Instrumentation Between Science, State and Industry
Instrumentation Between Science, State and Industry

Author: B. Joerges

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9401090327

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these. In this book, we appropriate their conception of research-technology, and ex tend it to many other phenomena which are less stable and less localized in time and space than the Zeeman/Cotton situation. In the following pages, we use the concept for instances where research activities are orientated primarily toward technologies which facilitate both the production of scientific knowledge and the production of other goods. In particular, we use the tenn for instances where instruments and meth ods· traverse numerous geographic and institutional boundaries; that is, fields dis tinctly different and distant from the instruments' and methods' initial focus. We suggest that instruments such as the ultra-centrifuge, and the trajectories of the men who devise such artefacts, diverge in an interesting way from other fonns of artefacts and careers in science, metrology and engineering with which students of science and technology are more familiar. The instrument systems developed by re search-technologists strike us as especially general, open-ended, and flexible. When tailored effectively, research-technology instruments potentially fit into many niches and serve a host of unrelated applications. Their multi-functional character distin guishes them from many other devices which are designed to address specific, nar rowly defined problems in a circumscribed arena in and outside of science. Research technology activities link universities, industry, public and private research or me trology establishments, instrument-making finns, consulting companies, the military, and metrological agencies. Research-technology practitioners do not follow the career path of the traditional academic or engineering professional.

Making Scientific Instruments in the Industrial Revolution
Making Scientific Instruments in the Industrial Revolution

Author: A.D. Morrison-Low

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-03-02

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 135192074X

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At the start of the Industrial Revolution, it appeared that most scientific instruments were made and sold in London, but by the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851, a number of provincial firms had the self-confidence to exhibit their products in London to an international audience. How had this change come about, and why? This book looks at the four main, and two lesser, English centres known for instrument production outside the capital: Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, along with the older population centres in Bristol and York. Making wide use of new sources, Dr Morrison-Low, curator of history of science at the National Museums of Scotland, charts the growth of these centres and provides a characterisation of their products. New information is provided on aspects of the trade, especially marketing techniques, sources of materials, tools and customer relationships. From contemporary evidence, she argues that the principal output of the provincial trade (with some notable exceptions) must have been into the London marketplace, anonymously, and at the cheaper end of the market. She also discusses the structure and organization of the provincial trade, and looks at the impact of new technology imported from other closely-allied trades. By virtue of its approach and subject matter the book considers aspects of economic and business history, gender and the family, the history of science and technology, material culture, and patterns of migration. It contains a myriad of stories of families and firms, of entrepreneurs and customers, and of organizations and arms of government. In bringing together this wide range of interests, Dr Morrison-Low enables us to appreciate how central the making, selling and distribution of scientific instruments was for the Industrial Revolution.

How Scientific Instruments Have Changed Hands
How Scientific Instruments Have Changed Hands

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2016-09-12

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 9004324933

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This collection of essays discusses the marketing of scientific and medical instruments from the eighteenth century to the First World War. The evidence presented here is derived from sources as diverse as contemporary trade literature, through newspaper advertisements, to rarely-surviving inventories, and from the instruments themselves. The picture may not yet be complete, but it has been acknowledged that it is more complex than sketched out twenty-five or even fifty years ago. Here is a collection of case-studies from the United Kingdom, the Americas and Europe showing instruments moving from maker to market-place, and, to some extent, what happened next. Contributors are: Alexi Baker, Paolo Brenni, Laura Cházaro, Gloria Clifton, Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, Richard L. Kremer, A.D. Morrison-Low, Joshua Nall, Sara J. Schechner, and Liba Taub.

Horace Darwin's Shop, A History of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company 1878-1968
Horace Darwin's Shop, A History of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company 1878-1968

Author: Michael J. G. Cattermole

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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Horace Darwin's Shop traces the early years of one of the most famous and best respected instrument companies in the world - the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, at the forefront of the industry for more than half a century. The book is largely about people, many of them famous engineers and scientists who became closely involved with "Horace's Shop", about the forging of links between industry and university and above all about the ability of one man, Horace Darwin, youngest son of Charles Darwin, to create beauty and elegance in simple, clever design. The account of the early history of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company is presented in two parts: the first is a historical account of those instruments particularly relevant to the growth of the Company and the second is devoted to individual instruments and topics. The book will be of interest to students of the history of instrumentation as well as to readers who may already be familiar with the Company and its products. About the authors Arthur F Wolfe began his career at the age of 14 as an office boy at the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, where he worked until retirement in 1966. In 1932 he became Assistant Accountant of the company and ten years later was appointed Chief Accountant and Assistant Secretary, becoming Company Secretary in 1947, a post he held for 17 years Michael J G Cattermole joined the Cambridge Instrument Company research department in Cambridge in 1959 where he worked on the design of gas analysis and industrial instruments until 1966. After a two year break he rejoined in 1968 as the head of the Muswell Hill development laboratory and was with the company during the takeovers by George Kent and Brown Boveri in 1968 and 1974. In 1970 he was appointed Technical Manager of Foster Cambridge Ltd, a post held until leaving in 1981 to become a teacher.