Signedon base and on small brass slider, stamped: RUDOLPH KOENIG / À PARIS
on tuning fork: RK
Inscribedon tuning fork: UT - 1 / 64 VS
FunctionCommon in acoustical or psychological experiments of sound perception, tuning forks are used to ascertain the variation of sound pitches. A tuning fork resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object (or in this case by electricity). The pitch generated by a particular tuning fork depends on the length of the two tines, with two nodes near the bend of the usually U-shaped instrument.
This instrument here was not built for producing sound per se, but rather made as an electrical interrupter. The current used to make the tuning fork vibrate was being redirected to another piece of apparatus. Thanks to the mercury vessel, the vibrating contact at the end of the lower tine cut the current at a frequency equaled to the tuning fork. By changing the tuning fork, another regular electrical interruption was generated.
The mercury interrupter, for instance, was used for electrically driving the synthesizer forks in series at a set frequency.
Primary SourcesRudolph Koenig, Catalogue des appareils d'acoustique construits par Rudolph Koenig (Paris, 1865).
Rudolph Koenig, Catalogue des appareils d'acoustique construits par Rudolph Koenig (Paris, 1889), 26, no. 56.
Related WorksDavid Pantalony, Rudolph Koening (1832-1901), Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) and the Birth of Modern Acoutsics, unpublished dissertation, University of Toronto, 2002.
David Pantalony, "Rudolph Koenig's Workshop of Sound: Instruments, Theories, and the Debate over Combination Tones," Annals of Science 62 (2005): 57-82.
Thomas Greenslade, "The Acoustical Apparatus of Rudolph Koenig," The Physics Teacher, 30 (December, 1992).