His work significantly improved the sharpness and sensitivity of mass spectroscopes. John Browning was perhaps best known as the leading manufacturer of spectroscopes. Specialized tools such as spectroscopes and spectrohelioscopes are used to examine sunspots and sunspot areas. His crafting of fine spectroscopes strengthened his connection to the field of chemistry. Yet few signs of water have been found in spectroscopes. Early spectroscopes were simply prisms with graduations marking wavelengths of light. Spectroscopes are often used in astronomy and some branches of chemistry.