BUSH, Charles Gustavus.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Kaleidoscope. A functioning and highly beautiful example, produced by the man who popularised kaleidoscopes in America. Bush patented the use of small liquid-filled glass vials in his designs, which contain air bubbles that continue to move even when the case is at rest. His creations were viewed as the finest on the market.The kaleidoscope was invented by the physicist Sir David Brewster, who also pioneered the stereoscope. Brewster created a prototype in 1816 but only received a patent in 1817, and in the intervening year others started to copy him and produce their own models. Therefore, although his invention became extremely popular in Europe, he never gained any financial reward.Brewster's fundamental design remained unchanged until the 1870s, when Charles Bush began to experiment with his own ideas. Bush (1825-1900) was a Prussian immigrant to America. He started as a rope-maker in Massachusetts with a hobby for microscopes, which he used to examine the fibres of his ropes. He then began studying the construction of telescopes. "His interest in these various instruments led him to give up rope-making... He manufactured [kaleidoscopes] by thousands and those of his make were preferred in all markets. Even after his removal to Claremont in 1875, he continued their manufacture, and made over 5,000 of them in a little room of his home in Bible Hill" (Boll).Bush's greatest innovation was in the pieces that filled his "parlor kaleidoscopes". He had a basic mix of approximate

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