General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

BRASS DISK

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

50.0 cm

Width

50.0 cm

Height

N/A

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Physics

Category

Demonstration & teaching equipment

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Koenig

Country

France

State/Province

Unknown

City

Paris

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

THIS SIREN DISK PROBABLY USED C. 1890S +.

Canada

PART OF A COLLECTION OF PHYSICS LABORATORY AND CLASSROM DEMONSTRATION APPARATUS FROM MCMASTER UNIVERSITY. FOUNDED IN 1887, MCMASTER WAS ORIGINALLY A BAPTIST INSTITUTION, AND WAS LOCATED INTORONTO. IN 1930 THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS STUDENT POPULATION OF 500 WAS MOVED TO HAMILTON, ONT. ( REF. 1)

Function

USED FOR STUDYING THE RELATIONSHIP OF PITCH TO FREQUENCY.

Technical

SIREN DISK BY R. KOENIG (1832-1901), CONSIDERED TO BE THE PREMIER MFR OF ACOUSTICAL APPARATUS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19THC. USED TO STUDY THE RELATION OF PITCH TO FREQUENCY. THE CORNER OF A CARD IS HELD AGAINST A ROW OF HOLES IN SUCCESSION, OR A BLAST OF AIR IS DIRECTED ONTO THE HOLES BY MEANS OF A TUBE OF SLIGHTLY SMALLER DIAMETER THAN THE HOLES, WHILE THE DISK IS BEING ROTATED. (REF. 2) THIRTEEN OF THE HOLES PRODUCE SIMPLE TONES; FIVE PRODUCE DIFFERENT INTERVALS OF THE SCALE; AND THE REMAINING ONES PRODUCE VARIOUS CHORDS. (REF. 3)

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

"RK" incised on disk, near central hole. One vertical row of holes incised (top to bottom) " 2 4 6 8 10 12 16 20 24 32 40 48 64 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 7/4 4:5:6 5:6:8 3:4:5 4:5:6 ". " Alfred Ka[n?]goe/ Siren Disc/ circa 1890 " handwritten in black marker on reverse.

Missing

NONE. From CA of 11/29/2001 by Matthew Bruce: No - appears complete

Finish

NATURAL FINISH

Decoration

N/A