Continued from previous page
In use the instrument is connected to an air supply via the pipe in the base
(it is shown here removed from a new wooden base, as in the previous
photograph - which is for display purposes only). It is signed above the
Dials “S.G.Tisley & Co. London”; this is almost certainly the seller.
Engraved on the air chamber “S. & A.D. PH. LAB. 101”. This may refer
to the original ‘science and art department’ of the Victoria & Albert
Museum; the technical side of which became the Science Museum. In 1877
Tisley gave there address as “172 Brompton Road, London S.W. (three
minutes walk from South Kensington Museum)”.
See: Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 1819 pp.167-171, Charles
Cagniard de la Tour Sur la sirene, nouvelle machine d’acoustique
destinee a mesurer les vibrations de l’air qui constituent le son.
The condition is fair but note that the lacquer has been rubbed away in the
area where the engraving is. French 1870-80.
Overall height (without wooden base) 8.5 inches (21.5 cms.)
Ticket price £490.
