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The inventor
of the kaleidoscope
Sir David Brewster, a Scottish scientist, in 1816, and patented
(GB 4136) by him in 1817.His invention was named after the Greek
words, kalos or beautiful, eidos or form, and scopos or watcher. The
meaning of Kaleidoscope is the beautiful form watcher. Brewster's
kaleidoscope was a tube containing loose pieces of colored glass
and other objects, reflected by mirrors or glass lenses set at
angles, that created patterns when viewed through the end of the
tube.
An
American inventor called
Charles Bush in the early 1870’s, improved upon the kaleidoscope
and started the kaleidoscope fad. Charles Bush was granted
patents in 1873 - 1874 related to improvements in
kaleidoscopes,
kaleidoscope boxes, objects for kaleidoscopes (US 143,271), and
kaleidoscope stands. Bush was the first person to mass manufacturer
his "parlor" kaleidoscope in America.
More information about the Kaleidoscope can be found at the
Brewster Society website.
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