Measuring & Mapping

Vernier Compass

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.

Date: 1900s

Thermometer

Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a milk white tube. The supporting brass plate reads, at top, “WILLIAMS, BROWN / & EARLE / PHILADELPHIA, PA.” and at bottom “Chas. Wilder Co.
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a milk white tube. The supporting brass plate reads, at top, “WILLIAMS, BROWN / & EARLE / PHILADELPHIA, PA.” and at bottom “Chas. Wilder Co. / Troy, N.Y.” It is graduated from -32 to +120 degrees, with indications for “FREEZ/ING,” “TEMPE/RATE,” “SUMR/HEAT,” and “BLOOD/HEAT.” Williams, Brown & Earle manufactured and marketed mathematical and optical instruments. The Chas. Wilder Co., which had long been manufacturing thermometers in New Hampshire, was acquired by W. & L. E. Gurley in 1905 and moved to Troy, New York.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1905
ID Number
PH.293320.3075
accession number
293320
catalog number
293320.3075

Shelf Calendar Clock

This is an example of an Ithaca Calendar Clock model called “3 ½ Parlor” from the mid 1870s. Its walnut case has ebonized decorative elements.
Description
This is an example of an Ithaca Calendar Clock model called “3 ½ Parlor” from the mid 1870s. Its walnut case has ebonized decorative elements. The black upper dial shows the time in white Roman numerals, with winding arbors at IIII and VIII for the brass eight-day time-and-strike spring-driven movement behind the dial. Lower clear glass has reverse-painted white Arabic numerals for date of the month. Metal calendar apparatus visible inside case, where rotating wheels show weekday and month.
The Ithaca Calendar Clock Co., established in Ithaca, N.Y., about 1865, made clocks based on the automatic perpetual calendar mechanism patented by Henry Bishop Horton in 1865 and 1866 (see patent 57,510).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1875
ca 1875-1900
maker
Ithaca Calendar Clock Company
ID Number
ME.328555
catalog number
328555
accession number
272366

Lady's Pocket Watch

This tiny watch, with a movement made by the American Watch Company, Waltham, Mass., was the gift of Philip Cadmus to his fiancée Augusta Francis Stipp in 1906, shortly before their marriage.Cadmus, a watchmaker, had his photo applied to the dial.
Description
This tiny watch, with a movement made by the American Watch Company, Waltham, Mass., was the gift of Philip Cadmus to his fiancée Augusta Francis Stipp in 1906, shortly before their marriage.
Cadmus, a watchmaker, had his photo applied to the dial. The gold case, engraved with the monogram “A.F.S.”, is the hunter style, with a cover over the dial of the watch and the winding stem positioned at three on the dial. The movement is serial number 11647977. Preserved with the watch are its protective cloth sack and velvet-covered presentation box.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1906
maker
Waltham Watch Company
ID Number
1981.0691.01
catalog number
1981.0691.01
accession number
1981.0691
maker number
735

Hall Water Current Meter

While serving as California’s first State Engineer, William Hammond Hall created the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and worked on a comprehensive water supply and flood control system for the Sacramento Valley.
Description
While serving as California’s first State Engineer, William Hammond Hall created the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and worked on a comprehensive water supply and flood control system for the Sacramento Valley. For this latter purpose he designed an electric water current meter similar to that developed E. E. Haskell at the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey. This example of Hall's meter is 17 inches long, has two flukes, one on each side of the central axis, and is equipped for a cable suspension. It was probably used in the U.S. Irrigation Survey, a project of the U.S. Geological Survey begun in the late 1880s. The Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916.
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, p. 10.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 63-64.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
PH.289640
accession number
59263
catalog number
289640

Odometer

Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This pendulum odometer is one of those instruments. The inscription under the dial reads “JULIEN P.
Description
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This pendulum odometer is one of those instruments. The inscription under the dial reads “JULIEN P. FRIEZ, BALTIMORE, MD. U.S.A.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
ID Number
PH.247961
accession number
47736
catalog number
247961

Lady's Lapel Watch

For most of the nineteenth century, women had worn watches hung from long chains around the neck, but by the end of the century styles changed. Fashion magazines advocated a variety of timepieces for women who could afford luxuries.
Description
For most of the nineteenth century, women had worn watches hung from long chains around the neck, but by the end of the century styles changed. Fashion magazines advocated a variety of timepieces for women who could afford luxuries. A well-to-do woman might own a very special bracelet containing a watch or a watch set in a ring. More common were watches designed to pin at her waist or, like this one made in Switzerland about 1900, on her lapel.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901
ID Number
ME.315969
catalog number
315969
accession number
224781

