Measuring & Mapping - Overview
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.
"Measuring & Mapping - Overview" showing 13 items.
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- No Image Available
Hersey H.F. Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc meter made by the Hersey Manufacturing Company in Boston, Mass. Hersey introduced the form in 1919, and described it as a “positive displacement meter of the nutating type” that was “adapted for use on all services where extreme accuracy, reliability and durability are required and where general efficiency rather than first cost is of prime importance.” The serial number (1,669,637) on this example dates from 1936. The case has been partially cut away to show the mechanism.
- Ref: Hersey Disc Water Meter. Model H.F. Meter (July 1, 1926).
- date made
- 1936
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*319448
- accession number
- 238754
- catalog number
- 319448
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey CT Water Meter
- Description
- This is a compound meter that joins a torrent meter, Model T, and a disc meter, Model FF. The Hersey Manufacturing Company introduced the form in 1914, and later described it as “a special meter in which Current and Positive Displacements Meters are combined with an Automatic Differential Valve for the purpose of accurately measuring a larger range of flow than can be accomplished by either meter separately.” The torrent meter in this example has a capacity of 160 gallons per minute; the disc meter has a capacity of 20 gallons per minute. The serial number (1,325,762) dates from 1928.
- Ref: Hersey Manufacturing Company, Hersey Compound Water Meter (July 1, 1926).
- date made
- ca 1928
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325842
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325842
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey H.D. Water Meter
- Description
- The Hersey Manufacturing Company introduced this form in 1919, and described it in as a “positive displacement meter of the nutating type” that was “adapted for use on all services where extreme accuracy, reliability and durability are required and where general efficiency rather than first cost is of prime importance.” This example—a ⅝” meter with a capacity of 20 gallons per minute—is the smallest of several sizes made. The serial number (1,218,942) dates from 1926 but the flange is marked “10-20-27.”
- Ref. Hersey Manufacturing Company, Hersey Disc Water Meter. Model H.D. Meter (July 1, 1926)
- date made
- 1926-1927
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325843
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325843
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey H.F. Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc meter of the sort that the Hersey Manufacturing Company introduced in 1919. Hersey described it as a “positive displacement meter of the nutating type” that was “adapted for use on all services where extreme accuracy, reliability and durability are required and where general efficiency rather than first cost is of prime importance.” This example—a ⅝” meter with a capacity of 20 gallons per minute—was the smallest of three sizes made. The serial number (864,882) dates from 1920.
- Ref: Hersey Manufacturing Company, Hersey Disc Water Meter. Model H.F. Meter (July 1, 1926).
- date made
- 1920
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325844
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325844
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey F. Water Meter
- Description
- The Hersey Manufacturing Company introduced this type of disc meter in 1901. The firm described it as a “positive displacement meter of the nutating type” that was compact, accessible, able “to do a large amount of service at the lowest possible cost, and “adapted for use on all services where accuracy, reliability and durability are required.” This example—a ⅝” meter with a capacity of 20 gallons per minute—was the smallest of several sizes made. The serial number (321,930) dates from 1908.
- Ref: Hersey Manufacturing Company, Hersey Disc Water Meter. Model F Meter (July 1, 1926).
- date made
- 1908
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325846
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325846
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Hersey F.F. Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter made by the Hersey Manufacturing Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Its copper-lined cast iron bottom was designed to break under pressure, thus preventing damage to the working parts. With a capacity of 20 gallons per minute, it was the smallest of several sizes made. The serial number (829,403) dates from 1920.
- Ref: Hersey Manufacturing Company, Hersey Water Meters (1917), pp. 4-7.
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- Hersey Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- PH*325848
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325848
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
King Model B Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with a split case and serial number 314,974 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the Union Water Meter Company. Union introduced this meter in 1916, noting that it was “of the positive measuring, self draining type, combining strength, simplicity, long service and accuracy under varying service conditions.” The firm was established in Worcester, Massachusett, in 1868, and folded in the mid-1930s.
- Ref: Union Water Meters, Price List No. 52 (Worcester, 1922), p. 6. .
- date made
- ca 1916-ca 1935
- maker
- Union Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH*325852
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325852
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
King Model Two Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with split case and serial number 188,916 that fit a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the Union Water Meter Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. Union introduced the King meter in 1905, and was soon boasting that its construction “presents no experimental devices of undetermined value, but is a sound, simple and sensible embodiment of features which the unfailing test of time as qualified for existence.” Union went on to say that “All internal moving parts are assembled in a single working unit, readily accessible for inspection without removing the meter from the service-pipe.” “Extensive investigation and experiment have proved conclusively that the solid, flat, hard-rubber disk is the most economical and satisfactory.” It also called attention to “hard-rubber gears and bronze pinions.”
- Ref: Union Water Meter Co., The King Disk Meter, Catalogue No. 46 (Worcester, 1907).
- date made
- ca 1905-ca 1935
- maker
- Union Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH*325853
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325853
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
King Model A Water Meter
- Description
- This is a disc water meter with split case that fit a a ⅝” pipe, and that was made by the Union Water Meter Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. The serial number has been obliterated. The firm was founded in 1868, introduced the King meter in 1905. and folded in the mid-1930s.
- date made
- ca 1905-ca 1935
- maker
- Union Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH*325854
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325854
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
Union Rotary Piston Water Meter
- Description
- The Union Water Meter Company was established in 1868, by Phinehas Ball, a hydraulic engineer who had worked on the design and construction of the Worcester Water Works, and a local mechanic named Benejah Fitts. Its initial aim was manufacturing the reciprocating meters designed by Ball and Fitts. The firm was reorganized in 1875, prospered for many years, and folded in the mid-1930s.
- After bringing his first meter to market, Fitts began working on a meter with a set of pistons that rotated into and out of the stream of water. Judges at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association fair of 1874 noted that the rotary-piston form had been in operation for about two years and, being less expensive than the reciprocating-piston, as well as simpler in construction and less liable to get out of order, was "fast taking the lead in the market." Of the six rotary-piston meters on display, Union’s example was deemed the best and was awarded a silver medal. Union showed both forms at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and must have been pleased when the judges found that both had "great merit" and "gave very satisfactory results under pressures varying from five to eighty pounds." By 1890, Union had made and sold some 31,000 meters. Most were of the rotary form, and most were used on hydraulic elevators and locomotive stand pipes.
- This is a rotary-piston meter made by the Union Water Meter Company in Worcester, Massachusetts. It fits a ⅝” pipe, carries serial number 155,010, and probably dates from around 1920.
- Ref: Union Water Meter Company, Price List No. 52 (Worcester, 1922), p. 15.
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- Union Water Meter Company
- ID Number
- PH*325886
- accession number
- 245003
- catalog number
- 325886
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center