polariscope

Polarized light passed through a crystal or sample, and the colors that appeared showed hidden properties of the material.

Date: late 19th century
Maker: James W. Queen
Place: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Dimensions: overall in case: 12 1/2 in x 18 1/2 in x 6 5/8 in; 31.75 cm x 46.99 cm x 16.8275 cm
Museum: National Museum of American History
Credit line: U.S. Military Academy

This fairly rugged and inexpensive instrument has a wooden frame, a horizontal plate of blackened glass for the polarizer, a brass stage to hold the object to be examined, a magnifying lens, a Nichol prism analyzer, and a ground glass screen to shut off images of distant objects. The whole fits into a wooden box (12 inches x 18 inches x 6.75 inches high). The “James W. Queen & Co. / PHILADELPHIA” inscription on the stage refers to the firm that introduced this type of instrument in the 1880s.

Ref: Queen & Co., Inc., Catalogue of Physical Apparatus (Philadelphia, 1898), pp. 8-90.

The museum's own record (Smithsonian, National Museum of American History)