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The kaleidoscope was first invented and used by the Ancient Greeks. The modern kaleidoscope was reinvented in 1816 by a Scottish scientist Sir David Brewster, see Figure 1 for picture. Brewster was a child prodigy and entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of 12. He was very interested in the physics of light, and wanted to focus on optics. When he was studying polarized light, he noticed that when light hits a surface at a certain angle (known today as Brewster’s Angle), the light reflected is plane-polarized. Brewster came up with a relationship between the angle of the light and the refractive index of the reflecting material. This application was used when Brewster reinvented the kaleidoscope. He patented it in 1817, but unfortunately something was wrong with his patent and he was not able to get any royalties from big companies who mass produced the kaleidoscope (2) The kaleidoscope is an optical instrument that uses multiple reflections from several mirrors placed at certain angles from one another in a cylinder. Colored objects or colored glass are placed at the end of the mirrors creating a continually changing symmetrical picture when the kaleidoscope cylinder is rotated, see Figure 2. After kaleidoscopes were invented there was a huge demand for them in Europe and the United States (3), see Figure 3. There are multiple mirror systems that can be in a kaleidoscope those systems are spiral 1-mirror system, 2-mirror system, 3-mirror system, 4-mirror system, polyangular mirror system, tapered mirror system, and multiple mirror system (4).
The spiral 1-mirror system contains a cylinder reflective surface that makes a spiral of colors. This type of kaleidoscope makes color patterns not shape patterns. This system is not usually used in kaleidoscopes but is very popular to use in jewelry scopes. The 2-mirror system is made up of a triangle with two mirror sides and a blackened third side, see Figure 2. This is a common system used in kaleidoscopes. This type of system creates a central image that is circular in shape. The 3-mirror system is made of a triangle with three mirrors on all sides. The images produced from this system have a honeycomb pattern. The triangles that can be used in this system are equilateral triangle, right triangle, isosceles triangle and isosceles right triangle. The 4-mirror system contains four mirrors that are connected together in a square, rectangular, or diamond shape. Square and rectangular configurations create a striped pattern and the diamond configuration creates a double mandala image. The polyangular system has 2-mirror and 4-mirror configurations. This system allows for the angle between the mirrors to change. The tapered mirror system uses tapered mirrors creating a isosceles trapezoid. The mirrors form a pyramid shape when put together. This system creates a spherical 3-D image. The multiple mirror system has three different types binocular scopes, multiple mirror systems in a single scope, and companion scopes. Binocular scopes are two scopes joined together to create a single image. Multiple mirror system in a single scope have multiple mirror system next to each other in one tube. Companion scopes have the object chamber in the middle of the tube. It is called a companion scope because two people can view the scope from each end and at the same time (4).
