John Benjamin Dancer (8 October 1812 – 24 November 1887) was a British scientific instrument maker and inventor of microphotography.[1] He also pioneered stereography.
Career
editBy 1835, he controlled his father's instrument making business in Liverpool. He was responsible for various inventions, but did not patent many of his ideas. In 1856, he invented the stereoscopic camera (GB patent 2064/1856).[2]
Dancer improved the Daniell cell by introducing the porous pot cell, which he invented in 1838.[3] He was a leading inventor and practitioner in the emerging field of microphotography, work he began shortly after the Daguerreotype process was first announced in 1839. His novel uses of microphotography, such as "the reduction of the 680-word tablet erected in memory of the electrician William Sturgeon to a positive one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter", attracted much public attention.[4] He assisted the physicist James Prescott Joule with the development of scientific instruments such as an apparatus for measuring the internal capacity of the bore of thermometer tubes, a tangent galvanometer, and other devices useful in Joule's research.[5] A substantial collection of Dancer's papers, photographs, and apparatus is held by the Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
In 1842 Dancer took a daguerreotype from the top of the Royal Exchange which is the earliest known photograph showing part of Manchester.[6]
Personal life
editHe died in November 1887 at the age of 75 and was buried at Brooklands Cemetery, Sale, Greater Manchester. He had two daughters, Elizabeth Eleanor and Anna Maria.[7]
References
edit- ^ Hallett, Michael (July–September 1986). Henisch, Heinz (ed.). "John Benjamin Dancer 1812–1887: a perspective". History of Photography, an International Quarterly. 10 (3). Taylor & Francis Ltd.: 237–255. doi:10.1080/03087298.1986.10443115. ISSN 0308-7298.
- ^ Bennett Woodcroft (1857). Chronological index of patents applied for and patents granted for the year 1856. London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty.
- ^ Alexander Watt, Arnold Philip, Electroplating and Electrorefining of Metals, pp.91–92, Watchmaker Publishing, 2005 ISBN 1-929148-45-3 (originally published 1889).
- ^ Solbert, Oscar N.; Newhall, Beaumont; Card, James G., eds. (November 1952). "John Benjamin Dancer (1812-1887)" (PDF). Image, Journal of Photography of George Eastman House. 1 (8). Rochester, N.Y.: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House Inc.: 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
- ^ "Report of the Council, April, 1888, with obituary notices of Charles Moseley and John Benjamin Dancer". Memoirs and Proceedings - Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. Vol. I. Manchester: The Society. 1888. pp. 149–153.
- ^ Daguerreotype (Museum label). 1830 Warehouse Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester): MOSI.
{{cite sign}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "John Benjamin Dancer | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
External articles and references
edit- John Benjamin Dancer, Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester
- John Benjamin Dancer Manchester Microscopical & Natural History Society.
 | This article about an engineer, inventor or industrial designer from the United Kingdom or its predecessor states is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This photography-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |