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Tuning Fork Set

Description This set of tuning forks located in the Physics Department of the University of Alberta. They are described in the university legers as “Beat Boxes.” The Parisian [...]

artefacts

Cherry Bowl Resonance

Description This is a variation of Savart’s resonance bell where the bell is sounded and the resonator is moved back and forth to resonate with specific frequencies. [...]

artefacts

Jun Zhong (均钟)

Description In the 1970s, a peculiar five-stringed instrument was unearthed from the early Warring States period tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Suizhou, Hubei（湖北随州）. Evidence points [...]

artefacts

Opelt’s Siren Disk

Description The earliest siren is attributed to Charles Cagniard de la Tour in 1819 (See the entry for Cagniard de la Tour Siren) Polyphonic sirens, with concentric [...]

artefacts

Cagniard de la Tour- type Siren

Description This type of siren was invented by Charles Cagniard, originally developed to measure the number of vibrations of a body in a given time. Cagniard’s siren [...]

artefacts

Sonometer

Description The Sonometer is a musical and scientific instrument with ancient roots, commonly employed in demonstrations of acoustics to show the effect of length, tension, diameter, and [...]

artefacts

Casavant organ demonstrator

Description This is a demonstration pipe organ made by a well-known Quebec company, Casavant Frères. It was most likely obtained by the Physics department around 1925, when [...]

artefacts

The history of the tuning forks in the Koenig collection

Set of 8 Large Demonstration Tuning Forks

This specific array of precision tuning forks are highly-specialized experimental forks that relate directly to Koenig’s long-standing disagreement with Helmholtz on the nature of combination tones. [...]

artefacts

Helmholtz Synthesizer

The sound synthesiser was Helmholtz’s clearest instrumental expression of his theory of timbre, or sound quality. Whereas his spherical resonators dissected compound sounds (vowels or musical [...]

artefacts

Double Siren

The double siren was one of Koenig’s more popular instruments. It consisted of two “polyphonic” or “multivoiced” sirens with more than one series of holes, and [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope replica

Allows user to hear sounds from within the body. Especially used to listen to heart, pulse and lungs. Part of a larger collection of medical artifacts, archival [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

Bulbous elongated ball-shaped black/dark brown wood stethoscope chest piece and earpiece: each earpiece fitted with dark-brown rubber [?] or synthetic [?] rings; dark brown woven fabric [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

Medium brown (possibly maple) wood, varnished/lacquered. Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body especially used to listen to heart, pulse, breathing and lungs, so that [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

Natural brown wood body. Cream color ivory (possible) incised lines are highlighted with black. Allows user to hear sounds from within the body. Especially used to listen [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

Wood appears lacquered/varnished. Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body especially used to listen to heart, pulse, breathing and lungs, so that they may be [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body, including heartbeat, pulse and breathing, so that they may be heard by the user. This may be [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body especially used to listen to heart, pulse, breathing and lungs, so that they may be heard by [...]

artefacts

Stethoscope

The stethoscope could have been made by the Hartz Co. but we also know that they were the distributer. Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the [...]

artefacts

Tuning fork on resonator

The Case Collection of Physics Instruments (CCPI) has several dozen forks mounted on resonance boxes (see Fig. 1). These were used as frequency standards in research and lecture demonstrations. The [...]

artefacts

Ear Phonautograph (Reconstruction)

This instrument is a reconstruction of Alexander Graham Bell and Clarence J. Blake’s ear phonautograph: an 1874 curiosity that used an excised human middle ear to [...]

artefacts

Browse Entries

Entry Types

Tuning Fork Set

Description This set of tuning forks located in the Physics Department of the University of Alberta. They are described in the university legers as “Beat Boxes.” The Parisian [...]

Cherry Bowl Resonance

Description This is a variation of Savart’s resonance bell where the bell is sounded and the resonator is moved back and forth to resonate with specific frequencies. [...]

Jun Zhong (均钟)

Description In the 1970s, a peculiar five-stringed instrument was unearthed from the early Warring States period tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Suizhou, Hubei（湖北随州）. Evidence points [...]

Opelt’s Siren Disk

Description The earliest siren is attributed to Charles Cagniard de la Tour in 1819 (See the entry for Cagniard de la Tour Siren) Polyphonic sirens, with concentric [...]

Cagniard de la Tour- type Siren

Description This type of siren was invented by Charles Cagniard, originally developed to measure the number of vibrations of a body in a given time. Cagniard’s siren [...]

Sonometer

Description The Sonometer is a musical and scientific instrument with ancient roots, commonly employed in demonstrations of acoustics to show the effect of length, tension, diameter, and [...]

Casavant organ demonstrator

Description This is a demonstration pipe organ made by a well-known Quebec company, Casavant Frères. It was most likely obtained by the Physics department around 1925, when [...]

Set of 8 Large Demonstration Tuning Forks

This specific array of precision tuning forks are highly-specialized experimental forks that relate directly to Koenig’s long-standing disagreement with Helmholtz on the nature of combination tones. [...]

Helmholtz Synthesizer

The sound synthesiser was Helmholtz’s clearest instrumental expression of his theory of timbre, or sound quality. Whereas his spherical resonators dissected compound sounds (vowels or musical [...]

Double Siren

The double siren was one of Koenig’s more popular instruments. It consisted of two “polyphonic” or “multivoiced” sirens with more than one series of holes, and [...]

Stethoscope replica

Allows user to hear sounds from within the body. Especially used to listen to heart, pulse and lungs. Part of a larger collection of medical artifacts, archival [...]

Stethoscope

Bulbous elongated ball-shaped black/dark brown wood stethoscope chest piece and earpiece: each earpiece fitted with dark-brown rubber [?] or synthetic [?] rings; dark brown woven fabric [...]

Stethoscope

Medium brown (possibly maple) wood, varnished/lacquered. Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body especially used to listen to heart, pulse, breathing and lungs, so that [...]

Stethoscope

Natural brown wood body. Cream color ivory (possible) incised lines are highlighted with black. Allows user to hear sounds from within the body. Especially used to listen [...]

Stethoscope

Wood appears lacquered/varnished. Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body especially used to listen to heart, pulse, breathing and lungs, so that they may be [...]

Stethoscope

Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body, including heartbeat, pulse and breathing, so that they may be heard by the user. This may be [...]

Stethoscope

Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the body especially used to listen to heart, pulse, breathing and lungs, so that they may be heard by [...]

Stethoscope

The stethoscope could have been made by the Hartz Co. but we also know that they were the distributer. Instrument used to amplify sounds from within the [...]

Tuning fork on resonator

The Case Collection of Physics Instruments (CCPI) has several dozen forks mounted on resonance boxes (see Fig. 1). These were used as frequency standards in research and lecture demonstrations. The [...]

Ear Phonautograph (Reconstruction)

This instrument is a reconstruction of Alexander Graham Bell and Clarence J. Blake’s ear phonautograph: an 1874 curiosity that used an excised human middle ear to [...]