Measuring & Mapping

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

Eugene Elwin Haskell graduated from Cornell University in 1879, spent a few years with the U.S. Lake Survey, and then joined the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Description
Eugene Elwin Haskell graduated from Cornell University in 1879, spent a few years with the U.S. Lake Survey, and then joined the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. For the purpose plotting the currents in New York Harbor he designed a horizontal-axis, screw-type current meter, the results of which could be read electrically.
John Wesley Powell, the first director of U.S. Irrigation Survey, a project of the U.S. Geological Survey, explained that the wheel of this meter “is of the propeller type, conical in longitudinal projection, thus cleaning itself from leaves and grass,” adding that “There is no question that this is the best type of wheel yet presented for a current meter.” “Beyond the inconvenience of wires and batteries common to all electric meters,” Powell went on to say, “the Haskell is superior to any form yet tried.”
This example is a variation of the Haskell meter as conceived in the late 1880s by engineers of the U.S. Irrigation Survey. It is marked “U.S.G.S. No. 3” and “J. S. J. Lallie, Maker, Denver, Colo.” The U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1908.
John S. J. Lallie was born in Marseilles, France, in 1856, and came to the U.S. in 1864. In 1888, after working as a surveyor for some time, he established the Western Mathematical Instrument Co. in Denver. From 1891 until his death in 1911, he traded as J. S. J. Lallie.
Ref: E.E. Haskell, “Ship’s Log,” U.S. Patent 384362 (1888).
J. W. Powell, “Irrigation Survey—Second Annual Report,” in Report of the Secretary of the Interior (Washington, D.C., 1890), vol. 4, part 2, p. 9.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 64-67.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ID Number
PH.248697
accession number
48341
catalog number
248697
Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy flat plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1868." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -75 to +90. The stem is marked "No. 1868 Signal Service U.S.
Description
Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy flat plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1868." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -75 to +90. The stem is marked "No. 1868 Signal Service U.S. Army" and graduated (but not numbered) every degree Fahrenheit from -82 to +98. It was made between 1885 and 1890 when Henry J. Green was in business on his own in New York.
John Rutherford, a Scottish country doctor, devised this form in 1790. Green stated in 1900 that it was "the only one in general use." It has a black index inside the tube. "On a decrease of temperature the alcohol recedes, taking with it the glass index; on an increase of temperature the alcohol alone ascends the tube, leaving the end of the index farthest from the bulb indicating the minimum temperature."
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 23.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317463
accession number
230396
catalog number
317463
Mercury-in-glass thermometer designed so that an air bubble separates a small bit of mercury from the main part of the column. When the temperature falls, the detached mercury remains in place indicating the maximum temperature attained, until reset by the observer.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer designed so that an air bubble separates a small bit of mercury from the main part of the column. When the temperature falls, the detached mercury remains in place indicating the maximum temperature attained, until reset by the observer. John Phillips, an English geologist, introduced the form at the 1832 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1856 he showed an improved form made by Louis P. Casella of London.
Appleton's Encyclopaedia noted in 1860 that James Green of New York "appears to have removed the objections to the previous forms of the maximum thermometers, and produced a highly simple and perfect instrument." Henry J. Green, who was James Green's nephew and successor, also made instruments of this sort. This example has a grooved aluminum plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "No. 12701 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MAXIMUM" and is graduated every 5 degrees Centigrade [?] from -25 to +55 degrees. The bulb is spherical. The stem is marked "U.S. 12701" and graduated every degree from -29 to +57.
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 22.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317474
accession number
230396
catalog number
317474
This modification of the Fteley-Stearns meter is marked “BUFF & BERGER / BOSTON” and thus was made between 1871 and 1898. The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals in Lowell, Mass., donated it to the Smithsonian in 1956.This was probably designed by Arthur T.
Description
This modification of the Fteley-Stearns meter is marked “BUFF & BERGER / BOSTON” and thus was made between 1871 and 1898. The Proprietors of the Locks and Canals in Lowell, Mass., donated it to the Smithsonian in 1956.
