| |
KF5JRV > TECH 21.09.16 12:34l 41 Lines 2292 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 2300_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Umbrella Globe
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ<KF5JRV
Sent: 160921/1115Z 2300@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
Portable 'umbrella' globe
Several enterprising publishers issued globes that were readily portable.
However, the resulting objects, such as dissected globes and pocket globes
tended to be too small to include detail. John Betts XR (working from 1839,
died c.1863) produced a globe that was both portable and large enough for the
clear display of small features.
The idea of an inexpensive, portable globe for teaching had been suggested in
the late 18th century. Richard and Maria Edgeworth, a father-daughter pair of
educationalists, asked in their 1798 publication Practical Education: "Might
not a cheap, portable, and convenient globe be made of oiled silk, to be
inflated by a common pair of bellows?" It was another forty years, however,
until such a globe was first produced. Their request was answered in around
1830 with the invention of the balloon globe, an object made of fabric gores
stitched together, which was inflated with an air pump. However, in 1850, John
Betts designed an attractive alternative that did not require being inflated
with a pump. Betts' "New Portable Globe", used an umbrella mechanism to
support the gores in a spherical shape
The Edgeworths had held that aids to geography teaching should be large, such
that children could observe features easily, but also portable. Betts
specialised in low cost educational products and was aware of such demands.
When erected, Betts' globe probably attained a diameter of around 16 inches.
However, for transportation, the umbrella mechanism could be released, and the
collapsed globe packed into a thin carry case measuring around 30 inches in
length.
Commercial success
Although Betts first made umbrella-type globes around 1850, Betts was keen to
keep his globe up-to-date. Betts declares that cartography has been
"compiled from the latest and best authorities". Conscientious updating of the
cartography, as well as the portability and large size of the globe, probably
played a part in maintaining the market for Betts' umbrella globes. Indeed,
the umbrella globes remained in demand. George Philip & Son, who took over
Betts' firm sometime towards the end of the 19th century, continued to produce
new editions into the 1920s.
73 Scott kf5jrv
KF5JRV @ KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
