cabinet 1: 33 in x 36 in x 23 in; 83.82 cm x 91.44 cm x 58.42 cm
cabinet 2: 33 in x 37 in x 23 in; 83.82 cm x 93.98 cm x 58.42 cm
pallet: 39 in x 39 in x 48 in; 99.06 cm x 99.06 cm x 121.92 cm
cabinet rear: 33 in x 36 in; 83.82 cm x 91.44 cm
cabinet front: 64 in x 27 in; 162.56 cm x 68.58 cm
frame: 30 in x 37 in x 140 in; 76.2 cm x 93.98 cm x 355.6 cm
Object Name:
direct reading spectrophotometer
Date made:
1945-1950
late 1940s
Description:
During World War II, the Dow Chemical Company worked with Baird Associates to build a direct-reading spectrometer for analyzing magnesium alloys. Following the success of that instrument, Baird Associates designed a similar spectrometer that could handle the more complex spectra of iron. This is one of those instruments. Its diffraction grating has 15,000 lines per inch and a 3-meter focal length.
Baird Associates was established in Cambridge, Mass., in July 1936. The founding partners were Walter Baird, John Sterner, and Harry Kelly. In 1956, following a merger with Atomic Instrument Co., the firm became Baird Atomic. By 1979 it had become the Baird Corporation, with headquarters in Bedford, Mass.
Ref: David F. Walsh, “The History of Baird Corporation: A Broad Perspective on the Progress of Industrial Spectroscopy,” <i>Applied Spectroscopy</i> 42 (1988): 1336-1350.
J. L. Saunderson, V. J. Caldecourt, and E. W. Peterson, “A Photoelectric Instrument for Direct Spectrochemical Analysis,” <i>Journal of the Optical Society of America</i> 35 (1945): 681-697.
Ralph H. Muller, “Instrumentation,” <i>Analytical Chemistry</i> 19 (July 1947): 19A-20A.
R. O’B. Carpenter, E. DuBois, and J. Sterner, “Direct-Reading Spectrometer for Ferrous Analysis,” <i>Journal of the Optical Society of America</i> 37 (1947): 707-713.
