Knowledo'e. 



With which is incorporated H.irdwicke's Science Gossip, and the Illustrated Scientific News 



A MonthK- Record of Science. 



Conducted In- Wilfred Mark Webb, F.L.S., and i;. S. Grew, M.A. 

 JULY, 1912. 



THE KALEIDOGRAPH. 



Bv E. WILFRED TAYLOR. 



The Kaleidograph is, as its name implies, a 

 machine b\- means of which very beautiful and 

 complex designs may be drawn by the simple process 

 of turning a handle. 



In the space at our disposal it is (]uite impossible 

 to give more than the briefest description of the 

 design and construction of the machine, or of the 

 many adjustments and alterations which may readily 

 be made and by means of which the character and 

 complexit}' of the 

 designs are rendered 

 almost limitless. 



Briefly, the ma- 

 chine consists of 

 three parts, each of 

 which supplies some 

 form of motion. 

 These mot ions, when 

 brought together by 

 means of a panto- 

 graph, produce the 

 designs with which 

 this article is illus- 

 trated. 



To the right of 

 Figure 271 is seen 

 an elliptic table (A). 

 On the upper sur- 

 face of this there are 

 guides in w hich two 

 runners slide along 



diameters at right angles to one another ; the turned 

 tops of these runners fit into the horizontal radial 

 arm (B) above the table. Along the top of this arm 

 another runner slides and may be clamped in any 

 position ; this carries the tracing point (,C) of the 

 pantograph. 



The radial arm is rotated by an arm (D) fixed to 

 a pulley beneath the elliptic table : the driving cord 



passes round this pulley. As tiiis arm carries the 

 radial arm round it will be seen that the tracing 

 point describes an ellipse, the form of which is 

 governed b\- the positions of the two runners in the 

 ellipse table, and by the position at which the tracing 

 point is clamped to the radial arm. By var\-ing this 

 position the ellipse may be thinned out into a straight 

 line or bv remo\ing one of the runners and clamping 

 the other in its guides, a circular movement of the 



tracing point is 

 easily obtained. 



The motions of 

 the tracing point 

 are transmitted un- 

 changed to the pen 

 over the drawing 

 table, and as the 

 ratiial arm revolves, 

 an ellipse is drawn 

 around which the 

 pen will work as 

 long as thi' arm is 

 rotated. 



B)- means of gear- 

 ing, the elliptic table 

 itself can be made 

 to rotate in a direc- 

 tion the same or 

 opposite to that of 

 the radial arm. 

 Thus the ellipse is 

 made to rotate, and the number drawn in a complete 

 rotation of the table depends on the gearing 

 inserted between the two equal spur wheels beneath 

 the table (A). The upper of these carries round with 

 it the radial arm which in turn carries round the 

 tracing point ; the lower rotates the elliptic table. 



In the centre of the machine are two sliding 

 tables : the lower (E) slides towards and away from 



he Kaleidograph. 