This was probably designed by Arthur T. Safford, a hydraulic engineer who was associated with the Locks and Canals for over fifty years. Safford’s modification of the Fteley-Stearns meter, available by 1911, had fewer vanes than the original (five rather eight), a larger rotor (5 inches diameter rather than 3.5-inch), and a somewhat heavier frame. This example has six vanes, a 5-inch diameter rotor, and a heavier frame. A paper in the box shows that it was rated in 1911.
Ref: Hector Hughes and Arthur T. Safford, A Treatise on Hydraulics (New York, 1911), pp. 254-257.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), p. 60.
“Arthur T. Safford,” Boston Globe (April 4, 1951), p. 25.
"Arthur Truman Safford," Journal of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers 38-39 (1951).
Hunter Rouse, Hydraulics in the United States, 1776-1976 (Institute of Hydraulic Research).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1871-1898
inventor
Safford, Arthur T.
maker
Buff & Berger
ID Number
PH.314771
accession number
211155
catalog number
314771
Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy metal plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1924." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -85 to +75. The stem is graduated every degree F. from -90 to +110.
Description
Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy metal plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1924." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -85 to +75. The stem is graduated every degree F. from -90 to +110. It was made between 1885 and 1890 when Henry J. Green was in business on his own in New York.
John Rutherford, a Scottish country doctor, devised this form in 1790. Green stated in 1900 that it was "the only one in general use." It has a black index inside the tube. "On a decrease of temperature the alcohol recedes, taking with it the glass index; on an increase of temperature the alcohol alone ascends the tube, leaving the end of the index farthest from the bulb indicating the minimum temperature."
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 23.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317464
accession number
230396
catalog number
317464
Alcohol-in-glass, Rutherford-type thermometer. Its silvered brass plate is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MINIMUM" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -90 to +110.
Description
Alcohol-in-glass, Rutherford-type thermometer. Its silvered brass plate is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MINIMUM" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -90 to +110. The stem has similar graduations.
John Rutherford, a Scottish country doctor, devised this form in 1790. Green stated in 1900 that it was "the only one in general use." It has a black index inside the tube. "On a decrease of temperature the alcohol recedes, taking with it the glass index; on an increase of temperature the alcohol alone ascends the tube, leaving the end of the index farthest from the bulb indicating the minimum temperature."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317459
accession number
230396
catalog number
317459
Mercury-in-glass thermometer mounted on a grooved metal plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN N.Y." and "No. 11065 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and graduated every five degrees Fahrenheit from -25 to +115. The stem is marked "11065" and graduated every degree F.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer mounted on a grooved metal plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN N.Y." and "No. 11065 U.S. WEATHER BUREAU" and graduated every five degrees Fahrenheit from -25 to +115. The stem is marked "11065" and graduated every degree F. from -25 to +120.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1890
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.317455
accession number
230396
catalog number
317455
William Gunn Price of the U.S. Corps of Engineers designed a water current meter in 1882, obtained a patent, and arranged with W. & L. E. Gurley, a large instrument firm in Troy, N.Y., for commercial production.
Description
William Gunn Price of the U.S. Corps of Engineers designed a water current meter in 1882, obtained a patent, and arranged with W. & L. E. Gurley, a large instrument firm in Troy, N.Y., for commercial production. Gurley Precision Instruments offers improved models of Price meters to this day.
This example of Gurley’s “Deep Water and Harbor Meter” has a four-blade rudder and a wheel with five conical buckets. It is 34 inches long overall. A tag on the wheel housing reads “R. R. S. No. 1 / W. G. PRICE / PAT. AUG. 25, 1885 / No. 28 / W. & L. E. GURLEY / TROY, N.Y.” The Mississippi River Commission bought it around 1890 and used it at various points between Rosedale and Vicksburg. The Engineer Office of the U.S. War Department transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1939.
Ref: William Gunn Price, “Current Meter,” U.S. Patent 325,011 (1885).
Arthur H. Frazier, William Gunn Price and the Price Current Meters (Washington, D.C., 1967), p. 50.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 80.