Aneroid Barometer

This pocket aneroid barometer is 2 inches diameter. The inscription on the face reads: “COMPENSATED / TEMP ALT. SCALE / 50° FAHT / J. H.
Description
This pocket aneroid barometer is 2 inches diameter. The inscription on the face reads: “COMPENSATED / TEMP ALT. SCALE / 50° FAHT / J. H. STEWARD LTD / 406, STRAND / 457, WEST STRAND / LONDON / 6191.” The circumference of the face is graduated for altitude, from -10 to +1500 feet. An inner circle is graduated from 17.5 to 31 inches of mercury. A paper label in the lid of the leather case provides a correction to be applied to the altitude scale for mean air temperature above or below 50° Fahrenheit.
James Henry Steward opened an optical instrument shop at 406 Strand in 1857, a second shop at 457 West Strand in 1886, and a third shop at 7 Gracechurch St. in 1893. While Steward sold this instrument, he probably did not make it.
This was used by the Washington born intaglio artist Benson Bond Moore. The Archives of American Art transferred it to the National Museum of American History.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
J. H. Steward. Ltd.
ID Number
1999.0007.01
catalog number
1999.0007.01
accession number
1999.0007

Thermometer

This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a cylindrical bulb. A milk white plate carries a scale that ranges from -20 to +360 degrees Centigrade graduated every degree. The back of the plate is marked “72.” The thermometer tube is joined to the plate only at the top.
Description
This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a cylindrical bulb. A milk white plate carries a scale that ranges from -20 to +360 degrees Centigrade graduated every degree. The back of the plate is marked “72.” The thermometer tube is joined to the plate only at the top. The whole is enclosed in a glass tube. It came from the Chemistry Department at the Johns Hopkins University.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
CH.315872
catalog number
315872
accession number
221777

Octant

Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory name plate. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -3° to +109°, and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The inscription reads "W.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory name plate. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -3° to +109°, and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The inscription reads "W. DESILVA* LIVERPOOL."
The original wooden box (now lost) had a trade label that read "William Desilva, 78 Regent Road opposite the Bramley-Moore Hotel, Liverpool." Desilva was in business from 1851 to 1881, offering optical and nautical instruments.
The Smithsonian bought this octant in 1903 from Elias Heidenheimer (1833-1926), a German Jew who emigrated to the United in 1859, and worked as jeweler and pawnbroker in Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Va.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 19th century
maker
Desilva, William
ID Number
PH.220176
catalog number
220176
accession number
41038

Non-ductile Tungsten Lamp

Thomas Edison and others considered element number 6, carbon, ideal for lamp filaments in part because it has the highest melting point of any element. Element number 74, tungsten, has the next highest melting point but it then existed only as a powder.
Description
Thomas Edison and others considered element number 6, carbon, ideal for lamp filaments in part because it has the highest melting point of any element. Element number 74, tungsten, has the next highest melting point but it then existed only as a powder. Attempts to make it into a workable form failed until early in the 1900s when a burst of invention occurred in Europe. A pressing technique called "sintering" (squeezing a material into a dense mass) was adopted by several inventors.
The most commercially successful design proved to be that of Dr. Alexander Just and Franz Hanaman of Austria. Their work on sintering tungsten was based on a prior sintering process developed by Carl Auer von Welsbach for his filament made of osmium. Just and Hanaman made a tungsten and organic paste, squirted it through a die, baked out the organic material, then sintered the tungsten in a mix of gasses. The resulting filament gave about 8 lumens per watt and lasted 800 hours.
Another Austrian, Dr. Hans Kutzel, used an electric arc to make a tungsten and water paste. He then pressed, baked, and sintered the tungsten in a manner similar to Just and Hanaman's procedure. Yet another pair of Austrians, Fritz Blau and Hermann Remane, adapted the osmium lamp process (they worked for Welsbach) by making a filament from an osmium and tungsten mix. They soon changed their "Osram" lamp filament to tungsten only. (The German word for tungsten is wolfram.)
All three filaments were brittle and collectively known as "non-ductile" filaments. Individual filaments could not be made long enough to give the proper electrical resistance, so lamps needed several filaments connected end-to-end. U.S. companies quickly licensed rights to all of the non-ductile patents. This particular lamp was made under license by General Electric and sent to the National Bureau of Standards for use as a standard lamp.
Lamp characteristics: Medium-screw base with glass insulator. Five single-arch tungsten filaments (in series) with 5 upper and 8 lower support hooks. The stem assembly features soldered connectors, Siemens-type press seal, and a cotton insulator. Tipped, straight-sided envelope with taper at neck.
Date made
ca 1908
date made
ca. 1908
maker
General Electric
ID Number
1992.0342.16
catalog number
1992.0342.16
accession number
1992.0342

