Spectrophotometer, Coleman Model 11A

Object Details

Coleman Instruments

Description

The Coleman Electric Company of Maywood, Illinois, was organized by Edwin Dewitt Coleman in the 1930s, made “precision tools for the technologist” during World War II, and became Coleman Instruments in the 1940s. It was bought by Perkin-Elmer in 1964, and became the Coleman Instrument Division of that firm.

The spectrophotometers that Coleman Electric introduced in 1938 were designed by (or in conjunction with) Robert W. Wood, a renowned professor of optical physics at The Johns Hopkins University, and they incorporated Wood’s replica diffraction gratings. By 1955, Coleman was boasting that over 10,000 of these instruments were in use in industrial, medical and academic laboratories all over the world.

Coleman began advertising their Model 11A Universal Spectrometer in 1947, boasting that it “has set high standards for simple . . . rapid . . . precise analysis wherever light is used as a laboratory tool.” A tag on the top of the wooden box of this example reads “UNIVERSAL SPECTROPHOTOMETER / COLEMAN ELECTRIC CO. MAYWOOD, ILL. NEW YORK U.S.A. / INST. NO. 4806 / MODEL 11A / VOLTS 81 / CYCLES AC-DC / WATTS 35 / PATENTS PENDING.” A paper tag on the front of the box reads “BURRELL / TECHNICAL SUPPLY CO. / PITTSBURGH, PA.”

Ref: Edwin D. Coleman, “Spectrophotometer,” U.S. Patent 2,339,053 (Jan. 11, 1944).

“Coleman Universal Spectrophotometers” ad in Analytical Chemistry 19 (Feb. 1947): 35A.

“Coleman Spectrophotometers,” ad in Analytical Chemistry27 (March 1955): 14A.

“Two Ex-Wives Benefit From Coleman Will,” Chicago Tribune (Aug. 25, 1959), p. C5.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Gift of Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University

1938-1950

ID Number

CH.337146

catalog number

337146

accession number

1979.0432

Object Name

spectrophotometer

Measurements

overall: 7.2 cm x 33.3 cm x 30.2 cm; 2 13/16 in x 13 1/8 in x 11 7/8 in

overall: 6 3/4 in x 12 in x 12 3/8 in; 17.145 cm x 30.48 cm x 31.4325 cm

place made

United States: Illinois, Maywood

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Chemistry

National Museum of American History

Subject

Science & Scientific Instruments

Record ID

nmah_2995

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a0-e4fd-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa