
Digitization and cataloging of this collection made possible by the generosity of Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation
Search within the Beckman Historical Collection
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Beckman's Process Computer smashes bottlenecks
- 1963
This advertisement for the EASE Computer touts its ability to eliminate process bottlenecks and to test processes without running a full, trial operation. The big draw, according to the ad content, is how Beckman…
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Name your punishment...
- 1958
Advertisement for Helipot Series T Potentiometers.
Potentiometers regulate the flow of electricity, like the volume dial on a radio. In 1940, Arnold O. Beckman was unsatisfied with dials on the market, so he designed…
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Buckets of product...one by one.
- 1959
This advertisement from Beckman Instruments places the company in a long narrative of scientific instrumentation, starting with 15th century alchemist, Hieronymus Brunschwig. Brunschwig's distilling techniques are…
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A place for data to come home to
- 1958
Advertisement for Beckman Data Reduction Systems, especially the storage and retrieval of telemetered missile data.
Beckman Instruments' analog computers were developed by their Berkeley Division as early as 1953. The…
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Four -- count 'em -- four
- 1959
Advertisement for four different components manufactured by the Helipot Division of Beckman Instruments: rotating components, expanded scale meters, standard breadboard parts, and potentiometers.
Potentiometers…
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It's a far cry from Scarlett's day...
- 1959
This advertisement from Beckman Instruments places the company in a long narrative of scientific instrumentation, starting with 18th century eyeglass manufacturer, Edward Scarlett (optician to His Majesty King George…
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Measure trace concentrations of total hydrocarbons...
- 1962
This advertisement for the Beckman Total Hydrocarbon Analyzer describes several uses for this instrument: purging missile fuel lines, studying air pollutants, monitoring process gas streams, and detecting impurities in…
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Baby's first breath had better be a good one...
- 1960
This advertisement hits all the Beckman Instruments highlights, like oxygen analyzers, air pollution control, and pH meters. These instruments and their related industries and developments will make the lives of…
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Know-how by Dow...chromatography by Beckman
- 1960
Advertisement for Beckman Instruments gas chromatographs being used at the Dow Chemical plant in Bay City, Michigan.
Beckman Instruments entered the gas chromatograph business in 1956 with the acquisition of the…
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Vass iss vrong mitt $30,000,000.00???
- 1960
This advertisement ran in Playboy in 1960 (among other publications), with the goal of recruiting new employees. It builds on the fame of Beckman's pH meter line of instruments via humorous German-accented English that…
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Read pH to 0.003...
- 1961
Advertisement showing a woman using a Beckman Model 76 Expanded Scale pH Meter.
Arnold Beckman invented his first pH meter in 1934 at the request of a chemist from the California citrus industry, who needed an accurate…
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Beckman pH Control ends "red water days" in Macon
- 1950s
This advertisement describes a use case for Beckman pH meters in which Macon Water Works used the instruments to control the acidity of the water and inhibit corrosion of pipes.
Arnold Beckman invented his first pH…
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Smart dumbbell.
- 1966
The glass dumbbell in Beckman Instruments' oxygen analyzers came from the original design that Linus Pauling submitted to the National Defense Research Committee in 1940. In this design, the glass dumbbell was suspended…
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Congratulations to the winners in the Beckman oldest pH meter contest
- 1971
Congratulations to CalTech, who in 1971 had the oldest Beckman Instruments pH meter still in operating condition according to this advertisement. The Model F was introduced in 1936 and the Model G in 1937, back when…
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Improved oxygen control gives better product appearance and longer shelf life
- 1965
Advertisement for various Beckman oxygen analyzers used in the food packaging industry.
Developed from a Linus Pauling design during WWII, the technology behind Beckman Instruments’ oxygen analyzers ended up doing such…
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Just Captured: The World of Ultracentrifugation With the SpinPro Expert System
- 1980s
The SpinPro Expert system software designed ultracentrifuge procedures based on users' answers to a series of questions, intentionally mirroring the telephone conversations that users used to have with Beckman…
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Since when did infrared spectrophotometery become a popular campus subject?
- 1967
Advertisement for the Microspec Infrared Spectrophotometer, made by Beckman Instruments.
The Beckman Instruments IR spectrophotometers began as a request from the Office of Rubber Reserve to Arnold O. Beckman in 1942,…
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Helipot Zippo lighter
- 1960s
One of several specialty items produced for the Helipot Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc. in the 1960s. Bears the words "have faith" and "keep smiling" around an illustration of a man with an apple on his head and…
- Creator Of Work Beckman Instruments, Inc.
- Subject Zippo Manufacturing Company, Beckman Instruments, Inc., Cigar lighters
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Helipot pen
- 1960s
One of several specialty items produced for the Helipot Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc. in the 1960s. Bears the words "have faith" and "keep smiling" around an illustration of a man with an apple on his head and…
- Creator Of Work Beckman Instruments, Inc.
- Subject Ball-point pens, Parker Pen Company, Beckman Instruments, Inc.
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Helipot tankard
- 1960s
One of several specialty items produced for the Helipot Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc. in the 1960s. Bears the words "have faith" and "keep smiling" around an illustration of a man with an apple on his head and…
- Creator Of Work Beckman Instruments, Inc.
- Subject Tankards, Beckman Instruments, Inc.
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Helipot golf balls
- 1960s
One of several specialty items produced for the Helipot Division of Beckman Instruments, Inc. in the 1960s. Bears the words "have faith" and "keep smiling" around an illustration of a man with an apple on his head and…
- Creator Of Work Beckman Instruments, Inc.
- Subject Golf balls, Beckman Instruments, Inc.
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Move a step ahead in time with the new pHASAR I
- 1973
This advertisement for the Beckman Instruments' pHASAR I pH meter is staged on the set of the 1973 science fiction television show, Search.
Arnold Beckman invented his first pH meter in 1934 at the request of a chemist…
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Instructions for replacing No. 2530 electronic tube model [in] model D and DU spectrophotometers
- 1945
These instructions for phototube replacement describe some of the inner workings of the first model D/DU spectrophotometer made by National Technical Laboratories in 1945. The phototube being replaced in these…
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Letter from Arnold Beckman to Fred T. Williams
- 1944-Mar-07
A letter from Arnold O. Beckman to Fred T. Williams, a patent advisor at the National Defense Research Committee. In this letter, Beckman reports on the delay in filing a patent for his carbon monoxide detecting…
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An Infrared Spectrophotometer any lab can afford -- any technician can operate
- 1957
This advertisement shows a woman using Beckman Instruments' new IR-6 Spectrophotometer. The text touts its low cost, ease of use, and the ability to use the instrument within existing workflows.
Originally developed…