Kaleidoscopes

History of Kaleidoscopes

Kaleidoscope is a tube through which when you look; you find a complex pattern of colors, which change as you rotate the tube. There are bits and pieces of colored glass in the tube and the mirrors in it reflect it in a way of a pattern. Sir David Brewster who was a Scottish scientist invented it in 1816 and patented it in 1817. It was named kaleidoscope after the Greek words "kalos" meaning beautiful, "eidos" meaning form and "scope" meaning watcher. So the whole meaning came to beautiful form watcher. The first kaleidoscope had many pieces of colored glass and many other beautiful objects which when seen through the tube created beautiful patterns formed through the reflection by mirrors and glass lenses set at certain angles.

An American called Charles Bush improved upon this kaleidoscope in the late 1970 and he was the one who received all the patents and associated with the improvements made in the kaleidoscope and their boxes and any object that was related to it. Charles Bush was the first person who manufactured kaleidoscopes on a large scale basis.

Generally there are two rectangular mirrors kept longitudinally set at 45 degrees as a result of which eight mirrors are created out of two and eight duplicate images of the same object can be seen. They are diverged in different angles; six images can be viewed at 60 degrees and four at 90 degrees apart from the eight duplicate images. As the tube is rotated the colorful objects in the tube tumble against each other and presents the viewer the whole array of colorful patterns and the verisimilitude and varying patterns are a feast to the eyes. The patterns do not have familiar shape; they can take any shape but are symmetrical and beautiful. They have certain symmetry because they are reflected in the rectangular mirrors.

Types of Kaleidoscopes

There are various types of kaleidoscopes classified on the basis of mirror configuration and shape of the body; some of them are two mirror models and some three-mirror models. The three mirror models form an enclosed triangle and this models forms patterns, which occupy the entire field. Based on the Shape of the body are the following types:

• Triangle Scopes
• V-scope
• Box Scope
• Multiple Box Scope
• Tapered Scope
• Round Scope

There are other types pf kaleidoscopes as well like:

• The Chamber kaleidoscope
• The Liquid Chamber Scope
• The Wheel Scope
• The Refillable Scope
• The Taleidoscope

Nowadays kaleidoscopes are made of brass tubes, stained glass, steel, wood, gourds and any other material that the maker can put in by giving it a proper shape. Part of the kaleidoscope, which holds the objects that are viewed, is called the object cell and in some types of kaleidoscopes it is filled with liquids like glycerin apart from the usual jewels and beads. Such kind of kaleidoscope is called The Liquid Chamber Scope. The normal and usual kaleidoscope is called The Chamber kaleidoscope. The Wheel Scope is very interesting as it has one or more wheels in its objective end and it might contain glass, flowers or jewels. The Refillable Scope gives the viewers a chance to change the contents of the object chamber. The Taleidocsope is a wonder of mirrors since it further multiplies the images produced in the kaleidoscope thus making the whole world colorful.