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The Historic Galileo Telescope

This beautiful kit is based on the last remaining telescope that belonged to Galileo (the oldest telescope in the world): a leather-bound show piece with golden ornaments for Cosimo II de Medici, which now is on show in Florence.

With this historically accurate cardboard  replica you can experience the great achievements of Galileo yourself. Although the performance of this historic telescope is not comparable to modern ones, it is fully functional and emphasises Galileo’s accomplishments.

High quality cardboard kit with four colour and gold print, complete with glass lenses for 12x magnification and wall/desktop mount.

Length of the telescope: 78 cm

Hint: mount the telescope on a normal tripod with our cheap Tripod Adapter (round), see our Components page!

£12.90

No 232.HGT

The Steam Gyro

The very first steam engine was a spinning copper ball, invented by Hero of Alexandria in the first century.

This swimming spin top uses the same principle. A tea light (not included) heats the water in the copper spiral and recoil from the steam makes the Gyro spin. Then the steam condensates and sucks fresh water into the pipe. This process is repeated several times per second as long as the candle burns.

A neat little model that fascinates young and old. Add a paper cylinder and turn it into a spinning buoy, a revolving lantern, etc.

The kit contains a cork plate (80 x 10 mm) with pre-drilled holes, a copper spiral with soft-annealed ends, and a bending tool. Construction time: 15 min.

£5.94

No 418.DKR

The Sun Movement Simulator

This simple and easy to build model shows the movement of the sun in the sky for every location on the northern hemisphere and for every day of the year. Just tilt the horizontal plane to the desired latitude, move the sun (brass clip) to the correct date and the pivoting cardboard arc demonstrates the sun’s movement. You can even determine the points of sunrise and sunset on the horizon. Different day lengths for summer and winter, polar day and night, equator sun, etc. can be easily demonstrated.

Ideal for teaching, e.g. astronomy classes.

Height with stand: 10.5 cm

£1.74

No 116.SNG

The Edison Pocket-Phonograph

It was a historic moment when Thomas Alva Edison succeeded in recording his voice in 1877. This Pocket-Phonograph goes back to one of his patents as well:

A thin strip with grooves carved into one side is connected to a resonator. The recorded sound can then be played back with the nail of your thumb.

Comes with four messages:

“Merry Christmas”, “Happy Birthday”, “Congratulations”, and “Good Morning”

£5.94

No 454.ETP

The Camera Obscura

All our modern cameras have one common ancestor - The Camera Obscura: the light of the outside world falls through a pinhole onto the opposite wall of a room and produces an upside-down picture. In the 16th century the camera obscura was greatly improved by an objective lens, which produced much brighter pictures and around 1750 many painters, like the Venetian Canaletto, used it to make sketches for their paintings. Then in 1836 Nicéphore Nièpce projected the picture on a light-sensitive plate and the photographic camera was born.

Our beautiful, sturdy Camera Obscura is equipped with a powerful lens (60mm diameter, 275mm focal length) and a mirror for an upright picture, like the one Canaletto used. The picture is projected onto a 16x16cm screen with transparent paper on which it can be viewed or copied by pencil.

Pre-punched kit with gold printing, complete with lens, mirror, clear screen and transparent paper.

Size: 280mm x 190mm x 190mm

£19.92

No 419.COB