Bradley color wheel facts for kids
A normal Bradley Color Wheel
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| Type | Educational toy |
|---|---|
| Inventor | Milton Bradley |
| Inception | 1898 |
| Manufacturer | Milton Bradley |
| Available | Unavailable |
| Models made | Normal, Primary School |
| Website | Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 168: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
The Bradley color wheel was a special tool created by Milton Bradley in 1895. Milton Bradley was the founder of the Milton Bradley Company, which is famous for making games and toys. This color wheel was part of a bigger system he developed to teach people about colors.
Even though it was made for schools, the Bradley color system became very important in other areas too. For example, a scientist named Robert Ridgway, who studied birds at the Smithsonian Institution, used it. He needed a better way to describe colors, and Bradley's system helped him create his own color standards. These standards later helped create the Pantone color system, which is used all over the world today!
What is the Bradley Color Wheel?
The Bradley color wheel was designed to help teachers show how different colors mix together. It helped students understand how colors work and how new colors are made. This tool was based on an older idea called the Maxwell Disk.
How the Maxwell Disk Works
The Maxwell Disk was a simple tool made from two or more colored circles. These circles had a cut from the edge to the center. You could slide them together to show different amounts of each color. When you spun these disks very fast, the colors would blend together. This showed you the average color mix of the colors you put together. For example, if you mixed red and yellow, you would see orange when it spun.
Bradley's Improvements
Milton Bradley added some cool features to the basic Maxwell Disk idea.
- He added a small crank, which made it easy to spin the wheel.
- He put special marks around the edge of the disks. These marks helped people measure exactly how much of each color they were using. This meant you could get very precise color mixes.
- In the middle of the wheel, he added a gray shade. This gray color showed what shade was needed to create the mixed color.
These improvements made the Bradley Color Wheel a very useful and accurate tool for learning about colors.