W. & L. E. Gurley, Manual of the Principle Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N.Y., 1893), p. 244.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.311708
accession number
152263
catalog number
311708
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a milk white tube and metal bulb guard.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a milk white tube and metal bulb guard. The supporting metal plate is marked, at top, “TAYLOR BRO’S / ROCHESTER, N.Y.” and graduated from 8 to +120 degrees Fahrenheit, with indications for “FREEZ/ING,” “TEMPE/RATE,” SUMR/HEAT,” and “BLOOD/HEAT.” This is mounted, in turn, on a wood board. It came to the Smithsonian in 1923.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1872-1890
maker
Taylor Brothers
ID Number
PH.308155
catalog number
308155
accession number
70532
This is a direct-reading instrument with a vertical axis and a five-bucket rotor that was said to be particularly suited for use in “the rough torrents, filled with drift of all sorts” found in Western waters.
Description
This is a direct-reading instrument with a vertical axis and a five-bucket rotor that was said to be particularly suited for use in “the rough torrents, filled with drift of all sorts” found in Western waters. Known variously as a Bailey or a Colorado water current meter, it was designed in the late 1880s by Howard Safford Bailey, a draughtsman who worked for the Western Mathematical Instrument Co. in Denver. It resembles the form developed in the early 1880s by Edwin Nettleton, the State Engineer of Colorado.
The U.S. Irrigation Survey, a project of the U.S. Geological Survey, used several meters of this sort. The Geological Survey transferred this example to the Smithsonian in 1908. The frame is nickel-plated.
Ref: J. W. Powell, “Irrigation Survey—Second Annual Report,” in Report of the Secretary of the Interior (Washington, D.C., 1890), vol. 4, part 2, pp. 6-8.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 75-78.
Arthur H. Frazier and Wilbur Heckler, Embudo, New Mexico, Birthplace of Systematic Stream Gauging (Washington, D.C., 1972).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ID Number
PH.248696
accession number
48341
catalog number
248696
Phillips-type mercury-in-glass thermometer attached to a white porcelain plate on a wooden board that is designed to be hung horizontally. The plate is marked "MAXIMUM" and "L. CASELLA, Maker to the Admiralty & Ordnance, LONDON" and "12975" and is graduated every 5 degrees F.
Description
Phillips-type mercury-in-glass thermometer attached to a white porcelain plate on a wooden board that is designed to be hung horizontally. The plate is marked "MAXIMUM" and "L. CASELLA, Maker to the Admiralty & Ordnance, LONDON" and "12975" and is graduated every 5 degrees F. from -25 to +130. The thermometer has a spherical bulb; the back of the stem is milk white; the front of the stem is marked "12975" and is graduated (but not numbered) every degree (presumably Fahrenheit) from -26 to +130. Casella trade literature notes that this thermometer was designed "for registration of temperature in shade," that the thermometer was "engine divided on the stem," and that the "improved" porcelain plate "effectively resisted "frost and all effects of weather."
As in the form described in 1832 by John Phillips, a British geologist, this thermometer has a small air bubble near the top of the mercury column. As the temperature rises, the detached bit of the mercury is pushed up; and this bit remains in place when the temperature falls.
This example was owned by John William Draper or one of his sons, all of whom were accomplished men of science.
Ref: D. J. Warner, "Casella and Phillips' Maximum Thermometers for Meteorology and Medicine," Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society 115 (2012): 36-38.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860-1897
maker
L. P. Casella
ID Number
PH.334276
accession number
304826
catalog number
334276
This is a Rutherford-type minimum thermometer with a bifurcated bulb. The tube scale is graduated every .2 degrees from -50 to +40, and its milk-glass backing is marked "H.
Description
This is a Rutherford-type minimum thermometer with a bifurcated bulb. The tube scale is graduated every .2 degrees from -50 to +40, and its milk-glass backing is marked "H. Geissler in Bonn" and "Centigrade." The whole is enclosed in an outer glass cylinder.
Heinrich Geissler began manufacturing chemical and physical apparatus in Bonn in 1852 and soon acquired a worldwide reputation. Franz Müller joined the firm in 1874 and, after Geissler's death in 1879, did business as Dr. H. Geissler, Nachfolger Franz Müller.
