Milne-Shaw seismograph no.1, designed and constructed by John Johnson Shaw, 1914, based on an original design by John Milne. The instrument, which has a horizontal pendulum and electromagnetic damping, was tested at Bidston Observatory, near Liverpool, and in 1918 was transferred to the University Observatory at Oxford.

This instrument is believed to be the first in a series constructed by seismologist John Johnson Shaw, and used for tests of the new design at Bidston Observatory. Shaw’s instrument was a modification of John Milne’s horizontal pendulum seismograph, first developed in the 1890s to detect the faint vibrations of waves from distant earthquakes. Dozens of these earlier instruments had been distributed around the world since 1897 as part of a seismograph network administered by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, but by the time Milne died in 1913 they were acknowledged to have significant technical flaws. Shaw introduced a higher level of magnification and a system of electromagnetic damping.