Charles Bush and the American Parlor Kaleidoscope
By Rocco (Roi) Ramon - licensed architect, founder of Studio Yabaye
The Bush kaleidoscope is a 19th-century American instrument built for a table, not for the hand. It is a barrel on a wooden stand, with a rotating object cell at the far end. Its maker, Charles G. Bush, obtained three United States patents and one reissue between September 1873 and November 1874.
This article sets out what the records support: who Bush was, what each patent claims, how the instrument is built, and how its liquid-filled glass ampules work.
Who Charles G. Bush was
According to the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society, he was born Charles Busch on 6 June 1825 in Colberg, Prussia, and emigrated to the United States in 1847 with his wife and daughter. He set up a rope-making business in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and by 1860 was living in Boston. The Society notes that he dropped the "c" from his surname only on his kaleidoscopes and patents.
The same source describes the route from rope to optics. Bush began using the microscope to examine the fibre of his rope material. The Society also states that he was for a time assistant to Professor Louis Agassiz and corresponding secretary of the Boston and New York microscopical societies. I found no second source for those two details. He began developing kaleidoscopes in the early 1870s.
Three places appear in the records:
Boston, Massachusetts. The three patents of 1873-1874 give his residence as Boston.
Providence, Rhode Island. The patent records name John W. Hoard of Providence as part-assignee: jointly with Bush on patent 143,271 and its reissue, and for a one-half right on patent 151,005. Instruments are reported with a brass label of C. G. Bush & Co., Providence.
Claremont, New Hampshire. The Society states that Bush and his wife moved there in 1875 to live with their daughter and son-in-law, and that he made instruments in a room of the house. He died on 19 May 1900.
The patents of 1873 and 1874
Four documents carry Bush's name.
US 143,271 - "Improvement in objects for kaleidoscopes". Filed 30 November 1872, granted 30 September 1873. The claim reads: "An object consisting of a hollow glass hermetically-sealed vessel and two liquids of different densities and colors placed in such vessel".
Reissue 5,649 - "Improvement in kaleidoscopes". Applied for on 30 October 1873, issued 11 November 1873. The reissue restates the first patent in wider terms. It covers a glass tube or vessel "closed hermetically without the use of cement or plugging", containing two or more immiscible liquids, or liquids together with solids, and in one claim two immiscible liquids and an air bubble.
US 151,005 - "Improvement in kaleidoscopes". Filed 20 December 1873, granted 19 May 1874. This patent concerns the instrument, not the objects. It combines a rotating object-box with light admitted between the object and the eye of the observer, so that opaque objects can be displayed as well as translucent ones. The mirror prism "has but two reflecting sides, its third or upper side being, preferably, of wood". A parti-coloured reflector card on a removable rod rotates to supply a series of backgrounds.
US 156,875 - "Improvement in kaleidoscope-stands". Filed 22 May 1874, granted 17 November 1874. The legs are two flat crossbars, each notched at the centre about halfway across, so that they interlock. The post has two transverse grooves that receive them. The parts are "united and held together by pressure and frictional contact only", with no glue, nails or rivets, and come apart to lie in the box with the instrument.
The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society also lists a patented means of adding and removing pieces from the object case without disassembling it. I did not find it in the patent texts I read, so I do not assign it to a patent number here.
How the instrument is built
The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society describes the standard form as "a barrel of black hardboard with a spoked brass wheel rotating an object cell, mounted on a turned wooden stand". Two records give the scale:
Harvard University example, as recorded by Kenyon College: barrel 10 inches long (about 254 mm), 14 inches tall overall (about 356 mm), marked Claremont, N.H., with the patent date 11 November 1873.
The Henry Ford, object 30.1442.44: wood, metal and glass, 12.25 inches high (about 311 mm), dated 1874-1900, stamped on a leg "C. G. BUSH / PATENTED NOV. 17, 1874".
The leg stamp matches the stand patent and the Harvard marking matches the reissue.
The mirror system. Patent 151,005 specifies two reflecting sides and a third side that does not reflect. This is a two-mirror arrangement, which produces a single centred figure instead of a field of repeating figures. The geometry is explained in two-mirror vs three-mirror kaleidoscopes and kaleidoscope mirror angles.
