Teleidoscope
Encyclopedia
A teleidoscope is a kind of kaleidoscope
, with a lens
and an open view, so it can be used to form kaleidoscopic patterns from objects outside the instrument, rather than from items installed as part of it. It was invented by John Lyon Burnside III
, who filed a patent for the invention in 1970 and was granted it in 1972.
The lens at the end of the tube is not an optical requirement, but protects the internals of the teleidoscope. A spherical ball lens is often used. An advantage of using a sphere is that it will not press flat against the object being viewed, which would block all light and result in no image being seen.
Kaleidoscope
A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors...
, with a lens
Lens (optics)
A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
and an open view, so it can be used to form kaleidoscopic patterns from objects outside the instrument, rather than from items installed as part of it. It was invented by John Lyon Burnside III
John Burnside (inventor)
John Lyon Burnside III was the inventor of the teleidoscope, the darkfield kaleidoscope and the Symmetricon, and, because he rediscovered the math behind kaleidoscope optics, for decades, every maker of optically correct kaleidoscopes sold in the US paid him royalties...
, who filed a patent for the invention in 1970 and was granted it in 1972.
The lens at the end of the tube is not an optical requirement, but protects the internals of the teleidoscope. A spherical ball lens is often used. An advantage of using a sphere is that it will not press flat against the object being viewed, which would block all light and result in no image being seen.