Spherical Section Model

This model made of brass plates and paper in 1833 is an early teaching aid from Karlsruhe Polytechnical College, the oldest institutional forerunner of KIT. Two pairs of flat, parallel quadri-spherical sections intersect perpendicularly to each other, and guiding lines indicate certain properties of a sphere — situations of descriptive geometry. This mathematical area took up a large share of the polytechnical college’s curriculum, because it offers the foundations for solving design problems. The model bears the maker’s mark “Berckmüller & Messmer” and is therefore connected with the mechanical workshop that had been set up at the polytechnical college in early 1833 under the direction of the mechanic Jakob Friedrich Messmer (1809–1881). This establishment had two declared goals. Pupils at Karlsruhe Polytechnical College should gather practical experience there and their efforts should alleviate the previously deplored shortage of models for instruction. It was also expected that the head of the workshop carry out orders placed by the college. This link between practice and theory was an important aid for a polytechnician to start a successful career. This is demonstrated by Messmer’s own course in life, who left his position in Karlsruhe to later become director of a locomotive factory in Grafenstaden near Strasbourg. Another instance is the biography of the machine manufacturer Emil Kessler, who had studied at the polytechnical college and is known to have worked in one of Messmer’s workshops. kn