This example came from Western Reserve University, and was probably used by Edward W. Morley, a noted American scientist.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1852-1897
maker
Geissler
ID Number
PH.322607
catalog number
322607
accession number
249272
Alphonse Fteley was a French engineer who came to the United States in 1865 abdm in 1873, took charge of the Sudbury River Waterworks that would bring potable water from the Sudbury River to customers in Boston.
Description
Alphonse Fteley was a French engineer who came to the United States in 1865 abdm in 1873, took charge of the Sudbury River Waterworks that would bring potable water from the Sudbury River to customers in Boston. To gauge the water flow in the Sudbury River, Fteley borrowed a Baumgarten current meter from General Theodore G. Ellis. Then, working with Buff & Berger, a mathematical instrument firm in Boston, Fteley and his assistant, Frederick P. Stearns, devised a meter with a larger rotor, eight blades with a longer pitch, and a different mechanism for the counting wheels.
Buff & Berger was offering Fteley-Stearns direct-reading water current meters by the early 1880s. Following the dissolution of that firm in 1898, instruments of this sort could be had from Buff & Buff and from C. L. Berger & Sons. A Fteley-Stearns meter with ordinary registering apparatus cost $160 in 1899. The same, with an electric register, cost $220.
This example is marked “C. L. Berger & Sons / Boston, U.S.A. / 5969.” The additional “U.S.G.S. / 781 / HYDRO” mark indicates that it was used by the Hydrologic Department of the U.S. Geological Survey. Arthur Frazier donated it to the Smithsonian in 1970.
Ref: Alphonse Fteley and Frederick P. Stearns, “Description of some Experiments on the Flow of Water, made during the Construction of Works for Conveying the Water of Sudbury River to Boston,” Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 12 (1883): 1-118.
Frederick P. Stearns, “On the Current Meter, Together with a Reason Why the Maximum Velocity of the Water Flowing in Open Channels is Below the Surface,” Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 12 (1883): 301-388.
C. L. Berger & Sons, Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers’ and Surveyors’ Instruments (Boston, 1899), pp. 196-199.
“Alphonse Fteley,” Journal of the Association of Engineering Societies 31 (1903): 213-215.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 59-60.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1898
maker
C. L. Berger and Sons
ID Number
PH.330410
accession number
289788
catalog number
330410
This is a small brass instrument, 1¾ inches diameter. The silvered face is marked “R. & J. BECK’S / FARMER’S / BAROMETER / 31 Cornhill / LONDON / 582.” The scale around the circumference of the face reads from 25 to 31 inches of mercury, in fifths of an inch.
Description
This is a small brass instrument, 1¾ inches diameter. The silvered face is marked “R. & J. BECK’S / FARMER’S / BAROMETER / 31 Cornhill / LONDON / 582.” The scale around the circumference of the face reads from 25 to 31 inches of mercury, in fifths of an inch. The back is marked “Signal Service / U.S. Army, / No. 17.” There is also a dark leather case. The U.S. Weather Bureau transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1954.
This was probably made after 1870, when the Signal Service was given charge of the national weather service.
R. & J. Beck was in business, as such, from 1865 to 1895, making and selling microscopes and other optical instruments. Although they sold aneroids, it is unlikely that they made them.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1870-1890
ID Number
PH.314551
accession number
204612
catalog number
314551
William Gunn Price, of the U.S. Engineer Department, designed an exceptionally successful and robust current meter in 1882.
Description
William Gunn Price, of the U.S. Engineer Department, designed an exceptionally successful and robust current meter in 1882. According to his 1885 patent, the aim of the design was “to effectively exclude dirt or gritty matter from the bearings or contact thereof.” This example was probably made in the machine shops of the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1890s. It has a four-blade rudder, and a five-conical bucket wheel mounted on a vertical axis. It is 24 inches long. The wheel support is marked “U.S.G.S. 724 HYDRO.” The Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916.
Ref: William Gunn Price, “Current Meter,” U.S. Patent 325,011 (1885).
Arthur H. Frazier, William Gunn Price and the Price Current Meters (Washington, D.C., 1967), p. 50.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 80-81.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890s
ID Number
PH.289642
accession number
59263
catalog number
289642
The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Central America.