The object cell. The cell rotates on the axis of the barrel and holds the sealed ampules among other loose objects. Patent 151,005 lists opaque objects for the same box, including buttons, nails, paper, metal rods, tinsel, tinfoil, cloth, strings and lace.
The liquid-filled ampules
The ampule separates the Bush instrument from the hand-held tubes of the first kaleidoscope period, described in the kaleidoscope craze.
In a dry cell, every object stops when the cell stops. In a Bush cell, the loose pieces stop but the contents of the ampules do not. An air bubble, or a second liquid of different density, keeps travelling along the sealed vessel under gravity.
The reissue specifies a hermetic closure without cement or plugging. The glass itself forms the seal, so there is no cemented joint or plug to fail.
What Bush patented is a specific manufactured object: a sealed glass vessel holding immiscible liquids. The patents do not claim the general idea of a liquid as a kaleidoscope object.
How many were made
The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society states that Bush "made over 5000 of them" in a room of his home in Claremont. Higher totals appear in dealer descriptions. None of the figures I found cites a production ledger, so the quantity is best read as "in the thousands", attributed to the Society, and not as a counted total.
The ampule and the oil-filled cell
For collectors, the Bush instrument is identifiable. It carries stamped patent dates, and examples are held in institutional collections, including Harvard University and The Henry Ford. Collecting practice is covered in kaleidoscope collecting and the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society.
In the ampule, liquid extends motion beyond the movement of the hand, at the scale of one object inside a dry cell. An oil-filled cell applies the same physical principle to the whole cell: every object is suspended in liquid and drifts after rotation ends. I draw this comparison from the mechanics. The sources do not document a direct line of development from one to the other. The two cell formats are compared in oil-filled vs dry cell.
Checklist: reading an original 1870s Bush instrument
Barrel marking. Look for the Bush name and the reissue date, 11 November 1873.
Stand stamp. A leg stamped 17 November 1874 indicates the interlocking crossbar stand of patent 156,875.
Stand joints. The crossbars and post should separate by hand, with no glue, nails or rivets.
Ampules. Sealed glass vessels with liquid and a visible moving bubble or second liquid. Check the liquid level.
Seal. Ampule ends should be closed in glass, with no cement or plug.
FAQ
Who was Charles G. Bush?
Charles G. Bush was an American kaleidoscope manufacturer. According to the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society he was born Charles Busch on 6 June 1825 in Colberg, Prussia, emigrated to the United States in 1847, ran a rope-making business in Massachusetts, and began developing kaleidoscopes in the early 1870s. He died on 19 May 1900.
What patents did Charles Bush hold for the kaleidoscope?
Three United States patents and one reissue: 143,271 of 30 September 1873 for sealed liquid-filled glass objects; reissue 5,649 of 11 November 1873; 151,005 of 19 May 1874 for a rotating object-box with front lighting and a colour reflector card; and 156,875 of 17 November 1874 for a stand.
What is a parlor kaleidoscope?
A parlor kaleidoscope is an instrument mounted on its own stand and used on a table, instead of being held in the hand. The Bush example recorded at Harvard University has a barrel 10 inches long and stands 14 inches tall, with a brass wheel that rotates the object cell at the far end.
What are the liquid-filled ampules in a Bush kaleidoscope?
They are small hollow glass vessels, hermetically sealed without cement or plugging, placed among the loose objects in the cell. Patent 143,271 describes two liquids of different densities and colours that do not intermix. An air bubble or the second liquid keeps moving under gravity after the cell has stopped turning.
How many Bush kaleidoscopes were made?
No production ledger was found. The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society states that Bush made over 5,000 instruments in a room of his home in Claremont, New Hampshire, where he lived from 1875. Other published totals differ and are also unsourced, so the output is best described as in the thousands.
How is a Bush ampule different from an oil-filled cell?
In a Bush instrument the liquid is sealed inside individual glass ampules, and the cell that holds them is dry. In an oil-filled cell the whole cell is sealed and filled, so every object is suspended and drifts. Both use liquid to continue motion after the hand stops turning.
About Studio Yabaye
At Studio Yabaye I build brass kaleidoscopes and teleidoscopes with front-surface mirror systems in several configurations. Each object wheel is poured and composed by hand, so no two pieces are alike. The studio is based in Israel and ships worldwide. The current range is at all products, and questions can be sent through the contact page.
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