Price Water Current Meter

William Gunn Price, of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, designed an exceptionally successful current meter in 1882, obtained a patent, and asked W. & L. E. Gurley, a large mathematical instrument firm in Troy, N.Y., to undertake commercial production.
Description
William Gunn Price, of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, designed an exceptionally successful current meter in 1882, obtained a patent, and asked W. & L. E. Gurley, a large mathematical instrument firm in Troy, N.Y., to undertake commercial production. Following suggestions made by hydrographers who worked with Price’s early meters, Edwin Geary Paul, a mechanic with the U.S. Geological Survey, designed what became known as the Small Price Current Meter. This example, marked “U.S.G.S.,” is a further stage in that development. It is 14.5 inches long. It has a four-blade rudder, and a wheel with six conical buckets. 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. 59.
Arthur H. Frazier, Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 78-87.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
PH.289644
accession number
59263
catalog number
289644

Wray Pump & Register Co. ruler

An advertising novelty for Wray Pump & Register Co., and their selling agent, Brandenburg & Co. It unfolds like a carpenter's rule and has advertising and useful data on engines and tire pressure printed on both sides.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
An advertising novelty for Wray Pump & Register Co., and their selling agent, Brandenburg & Co. It unfolds like a carpenter's rule and has advertising and useful data on engines and tire pressure printed on both sides.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1905
maker
Bastian Brothers Company
ID Number
2006.0098.1103
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.1103

Aneroid Barometer

Brass instrument, 3¼ inches diameter, with silvered dial marked “Improved Altitude Scale / Surveying Aneroid / Compensated” and “GEORGE E.
Description
Brass instrument, 3¼ inches diameter, with silvered dial marked “Improved Altitude Scale / Surveying Aneroid / Compensated” and “GEORGE E. BUTLER / SAN FRANCISCO” and “MADE IN ENGLAND” and “IMPD PAT / NO 7318.” The back of the case is marked “TRADE MARK LONDON.” There is also a leather case with strap.
The circumference of the face has three scales reading from 0 to 15000 feet: one in 25 foot increments, one in 50 foot increments, and one in 100 foot increments. A pressure scale reads from 18 to 31 inches of mercury. A smaller scale at the bottom of the face reads the temperature from 30 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
This instrument is based on a British patent for “An Improvement in Metallic Thermometers and Barometers” that was issued to Thomas Wheeler, of London, in 1894. It may have been made by F. Barker & Son, a London firm that that is known to have produced compasses and aneroid barometers. It was sold by George E. Butler, a jeweler in San Francisco in the early 20th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
ID Number
PH.335617
catalog number
335617
accession number
1977.0058

Course Indicator

The inscription on this instrument reads "BAIN & AINSLEY’S ‘HA-HY’ COURSE CORRECTOR PAT. NO 2345 SOLD BY A. DOBBIE & SON LTD GLASGOW & SO SHIELDS." A label in the box reads "Thos. L. Ainsley, James Street, Cardiff. HEATH & COY., Limited, Crawford, Kent." A tag reads "H.M.S.
Description
The inscription on this instrument reads "BAIN & AINSLEY’S ‘HA-HY’ COURSE CORRECTOR PAT. NO 2345 SOLD BY A. DOBBIE & SON LTD GLASGOW & SO SHIELDS." A label in the box reads "Thos. L. Ainsley, James Street, Cardiff. HEATH & COY., Limited, Crawford, Kent." A tag reads "H.M.S. ADMIRALTY SERVICE."
A. Dobbie & Son, Ltd., were in business from 1896 to 1903, offering chronometers and other instruments for nautical use.
Ref: Ref: “Bain & Ainsley’s ‘HA-HY’ Course Corrector,” The Marine Engineer (May 1, 1895): 62.
T. N. Clarke, A. D. Morrison-Low, and A. D. C. Simpson, Brass & Glass. Scientific Instrument Making Workshops in Scotland (National Museums of Scotland, 1989), pp. 228-234.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Dobie, James
ID Number
PH.337211
catalog number
337211
accession number
1979.0825