Description
The Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Central America. The idea of a waterway of this sort had been raised many times since Columbus's first voyage to America in 1492, but the discovery of gold in California in 1848, as well as the improvement of various technologies, brought increased urgency to the idea. The French engineers and investors who began to design and dig the Canal in the early 1880s were stopped by disease and lack of funds. Americans completed the project in 1914.
Since the 1720s, surveyors have used telesopic levels to draw level surfaces and to determine the differences in altitude between several points. This example—marked "Balbeck ainé, Bvd Montparnasse, 81. Paris" and "Canal de Panama"— was made for the French team that laid out a Panama Canal in the 1880s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
maker
Balbreck ainé et fils
ID Number
PH.337071
catalog number
337071
accession number
1979.0261
Two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each marked "Alvergniat Freres. 10 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris (Centigrade)." The one with the blackened bulb is also marked "47.171" and "153" and carries a scale that ranges from -26 to +80 degrees.
Description
Two mercury-in-glass thermometers, each marked "Alvergniat Freres. 10 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris (Centigrade)." The one with the blackened bulb is also marked "47.171" and "153" and carries a scale that ranges from -26 to +80 degrees. The one with the silver bulb is also marked "47.172" and "158" and carries a scale that ranges from -22 to +78 degrees.
Alvergniat Frères were precision instrument makers who began in business in Paris in 1858.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1858-1890
maker
/Alvergniat Freres
ID Number
PH.334151
accession number
308253
catalog number
334151
This alidade belonged to Columbia University. Its vertical arc, which extends 35 degrees either way, is graduated to 30 minutes and read by vernier to 2 minutes. The base has a skeletal structure, making it light and stiff. There is a separate striding level and trough compass.
Description
This alidade belonged to Columbia University. Its vertical arc, which extends 35 degrees either way, is graduated to 30 minutes and read by vernier to 2 minutes. The base has a skeletal structure, making it light and stiff. There is a separate striding level and trough compass. The "BUFF & BERGER BOSTON 2157" inscription refers to a firm that traded, as such, from 1871 to 1898.
Ref: Buff & Berger, Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers' and Surveyors' Instruments (Boston, 1890), p. 104b.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1871-1898
maker
Buff & Berger
ID Number
PH.335213
catalog number
335213
accession number
317998
This small brass instrument, 2½ inches diameter, was owned by Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The silvered face is marked "R. & J.
Description
This small brass instrument, 2½ inches diameter, was owned by Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The silvered face is marked "R. & J. Beck / 51 Cornhill / LONDON / 516 / Compensated." The pressure scale around the circumference of the face extends from 15 to 31 inches of mercury. The altitude scale extends from 0 to 18,000 feet. The instrument is stored in a round, red leather case. R. & J. Beck was in business, as such, from 1865 to 1895.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-1895
maker
R. & J. Beck
ID Number
PH.284273
accession number
55865
catalog number
284273
The face of this cylindrical instrument is marked “HOLOSTERIC BAROMETER / COMPENSATED.” The additional circle with the letters “HBPN” was the logo of Naudet & Cie., and probably represents the words: Holosteric Barometer Paul Naudet.
Description
The face of this cylindrical instrument is marked “HOLOSTERIC BAROMETER / COMPENSATED.” The additional circle with the letters “HBPN” was the logo of Naudet & Cie., and probably represents the words: Holosteric Barometer Paul Naudet. The firm was founded in Paris in 1860 by Paul Naudet, and used the term Holosteric to mean “without liquid." The scale around the edge of the silvered metallic dial extends from 28 to 31 inches of mercury and is graduated to hundredths of an inch. A blued needle indicates the present pressure; a brass needle indicates a previous observation.
The “U.S. Signal Service – 1101” inscription on the back of the case refers to the organization that became responsible for America’s national weather service in 1870. The U.S. Weather Bureau transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1904.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1870-1890
maker
Naudet & Cie.
ID Number
PH.230002
accession number
42625
catalog number
PH*230002
230002
This small instrument, the size of a pocket watch, was probably made for the French market. The inscription on the silvered face reads “L.
