was designed to measure the intensity of the sound produced as a function of the angular distance transversed by the hard-rubber ball. In this case, with two pendulums, it was used for the purpose of comparison. It enabled a subject to produce a sound of equal (or different) intensity immediately after the fall of the first pendulum.
ProvenancePsychology Department, William James Hall, Harvard University.
C. H. Stoelting Company
Date: 1920-1930
Object number: WJ0085a
Carl Krille
Date: circa 1893
Accessories: brass pendulum weight
Object number: WJ0051a,b,c
S. C. Tisley & Company
Date: circa 1880
Accessories: three weights for pendulum
Object number: 1997-1-0451
Central Scientific Company
Date: 1940-1950
Accessories: data card (in instrument's file); brass sphere
Object number: 1998-1-0036
Synchronome Company, Ltd
Date: circa 1929
Object number: 1998-1-0187b