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The Hipp Chronoscope - continued...


The main purpose of the chronoscope was to measure reaction times in human test subjects.

perception experiment with Hipp chronoscope
Psychological experiment with Hipp chronoscope for investigating perception, association, and memory according to Ranschburg (1923)

The history of the Hipp chronoscope is, however, not limited to psychology. Initially, the instrument was applied in physical and ballistic experiments. In addition, the name "Hipp chronoscope" was not exclusively used for the precision time measuring devices produced in the workshops of Hipp, initially located at Reutlingen (South-West Germany), then at Bern, and, eventually, at Neuchâtel (both Switzerland). Starting in 1890, instrument makers in Germany and other countries offered Hipp chronoscopes of their own production. A well-known example is the firm of E. Zimmermann (Leipzig, Berlin). Other suppliers bought chronoscope clockworks at Hipp's Neuchâtel factory and completed them with stands or other accessories and sold them under their own labels. Today, some 110 chronoscopes from Hipp and various other firms can be found in public museums and collections, and some 20 more are kept in private collections.

Reference: Schraven, Thomas. 2004. The Hipp Chronoscope.. The Virtual Laboratory (ISSN 1866-4784), https://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/references?id=enc13&page=p0002