380
in Leclanche cells. He crimped the plate of the Daniel
cell to double its own area, and he produced ozone in
1838 but failed to recognise its signifi cance. Also that
year he invented the subdivision of secondary windings
of an induction coil to produce choice output voltages,
and he devised the magnetic circuit breaker. Among
his other inventions is a shellac-coated card that could
be used in place of glass in electrophorous and leyden
jars. He invented a six-way tap to control the supply
of gasses to dissolving lanterns, and introduced achro-
matic projection lenses to magic lanterns. He supplied
James Robertson with lanterns and gas equipment, and
the Manchester Mechanics Institute with a dissolving
limelight lantern.
He was the fi rst person to supply achromatic micro-
scopes for Boston, Optician of Liverpool, and he also
made one for John Dalton. He introduced the Davies
Shutter and constructed a binocular microscope for the
Field Naturalist Society. Dancer is also known to have
designed special lenses for his microscopes, and may
have done so for camera lenses as well. He made im-
provements to telescope mountings, rain gauges, speed
indicators, surveyor’s levels and air pumps. He invented
an apparatus for Sir Joseph Whitworth for checking the
accuracy of rifl e barrels. He developed an accurate ther-
mometer for James Joule in 1843, and made apparatus
for Joule’s determination of the mechanical equivalent
by heat. He invented a fairy fountain; a multi-jet foun-
tain illuminated from below with coloured lights and
controlled by an electric keyboard.
Dancer’s most active years in terms of invention
and innovation appear in the twenty years from 1837
to 1857. After this period his activities were devoted
mostly to manufacture and refi nement of earlier work.
While he was well known and respected by his peers
it is since his death in 1887 that he has disappeared
into relative obscurity. In 1960 his great granddaughter
received from the National Microfi lm Association of
America a posthumous Medal of Meritorious Service
to the microfi lm industry. Not only was John Benjamin
Dancer the inventor of microphotography, in a very real
sense he was the father of photography in the Greater
Manchester area.
Michael Hallett
Biography
John Benjamin Dancer was born on 8 October 1812 in
London, and died on 24 November 1887 in Manchester.
He is buried in Brooklands Cemetery, Sale. His father
Josiah Dancer was born in 1779, and had in turn worked
under his father, Michael, who was a joiner. Josiah
Dancer became an optician from 1817 and then moved
to Liverpool where he died in 1835. Dancer joined
the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in
1842, being sponsored by John Dalton and was made an
Honorary Member in 1884. He was elected a Fellow of
the Royal Astronomical Society in 1855 and appointed
optician in Manchester to HRH the Prince of Wales
in 1869. While, on occasions, he took photographs,
Dancer never operated as a professional photographer.
By trade he was a scientifi c and optical instrument maker
taking over his father’s business in Liverpool in 1835
and moving to Manchester in 1841 to set up a similar
business under the name of Abraham and Dancer. For
the majority of his life in Manchester Dancer was in
business on his own account at 43 Cross Street. In 1870
John Benjamin Dancer contracted diabetes, and his sight
began to fail. After three operations for glaucoma, he
gave up his business in 1878. The business transferred
from Cross Street to Ardwick under his daughters, El-
eanor Elizabeth and Catherine, and became E.E. Dancer
& Company. On the 11th August 1896 it was sold to
Richard Suter for £50.
See also: Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore; Daguerre,
Louis-Jacques-Mandé; Talbot, William Henry Fox;
Daguerreotype; Sidebotham, Joseph; Beard, Richard;
Archer, Frederick Scott; Wet Collodion Negative; Wet
Collodion Positive Processes; Brewster, Sir David;
and Robertson, James.Further Reading
Ardern, L.L., “J.B.Dancer,” Manchester Review, Spring 1956,
339–342.
Ardern, L.L., “John Benjamin Dancer,” Library Association,
North Western Group, Occasional Paper No. 2, 1960.
Browning, W., (Foreword), “John Benjamin Dancer, F.R.A.S.
1812-1887: an autobiographical sketch with some letters,”
Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Society, vol.107, 1965–66, 115–142.
Hallett, Michael, “John Benjamin Dancer 1812–1887: a per-
spective,” History of Photography, London, July-September
1986, 237–255.
Hallett, Michael, John Benjamin Dancer: Inventor of Micropho-
tography, unpublished MS, 2002.
Milligan, H.., “New Light on J.B. Dancer,” Memoirs and Proceed-
ings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
1972–73, Manchester, 1973.
Wetton, Jenny, “John Benjamin Dancer: Manchester Instrument
Maker,” Bulletin of the Scientifi c Instrument Society, June
1991, 4–8.DANDOY, ARMAND (1834–1898)
Belgian photographer and painter
Armand Dandoy, christened Ernest, was born in the
small town of Gougnies, in Hainaut province, Belgium,
on 11 November 1834, second son of Joseph Dandoy
(1801–1850), manager of a smelting plant, and his wife
Jeanne née Janne (1801–1871). In 1838, the Dandoy
family moved back to their native town of Namur, where