deirdre feeney
artist + researcher
Janssen Apparatus Prototype

Janssen Apparatus Prototype

Janssen Apparatus Prototype

Janssen Apparatus Prototype

Glass, LED, aluminium, brass, steel, 3D printed PLA, printed acetate, acetal, DC motor, projected moving image.

Detail of the prototype for an optical image system based on the ‘Janssen apparatus’ (1874), held in the collection of the Sydney Observatory, Powerhouse Museum.

Detail of the prototype for an optical image system based on the ‘Janssen apparatus’ (1874), held in the collection of the Sydney Observatory, Powerhouse Museum.

The Janssen apparatus was originally designed to chrono-photographically capture the 1874 Transit of Venus. Although the device failed as an astronomical /scientific measuring instrument, its intermittent motion mechanism was soon adapted into early cinema camera and projectors.