Koenig harmonic analyzer with manometric flames
Datecirca 1865
Inventory Number1998-1-1606
ClassificationManometric Flame Apparatus
Subject
Maker
Rudolph Koenig
1832 - 1901
Place of Origin
Dimensions90.2 × 81.3 × 39.4 cm (35 1/2 × 32 × 15 1/2 in.)
Material
DescriptionThis instrument consists of eight Helmholtz spherical resonators (two missing) mounted vertically in a cast iron frame. Adjacent to the resonators is a wood distribution box with eight manometric capsules (one for each resonator). The capsules were connected by rubber tubes to their paired resonators, but the tubing has hardened and broken into pieces; it is no longer attached. The manometric capsules each have a brass nozzle with a stopcock through which a gas would enter. On the other side of the distribution box, there are eight nozzles where the gas flames would come forth.
Near the distribution box is a large rectangular box made of wood and originally covered with four mirrors (now missing). It is mounted vertically on an inclined spindle and made to rotate by a hand crank and gearing.
Resontaors are each marked with the "RK" monogram near their large openings. Each is also marked (largest to smallest) UT 4, UT 3, MI 4, 6, 7, 8.
Near the distribution box is a large rectangular box made of wood and originally covered with four mirrors (now missing). It is mounted vertically on an inclined spindle and made to rotate by a hand crank and gearing.
Resontaors are each marked with the "RK" monogram near their large openings. Each is also marked (largest to smallest) UT 4, UT 3, MI 4, 6, 7, 8.
In Collection(s)
SignedRUDOLPH KOENIG À PARIS
on each resonator, stamped: RK
Inscribedon sticker: 19-6-2
stamped in ink: 20-14
FunctionThis instrument is an ingenious method devised by Rudolph Koenig to visualize and analyze sound frequencies.
When the air in a resonator vibrates, the vibration is transmitted through a rubber tube to a manometric capsule. The vibrating rubber membrane in the capsule modulates the flow of gas feeding a flame, causing it to vibrate, too.
The motions of the flames are too rapid to be perceived by the eye directly. However, by observing the flames in rotating mirrors, the flames appear as sawtoothed bands or strips of light. This is due to the persistence of the image on the viewer's retina. The flame of an excited resonator produces a saw-toothed image in the mirror. The flame of an unexcited resonator produces a luminous stripe without teeth.
By examination of the flames, one can determine the frequencies that combine to make up a compound sound. Koenig's harmonic analyzer, therefore, is like a Fourier analysis, in finding a combination of frequencies that compose a given sound.
This analyzer is designed for one sound, UT2, with seven other harmonics for demonstrating timbre in a limited range.
This method of analyzing sound frequencies were widely used until the beginning of the 20th century. Manometric flames were replaced by new instruments such as oscilloscopes.
A video demonstration of a Koenig harmonic analyzer recorded by David Pantalony is available on youtube here.
A video demonstration of a Koenig harmonic analyzer was also produced by the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica in Florence, Italy and is on YouTube.
An article titled "The Manometric Flame" by Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr. on eRittenhouse on is available here.
When the air in a resonator vibrates, the vibration is transmitted through a rubber tube to a manometric capsule. The vibrating rubber membrane in the capsule modulates the flow of gas feeding a flame, causing it to vibrate, too.
The motions of the flames are too rapid to be perceived by the eye directly. However, by observing the flames in rotating mirrors, the flames appear as sawtoothed bands or strips of light. This is due to the persistence of the image on the viewer's retina. The flame of an excited resonator produces a saw-toothed image in the mirror. The flame of an unexcited resonator produces a luminous stripe without teeth.
By examination of the flames, one can determine the frequencies that combine to make up a compound sound. Koenig's harmonic analyzer, therefore, is like a Fourier analysis, in finding a combination of frequencies that compose a given sound.
This analyzer is designed for one sound, UT2, with seven other harmonics for demonstrating timbre in a limited range.
This method of analyzing sound frequencies were widely used until the beginning of the 20th century. Manometric flames were replaced by new instruments such as oscilloscopes.
A video demonstration of a Koenig harmonic analyzer recorded by David Pantalony is available on youtube here.
A video demonstration of a Koenig harmonic analyzer was also produced by the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica in Florence, Italy and is on YouTube.
An article titled "The Manometric Flame" by Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr. on eRittenhouse on is available here.
Rudolph Koenig
Date: circa 1865
Object number: 1997-1-0976
Rudolph Koenig
Date: 1865-1890
Object number: 1997-1-0919
Rudolph Koenig
Date: circa 1865
Object number: 1997-1-0892g
Rudolph Koenig
Date: circa 1865
Object number: 1997-1-0892h
Rudolph Koenig
Date: circa 1865
Object number: 1997-1-0892e
Rudolph Koenig
Date: circa 1889
Accessories: six pieces of metal piping (in small archival ziploc bag); two detachable wooden legs for the body of the instrument; block of two manometric capsules
Object number: 1997-1-0902a,b
Davis & Son
Date: 1843-1873
Accessories: small metal key
Object number: 1998-1-0606
Radium Chemical Company
Date: circa 1900
Accessories: metal needles (2); black rubber tubes with one conical end (5); large black pellets with small metal tubes protruding from the center (2); brown rubber tubes (4); dumbbell-like objects (2); small black caps (4); large black objects with rectangles gouged out of them (2); black cylindrical canisters (4); a metal tube with a screw top; and a bucket of misc. objects
Object number: 1998-1-0115