Odometer

Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907.
Description
Established in 1879, the U.S. Geological Survey tested distance measurers to see which best suited their purposes. Those that failed muster were sent to the Smithsonian in 1907. This bell odometer—so-called because a bell rings for every revolution of the wheel—is one of those instruments. The “S. H. DAVIS & CO. / BOSTON, MASS. U.S.A.” inscription on the dial refers to a hardware store that advertised this type of instrument.
The form came on the market in 1893. Originally made for horse-drawn vehicles, it was later adapted for automobiles. The Bell Odometer Works began in Washington, D.C., and later moved to Oakmont, Pa.
Ref: “The Improved Bell Odometer,” Scientific American 72 (1895): 405.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
around 1900
maker
Bell Odometer Works
ID Number
PH.247959
catalog number
247959
accession number
47736

Navigational Track Chart for the German Nitrate Barque Prompt, 1906

By the mid-1870s, the Pacific guano trade had mined all the available bird guano from the South American and remote Pacific Ocean islands.
Description
By the mid-1870s, the Pacific guano trade had mined all the available bird guano from the South American and remote Pacific Ocean islands. Fortunately for international agricultural interests, nitrate and phosphate mines had recently been discovered inland in Peru and Chile to fill the gap, and big sailing ships from Europe and the United States exchanged the avian excrement for chemicals that could be mined and blended for fertilizers and other products.
This track chart measured daily progress for the German steel-hulled sailing barque Prompt on a nitrate voyage from Hamburg, Germany to Valparaiso, Chile in 1906. The three-masted Prompt was built by the German shipbuilders Blohm & Voss at Hamburg, Germany for the Flying P line of nitrate clippers in 1887, and measured 238 ft. 8 in. in length and 1,445 tons. Prompt set a record of 65 days from Isle of Wight to Valparaiso in 1892 and was sold to Finnish owners in 1908.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1906
ID Number
1999.3004.01
catalog number
1999.3004.01
nonaccession number
1999.3004

Aneroid Barometer

This is a brass instrument, 4¼ inches diameter and 2 inches deep. It can lie flat or, stand erect on two little legs. The face is white, with a hole in the center to reveal the mechanism.
Description
This is a brass instrument, 4¼ inches diameter and 2 inches deep. It can lie flat or, stand erect on two little legs. The face is white, with a hole in the center to reveal the mechanism. The circumference of the face is marked “Baromètre Anéroïde” with French words for the various weather conditions. The pressure scale extends from 69 to 80 centimeters of mercury, read to millimeters.
This came to the Smithsonian in 1910, a transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior. It had probably been collected by the short-lived federal Bureau of Education.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
PH.261257
accession number
51116
catalog number
261257

Surveyor's Vernier Compass

This surveyor's compass marked "Mahn & Co. St. Louis, Mo." dates from the period 1891-1906 when Herman Mahn was trading as such. It has a variation arc on the south arm that extends 24 degrees either way.
Description
This surveyor's compass marked "Mahn & Co. St. Louis, Mo." dates from the period 1891-1906 when Herman Mahn was trading as such. It has a variation arc on the south arm that extends 24 degrees either way. The vernier is moved by a tangent screw on the south arm, and reads to 2 minutes. An outkeeper is on the south arm, and two level vials are on the north arm.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1891-1906
maker
Mahn, Herman
ID Number
PH.333650
catalog number
333650
accession number
300659

Thermometer

Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a milk-white back, held in a cylindrical brass housing. The scale reads from 20 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit and from -6 to +87 degrees Reaumur. It was probably made by Hohmann & Maurer, and it came to the Smithsonian in 1923.Currently not on view
Description
Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a milk-white back, held in a cylindrical brass housing. The scale reads from 20 to 220 degrees Fahrenheit and from -6 to +87 degrees Reaumur. It was probably made by Hohmann & Maurer, and it came to the Smithsonian in 1923.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1885-1908
ID Number
PH.308159
catalog number
308159
accession number
70532

