Vintage Stern-Gerlach device
After going through an old storage room, someone here at Saint A’s came upon a Stern-Gerlach experiment in a box (disassembled) made by the old Ealing Corp. which, at one time, was in South Natick, MA, but is now in California. They seem to be solely an optical company these days so I have little hope that they will be able to find a set of instructions (since there wasn’t one in the box). Has anyone out there seen one of these things and, if so, do you have any idea of how to put it together?
Update: Well, while a helpful guy at Ealing could find no information about such a device going back to 1969, my colleague Jeff found the instructions tucked away in the filing cabinet! As it turns out, the experiment was made in the mid-1960s (first manual apparently appeared in 1966) and was developed by a Melvin Daybell at New Mexico State University. It’s possible, then, that it was a custom job (which would explain why Ealing didn’t find it in any of their old catalogs), but does not explain how it came into our possession. Unfortunately, the faculty member who most likely obtained it for us (likely in the ’60s since his name appears on something in the folder dated 1967) has since passed away so we may never know (particularly since there is no Melvin Daybell presently at NMSU).
Update II:…and that is because Melvin Daybell is at USC!
Mel Daybell posted this over at my old blog just last week. I need to send him an e-mail thanking him:
“Ealing made a modified version of my Stern-Gerlach apparatus as a kit for a few years. There was a manual describing my original version, not much different. Might try Prof. Liefeld (NMSU, retired but active) and see if they still have some. Somebody at one of the Pennsylvania university had a lot of experience with the Ealing machine, and wrote up some notes he was going to publish, but didn’t.
Mel Daybell”
quantummoxie said this on February 10, 2008 at 7:06 pm |
Interested in the schematics if you still have them on hand.
Andrew Breen said this on June 8, 2008 at 7:23 pm |
Still trying to get my hands on them! I contacted this Liefeld guy recently but have not heard back. I’m not even sure we have all the parts which is why I am trying to get my hands on some stuff. The folks at Ealing Corp., which used to sell these kits, did not have an old manual in their archives. We’re looking through our own archives (i.e. closets, boxes under lab benches, etc.) but haven’t found it yet.
quantummoxie said this on June 8, 2008 at 8:26 pm |
Thanks for the effort, keep me posted.
Andrew Breen said this on June 13, 2008 at 5:07 pm |
Any word on the Stern-Gerlach apparatus?
Andrew said this on September 30, 2008 at 7:39 am |
Nothing yet. Been a bit busy. Hoping to maybe get a student on this at some point.
quantummoxie said this on September 30, 2008 at 2:53 pm |
I have a manual titled “Construction Notes and Drawings for the New Mexico State University Stern Gerlach Apparatus”. It looks to be complete including a list of materials, and is just as the title describes. At one time we even had the kit, which looked very much like your photo. But after several moves, little remains of it. We are considering resurrecting the experiment.
Would be happy to provide a scan.
Jim Kelley
Physics and Astronomy
UC Irvine
Jim Kelley said this on August 17, 2009 at 4:29 pm |
I’m alive and well and living in Rancho Palos Verdes, (retired). Maybe I could help ?
>>>Mel Daybell<<<.
Mel Daybell said this on September 10, 2009 at 12:03 am |
Well, it seems interest in this is still there. I will attempt to locate all our material (it got moved again this summer) and use Jim’s information to see if we have all the pieces. If I have major questions, I’ll consult Mel. Perhaps we should get some sort of user group list started or something. This could be fun!
quantummoxie said this on September 10, 2009 at 11:48 am |