RecordCase (detail), for demonstration apparatus
Case (detail), for demonstration apparatusThis is a detail of a mahogany case for an apparatus designed by James Ferguson. The apparatus was designed to show the equilibrium between the weight of the wedge and the resistance of the two cylinders. It was made around 1800 and retailed by W. & S. Jones, scientific instrument makers based in London. The case has an ivory plate on one door reading 'FERGUSONS'. The second plate on the other door is missing, but would have said 'APPARATUS'. Ferguson described and illustrated apparatus of this sort in his Lectures on Select Subjects, first published in 1770, although it may be an older idea. This particular example appears to have been commissioned from W. & S. Jones by Charles Nicoll Bancker (1778/9-1869), a wealthy Philadelphia insurance and shipping agent, who built up a substantial collection of scientific instruments in the first part of the 19th century. Record detailsTo search on related items, click any linked text below.
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