Metric Weights

In the late eighteenth century, French scientists introduced a new system of weights and measures known as the metric system. Units of length, volume and mass were interrelated. A cube 10 centimeters on a side (1000 cubic centimeters) was defined to have a volume of one liter.
Description
In the late eighteenth century, French scientists introduced a new system of weights and measures known as the metric system. Units of length, volume and mass were interrelated. A cube 10 centimeters on a side (1000 cubic centimeters) was defined to have a volume of one liter. The weight of one liter of pure water was called a kilogram.
These eleven brass cylinders have weights ranging from two grams to 1000 grams, or one kilogram. They are stamped in French with their weight – 2 GRAM, 5 GRAM, 10 GRAM (2 weights), 20 GRAM, 50 GRAM, 100 GRAMMES (2 weights), 200 GRAMMES, 500 GRAMMES, 1 KILOGRAMME. Each weight has a knob at the top for lifting. The weights have no maker’s mark.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1800-1900
ID Number
CH.314663
catalog number
314663
accession number
208323

Maximum Thermometer

This thermometer is so designed that an air bubble separates a small amount of mercury from the main part of the column.
Description
This thermometer is so designed that an air bubble separates a small amount of mercury from the main part of the column. When the instrument is mounted horizontally, the detached mercury remains in place when the rest of the column falls, thereby indicating the maximum temperature. 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. 9746 U. S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MAXIMUM." The plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -20 to +125. The bulb is spherical. The stem is marked "U.S. 9746" and is graduated every degree F. from -22 to +126. It was made between 1890 (when H. J. Green moved his business to Brooklyn) and 1904 (when it came to the Smithsonian).
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 22.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.230005
catalog number
230005
accession number
42625

Octant

Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory name plate. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -3° to +100° and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and ivory name plate. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -3° to +100° and read by vernier with tangent screw to single minutes of arc. There is a telescopic sight, four shades for the index mirror, and three shades for the horizon glass. The inscription reads "SPENCER & CO LONDON." The radius is about 11 inches. The U.S. Navy transferred this to the Smithsonian in 1930.
Ref: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1895), p. 83.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 19th century
maker
Spencer & Co.
ID Number
PH.309887
catalog number
309887
accession number
110828

Navigational Track Chart for the German Nitrate Ships Pitlochry and Preussen, 1909

By the mid-1870s, the Pacific guano trade had mined all the available bird guano from the South American and remote Pacific Ocean islands.
Description
By the mid-1870s, the Pacific guano trade had mined all the available bird guano from the South American and remote Pacific Ocean islands. Fortunately for international agricultural interests, nitrate and phosphate mines had recently been discovered inland in Peru and Chile to fill the gap, and big sailing ships from Europe and the United States exchanged the avian excrement for chemicals that could be mined and blended for synthetic fertilizers and other products.
The German four-masted steel barque Pitlochry was built in Scotland in 1894 for the Flying P Line of nitrate clippers and was one of the fastest of the line. It measured 319 ft. 5 in. in length and 3,111 tons (gross) and set a speed record in 1902 on a nitrate voyage to Valparaiso. In 1905 it was partly dismasted on a trip around Cape Horn. This track chart measured daily progress for Pitlochry from Hamburg, Germany to "The West Coast" (South America) on a 1908 nitrate voyage that took only 72 days. In 1913 Pitlochry sank in the English Channel after a collision with a British steamship.
The Flying P Liner Preussen was the only five-masted full-rigged ship in the world until 2000. Built at Geestemunde, Germany in 1902, it measured 482 ft. long and 5,081 tons (gross). Each of the ship's five masts had six square sails stacked atop one another. The 45-man crew sailed the ship as fast as 20 knots, and it set several speed records during her dozen round trips from Germany to Chile. In 1910, Preussen was rammed by a British steamship in the English Channel. The giant ship drifted onto the rocks off the English coast and sank.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1909
ID Number
1999.3004.05
catalog number
1999.3004.05
nonaccession number
1999.3004

Minimum Thermometer

This alcohol-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer is mounted on a silvered brass plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "NO. 7390 U. S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MINIMUM" and graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -35 to +105. The stem is graduated every degree F.
Description
This alcohol-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer is mounted on a silvered brass plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "NO. 7390 U. S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MINIMUM" and graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -35 to +105. The stem is graduated every degree F. from -39 to +117. The thermometer was made between 1890 (when H. J. Green moved his business to Brooklyn) and 1904 (when it came to the Smithsonian).
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
ca 1900
maker
H. J. Green
ID Number
PH.230006
catalog number
230006
accession number
42625

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