RootsChat.Com
Some Special Interests => Occupation Interests => Topic started by: msfarrar on Friday 10 April 20 03:19 BST (UK)
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Looks like the disk can be rotated slowly by turning the handle.
And that whatever is on the disk can be viewed through the eyepiece ?
What is it ??? The picture was taken somewhere around 1900-1910 I think
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Do you know who the man is?
What was his occupation?
Hobbies?
There is a mirror strategically placed on the table, no doubt directing light through the disc.
I think the crucial question is, what is the disc?
Thoughts so far - Is it a thin piece of rock/stone?
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Or maybe a soil sample. Looking at pictures of antique microscopes, I haven't found anything like it yet.
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I wondered about a spectrometer, but they are not right.
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Could it be some form of Phenakistoscope with a viewing "scope"
That is if it is one item, not two.
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I think it can only be a microscope, although I can't find any images quite like this. I found a few similar, but not quite the same.
By 1910, microscopes looked pretty similar to the type we used at school, so I wonder if he's demonstrating a much earlier instrument -hence the photo.
The disc could be a glass plate, on which he's grown some bacteria or fungi.
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Hooke's microscope was rather similar.
https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SSPL_10447127_Comp.jpg (https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SSPL_10447127_Comp.jpg)
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He looks very like William Henry Perkin of purple fame:
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/3/12/17109258/sir-william-henry-perkin-google-doodle-birthday-180-mauveine-purple-dye
It could be just his beard though :-\
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Its a photo of an uncle of my great grandmother. I don't know his occupation... Sorry I can't tell you any more.
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Its a photo of an uncle of my great grandmother. I don't know his occupation... Sorry I can't tell you any more.
Do you know his name?
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Have you got him on a census?
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Martin Mitchell. Family from todmorden or possibly Rochdale. Haven't found him yet on the census.
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Could it be for examination of weave in a fabric?
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Martin Mitchell should be traceable .. is he somehow related to Sir David Brewster ?
he is credited with inventing the kaleidoscope
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after some searching ..
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https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0250/8550/products/Victorian_Parlour_Kaleidoscope_2.jpg?v=1513246032
So he wasn't a scientific man...He was enjoying the rage for Kaleidoscopes..
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Thanks Ian. I think you are on the money. !
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Well done - that's it.
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I know this is an old thread but just to add Martin Mitchell is my 3x great uncle, he was a Gardener according to the census records. What is curious however is his burial record of 3 Apr 1929, Bacup Cemetery, the notes state " Kozy Picture Hall". No idea if this ties in to this picture at all
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Hello izzi25, it must have a connection to this Church that was once a picture house.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/38907
Regards
Sarah
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Thanks for the link Sarah