Trolley Apparatus for Target Samples, by H.G.J. Moseley, Manchester/Oxford, c.1913

This piece of apparatus was constructed and used by Henry Moseley, first at Manchester in 1913 and then at Oxford from November 1913 to the summer of 1914. He studied chemical samples using X-ray spectroscopy and hence determine their atomic number. The results were published in the ‘Philosophical Magazine’ in 1913 and 1914.

The trolley bobbin tube used a small trolley to move the target chemical element samples along a 'track', pulled by a cord wound around a brass bobbin. This meant the trolley could be moved without breaking the vacuum and hence the experimental apparatus did not need to be pumped out every time the sample was changed. This was a system of Moseley's own construction and design and meant his scientific experiments could be conducted quicker.

See attached narrative 'Henry 'Harry' Moseley and his experiments' for further details.