Curiosities

Tasmanian Invention – 1909 Patent – Fred Dando (of Beaconsfield) Game of Skill

British Patent no 19,390 by Fred Dando of Beaconsfield, Tasmania. Lodged 1908 and accepted ‘as patented” in 1909 – four pages of text and one double page with excleent drawings showing how the invention is constructed.

The invention relates to an improved game of skill and apparatus for playing same the game being played preferably by two persons one against the other, from each end of a race or box whereat is located a compound lever designed when quickly depressed to project a marble or ball to the desired distance and height to strike and, if possible, displace one of a series of marbles or balls of similar size arranged centrally one each on a tier located transversely at about midway of the said race or box [Long sentences patented also!]

The compound lever near each end of the box is designed to be struck by the players finger and thus cause its inner part upon which the marble is placed to project it forward with the object of striking on the before mentioned shelves and which latter are numbered 1 to 5 representing the players count when a marble is struck or displaced

The apparatus is made in the form of a two part box hinged together under the tier of shelves and capable of being folded together while also pockets or recesses are provided at each end for the players marbles and further the edges of the box are perforated and numbered to receive count pins etc etc…

Voyager considering making this device although probably not meet modern safety standard (hum) or have many digital application (ho hum) … but good marble chucking fun!

Games ingenuity in Beaconsfield in 1909

$70.00

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Massive Ducretet Gas Discharge Tube – Paris c1890

This massive discharge tube was made by Eugene Ducretet (1844-1915) a leading French scientific instrument maker who opened his first shop retailing unusual scientific instruments in Paris in 1864. This instrument is engraved with his name E Ducretet A Paris to the top tap.

It is one of the largest, heaviest and most unconventional discharge tubes we have seen. Standing 60 cms high an in pretty good condition for its age – we have left the brass work as we found it – the threads to the vacuum inlet work albeit stiff and the thread to the to mount are in very good condition. The extremely thick glass tube is at a slight angle but the seals appear intact. A very rare scientific collectable from the early days of gas discharge experiments.

Flash Gas Tube from 19thC Paris

$340.00

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Thin Geological Section Microscope Slides -1913 – Set of Five

A group of five thin section slides from the UK, India and Iceland all nice samples, well labelled and in nice condition

Obsidian with spherulites from Iceland
(Spherulites are small rounded bodies that occur in vitreous igneous rocks such as obsidian)

Chert – Blue Limestone – Somerset
(This unusual blue coloured limestone is from a Lias Quarry in Shepton Mallet)

Chloritic Marl – Compton Abbas – Dorset
(Fossil containing bedrock to the chalk of southern England)

Anorthite from Salem South India
(A Gneiss rock structure from the Sittampundi Complex at Salem near Madras)

Augen Gneiss from Strahnaver, Sutherland, Scotland
(A Metamorphic rock which is clotted with flesh coloured feldspar “augen”)

A very good selection

$90.00

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Tasmanian Invention – 1909 Patent – Fred Dando (of Beaconsfield) Game of Skill

Massive Ducretet Gas Discharge Tube – Paris c1890

Thin Geological Section Microscope Slides -1913 – Set of Five

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