Identified! [Man preparing a "smoked paper" to be used in a seismograph, probably at Georgetown University]
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Where: Unknown
Try to find the spot where the photographer was standing.
When: 01 January 1924
Try to find the date or year when this image was made.
Harris & Ewing,, photographer.
NO CAPTION
[1924]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller
Notes:
Date based on date of negatives in same range.
Gift; Harris & Ewing, Inc. 1955.
Subjects:
United States.
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see Harris & Ewing Photographs - Rights and Restrictions Information www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/140_harr.html
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Part Of: Harris & Ewing photograph collection (DLC) 2009632509
General information about the Harris & Ewing Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.hec
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.32544
Call Number: LC-H27- A-8874
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 10638
NO CAPTION
[1924]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller
Notes:
Date based on date of negatives in same range.
Gift; Harris & Ewing, Inc. 1955.
Subjects:
United States.
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see Harris & Ewing Photographs - Rights and Restrictions Information www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/140_harr.html
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Part Of: Harris & Ewing photograph collection (DLC) 2009632509
General information about the Harris & Ewing Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.hec
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.32544
Call Number: LC-H27- A-8874
Info:
Owner: The Library of CongressSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 10638
chair_egg_ee_no
I believe this to be some type of seismograph. The margin of paper on the chart recorder inside cabinet and wrapped around the drum reads, "April 25, 1924." There's an unreadable, engraved plate at top center of the cabinet. The human subject seems to be applying a liquid from the Aladdin tray to the roll (chart) paper. There's a similar chart recorder in the cabinet behind and above the roll paper being handled by the human subject. This could also be measurement of some other phenomenon such as radio signal propagation or solar flares.
ART NAHPRO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] I was thinking seismograph too. I thought at first it was some sort of device for transmitting photographs electronically but it looks like there is some kind of oscillating arm at the top of the drum on the left that presumably slides along the white painted guide arm. And the date . Although I wonder why they would need to treat the paper when I imagine it would be simpler to have a ink marking device instead.
chair_egg_ee_no
Human subject in the photo might be Frederick Emmons Terman. That would make it less likely to be seismic equipment. If this proved to be Terman, the photos are likely to have been made at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]: do you think he's treating the material with some kind of goop before winding a loop antenna around it?
ART NAHPRO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] No idea I am afraid. .The paper seems to have lines running along it so I was wondering if the chemical maybe just enhanced the image or fixed it. The combination of goop and precision instruments is interesting.
ART NAHPRO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] ps I don't think it can be Terman he was born in 1900 according to Wiki and the photo is dated 1924 and clearly this fellow is not 24
swanq
The equipment looks very similar to the equipment in this 1911 picture from the Georgetown University Archives of the seismological station at Maguire Hall, Georgetown University with several seismographs. hdl.handle.net/10822/552744 In fact, if I imagine removing the cabinets in the H&E photo from LoC and taking the photo from a different angle, I could think that the H&E photo is of the Wiechert and Mainka seismographs. The description of the Georgetown photo includes, "Jesuits have contributed much to the field of seismology, which has even been termed the Jesuit Science."
swanq
Searching the Georgetown University Archives for "seismograph" I find an even more similar photo, from the same angle as the H&E photo, with one of the seismographs in a similar cabinet and the other not in a cabinet. hdl.handle.net/10822/1046745 BTW, although the description does not identify the man in this Georgetown photo, it is definitely Father Francis A. Tondorf. LoC has another H&E photo that identifies him. See www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016889145/ The Mainka seismograph is now at the Smithsonian, according to americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_118... More about the Jesuits and seismology at: guides.library.georgetown.edu/c.php?g=1065137 www.jstor.org/stable/236653
ART NAHPRO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] excellent going. Bravo.
Jon (LOC P&P)
Thanks [https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]]. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]], and [https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]]! It does appear to be a seismograph. I looked through some old scientific journals and they talk about seismographs using "smoked paper" but I couldn't find any description of how it is made. Apparently a brass stylus was used which scraped off the "smoke" and made a white line. I noticed in that the photo that [https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]] listed, hdl.handle.net/10822/1046745, the room and the cabinets seem similar, so Georgetown seems like the possible location.
chair_egg_ee_no
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]: apparently not Terman. Thank you for the data point.
ART NAHPRO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] I love the hive mind displayed in cracking some of these fascinating images.