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 James Joule used travelling microscopes to graduate the measurement markings on thermometers. It is called a travelling microscope because the lens can move horizontally along the base by means of a screw system. The microscope could read to 0.00025 of an inch (0.0064mm), and was made by Abraham and Dancer of Manchester in around 1843.

Catalogue No: 1969.5.1


Used by Joule in the 1870s to attempt a more accurate reading of the mechanical equivalent of heat. The paddlewheel is immersed in water, and is rotated by the use of weights. The equipment shown is only part of a much larger set of apparatus, similar to the one used in the 1840s during Joule's initial experiments on the mechanical equivalent of heat. The maker of the apparatus is unknown.
Catalogue No: 1969.5.52 & 1969.5.53

Joule used this cylinder and discs with a paddlewheel to investigate the friction of solid bodies by arranging a pulley and falling weights to move the weight inside the cylinder. He concluded that the quantity of heat produced is always proportional to the work expended. The maker of these items is unknown but Joule used them before 1850.

Catalogue No: 1969.5.54 & 1969.5.55

Two copper gas cylinders and a specially-shaped calorimeter used by James Joule in experiments on changes of temperature caused by the rarefaction and condensation of air. Joule also used the condensing pump and the travelling microscope for these experiments. The maker of the cylinder and calorimeter is unknown but Joule used them in around 1845.

Catalogue No: 1969.5.3 & 1969.5.4

Many of Joule's experiments depended on the accurate measurement of temperature. Joule used mercury-in-glass thermometers to the limits of their accuracy - up to 0.005°F (0.002°C). This thermometer is not graduated, or marked to determine temperature. Joule would have used the travelling microscope to graduate the glass. Most of Joule's thermometers were destroyed in a fire at the Literary & Philosophical Society's premises during the Second World War.

Catalogue No: 1969.5.43

One of a pair of electromagnets which Joule used to test the law governing the factors affecting the lifting powers of magnets. His results showed that the longer the bar, the less was its power of attraction. This bar is 30 inches (760 mm) long and wound with 88 yards (80.5 metres) of covered copper wire . The maker is unknown but Joule carried out this experiment in 1839.

Catalogue No: 1969.5.19

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