Description
This small instrument, the size of a pocket watch, was probably made for the French market. The inscription on the silvered face reads “L. Casella / Maker to the Admiralty / & Ordnance / LONDON / Compensated / 2311.” The outer scale around the edge of the face indicates altitude in “Mètres.” The inner scale indicates pressure from 63 to 70 centimeters of mercury, subdivided to half millimeters; another scale indicates altitudes from 300 feet below sea level to 15,000 feet above. A curved thermometer reads from -12 to +55 degrees centigrade. There is also a leather carrying case.
Ref.: L. Casella, Improved Aneroid Barometers (London, 188?).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-1897
maker
L. P. Casella
ID Number
PH.326964
accession number
264006
catalog number
326964
After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, General Theodore Grenville Ellis resumed work as an engineer in Hartford, Conn. In 1867 he was placed in charge of the U.S. Corps of Engineers navigation-improvement study of the Connecticut River.
Description
After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, General Theodore Grenville Ellis resumed work as an engineer in Hartford, Conn. In 1867 he was placed in charge of the U.S. Corps of Engineers navigation-improvement study of the Connecticut River. For that task, in 1874, he built a current meter with four revolving cups and a four-blade rudder. This was similar to, but smaller than, the current meter designed by Daniel F. Henry.
This example is a slightly improved version of Ellis’ original meter. The U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916. The “Buff & Berger, Boston, 2154” inscription refers to a firm that was in business from 1871 to 1898.
Ref: Buff & Berger, Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers’ and Surveyors Instruments (Boston, 1890), pp. 61-62 and 135-137.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 62-63 and 74-75.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1874-1898
maker
Buff & Berger
ID Number
PH.289637
accession number
59263
catalog number
289637
William Edson, a civil engineer in Boston, designed a "Hygrometrical Index" that, when connected to a common wet and dry bulb hydrometer, "will enable any one, by simple inspection of the instrument, to ascertain the relative humidity and dew-point of the air, also the absolute a
Description
William Edson, a civil engineer in Boston, designed a "Hygrometrical Index" that, when connected to a common wet and dry bulb hydrometer, "will enable any one, by simple inspection of the instrument, to ascertain the relative humidity and dew-point of the air, also the absolute amount of moisture in the air, without the aid of tables or calculation." In this example, which came from Cornell College, the paper chart is marked "EDSON'S HYGRODEIK MANUFACTURED BY N.M. LOWE, BOSTON." Nathaniel M. Lowe is known to have manufactured Edson's Hygrodeik from 1866 until the early 1890s.
Ref: William Edson, "Hydrometer," U.S. Patent 48620 (1865), as well as similar patents in England and France.
William Edson, The Use of Edson's Hygrodeik (1865).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1866-1895
maker
Lowe, Nathaniel M.
ID Number
PH.329004
catalog number
329004
accession number
278100
William Gunn Price, of the U.S. Engineer Department, designed an exceptionally successful water current meter in 1882, obtained a patent, and asked W. & L. E. Gurley, a large mathematical instrument firm in Troy, New York, to undertake commercial production.
Description
William Gunn Price, of the U.S. Engineer Department, designed an exceptionally successful water current meter in 1882, obtained a patent, and asked W. & L. E. Gurley, a large mathematical instrument firm in Troy, New York, to undertake commercial production. Building on suggestions made by hydrographers who used these early instruments, Edwin Geary Paul, a mechanic with the U.S. Geological Survey, designed what would be known as the Small Price Current Meter.
This example, the first production model of that successful design, is marked “W. & L. E. GURLEY, TROY, N.Y. / PATENTED AUG. 25, 1885 / NO. 1.” The “U.S.G.S. 91” inscription means that it was the ninety-first current meter owned by the Geological Survey. Geological Survey documents record its purchase in December 1896. It is 12 inches long, and has a stationary single blade rudder, a wheel with six conical buckets, and electrical contacts. The Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916
Ref: William Gunn Price, “Current Meter,” U.S. Patent 325011 (1885).
Arthur H. Frazier, William Gunn Price and the Price Current Meters (Washington, D.C., 1967), p. 58.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 84.
W. & L. E. Gurley, A Manual of the Principal Instruments Used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N.Y., 1905), pp. 211-220.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1896
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.289643
accession number
59263
catalog number
289643

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