Kaleidoscope
David Brewster’s tube of mirrors and glass fragments of 1817 – an optical toy that became a worldwide sensation.
The Scottish physicist David Brewster patented the kaleidoscope in 1817. He had been studying the polarisation of light and discovered how angled mirrors give symmetrical patterns.
The patent was weak, and the toy was copied at once. According to Brewster, hundreds of thousands were sold in London and Paris within months. It became both a toy and a model for pattern designers.
Materials: Card, brass, mirrors and coloured glass
Manufacture: Two or three mirrors at an angle in a tube; cheap versions were quickly made in card.
A tube with angled mirrors that produce a symmetrical image.
A rotating chamber with coloured glass fragments.
Brass and wood on costly examples, card on cheap ones.