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Unknown Thang #1 (July/August 97)

Guesses Received:

This Sphero-Lux must be a spherical light/lamp of some kind. The name is obviously a clue, as well as the lightbulb inside. :) I see the reflector inside, and it looks like there is a lens for focusing the beam in the front. Beyond that, I don't know what to guess.

--Tak Ariga, Toronto ON, Tue, 19 Aug 1997 17:11:07 -0400

My guess is that it's an early stab at a videoconferencing interface. The design appears to have failed, mainly because of bandwidth issues (110 baud), issues of dimension (the unit crushed the B&W Philco monitors of the time) and pixel density (The unit lit the subject with a 10K Fresnel lamp at a distance of 18 inches, leading to immediate combustion). My other guess is that it's a rice cooker for voyeurs. Great site (got the mangled URL from the Globe). Keep it up.

--Marc Dacey, Toronto ON, Sun, 31 Aug 1997 17:11:04 -0400

================== A N S W E R ==================

This is a microscope light source! These days most microscopes used in service, commercial or research settings have built-in light sources, but there was a time when microscopes had a mirror on the bottom to reflect the sun's rays onto the slides. Doctors still needed diagnoses on their patient's biopsies on cloudy days, so light sources like this one were a must!

Congratulations, Tak! You were right! Sorry, no prize, but maybe I can buy you a pint of Big Rock sometime... (TH)

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Guess(es) Submitted:

I am going to guess that it is an optical instrument of some kind. It might be a microscope, or a projector. I see a meter, although I'm not sure what it would measure... the amount of electricity going into the light?

--Tak Ariga, Toronto ON, Fri, 14 Nov 1997 12:11:17 -0500

================== A N S W E R ==================

Both answers are right-- it's a projecting microscope! In some ways medicine is like big game hunting. Doctors track a disease from the symptoms and signs it causes, then they take it to the operating room to bag it. Hunters love to see their kills up on the wall, so that's what pathologists do for clinicians at various and sundry rounds and conferences. We're like medical taxidermists! This device would project the image of a lesion mounted on a glass slide onto a wall or screen. Depending on how far away that was (a room for small group teaching or an auditorium for Grand Rounds), the brightness of the lamp could be varied, hence the meter. One disadvantage: the glass slide could get very hot if projected too long.

We have since graduated to cooler video cameras and monitors, and, in places rich enough to be that advanced, digital images, intranets and the Internet!

Tak Ariga wins again!

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