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.

Place: New York

Thermometer

Simple mercury-in-glass thermometer with a brass scale housed in a maple case suitable for hanging on the wall. The scale is graduated in degrees from -40 to +150. and marked "C.J. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. Bklyn. N.Y. Made in U.S.A."Currently not on view
Description
Simple mercury-in-glass thermometer with a brass scale housed in a maple case suitable for hanging on the wall. The scale is graduated in degrees from -40 to +150. and marked "C.J. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. Bklyn. N.Y. Made in U.S.A."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1885
maker
C. J. Tagliabue Manufacturing Company
ID Number
PH.335521
catalog number
335521
accession number
321714

Saybolt Viscosimeter

The viscosimeter began as a scientific instrument for laboratory use in the 1830s. In time, due to increased industrial production, demand for quality control, and use of mineral-based oils, it gained real-world importance.
Description
The viscosimeter began as a scientific instrument for laboratory use in the 1830s. In time, due to increased industrial production, demand for quality control, and use of mineral-based oils, it gained real-world importance. The favored form for petroleum products measured the time it took for a certain volume of fluid to empty out of a container. The standard American design was developed by George M. Saybolt, unveiled in the 1880s, and manufactured by the C. J. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. for the Standard Oil Company in New York. It resembled the viscosimeters designed by Boverton Redwood in Great Britain and by Karl Engler in Germany.
Tagliabue brought the basic Saybolt viscosimeter to the open market in 1905. An improved form adapted for steam, gas, or electric heating, appeared in 1914. It cost $82 with a stopwatch, and $75 without. Following Saybolt’s death in 1924, the New York Times implied that the viscosimeter was largely responsible for his $100,000 estate.
This example is marked: “The SAYBOLT Standard / UNIVERSAL VISCOSIMETER / C. H. Tagliabue Mfg. Co. / New York / Sole Sales Agents” and “C. J. TAGLIABUE MFG. CO. N.Y.” and “2880” and “PATENT PENDING” and “2880 STANDARD UNIVERSAL VISCOSIMETER, GEO. M. SAYBOLT, NEW YORK”. It was made after Saybolt applied for a patent in 1914, and before the patent was issued in 1915. The U.S. Military Academy donated it to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1914-1915
maker
C.J. Tagliabue Manufacturing Company
ID Number
CH.316411
catalog number
316411
accession number
223721

Octant

Octant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The brass scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +100° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc.
Description
Octant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The brass scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +100° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The "Richard Patten New York" inscription refers to Richard Patten (1792-1865), an instrument maker who began in business in New York City in 1813 and was soon the proprietor of a Navigation Warehouse. By 1820 he was advertising that he was a "manufacturer of mathematical instruments . . . equal to any in the City of London." Elsewhere he claimed to be the "only manufacturer of Sextans [sic] and Quadrants in New York," and that "All instruments in the above line [are] made to order & warranted, being divided on an engine after the Plan of Ramsden’s."
Ref: Deborah J. Warner, "Richard Patten (1792-1865)," Rittenhouse 6 (1989): 57-63.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Patten, Richard
ID Number
1993.0187.01
catalog number
1993.0187.01
accession number
1993.0187

Pendulum Quadrant

This is the model that Robert Norris and Frederick Peters, both of New York City, submitted with their application for a patent for an instrument for taking latitudes at sea.
Description
This is the model that Robert Norris and Frederick Peters, both of New York City, submitted with their application for a patent for an instrument for taking latitudes at sea. Little is known of either man, and there is no record of their invention having been put to use.
Ref: Robert Norris and Frederick Peters, “Pendulum Quadrant,” U.S. Patent #18701 (1857).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1857
ID Number
PH.309356
catalog number
309356
accession number
89797
patent number
18,701

Wye Level

Although the Gurley firm did not begin using serial numbers until 1908, its level makers began stamping a serial number on the bottom of each baseplate in 1900. This level is stamped 2478, and is marked "W. & L. E.
Description
Although the Gurley firm did not begin using serial numbers until 1908, its level makers began stamping a serial number on the bottom of each baseplate in 1900. This level is stamped 2478, and is marked "W. & L. E. GURLEY, TROY, N.Y." Company records reveal that it is one off four identical levels that Gurley made for New York University in 1906. New, with tripod, it cost $110. The Bronx Community College, which had taken possession of the Bronx campus of New York University, donated it to the Smithsonian.
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, Manual of the Principal Instruments used in American Engineering and Surveying (Troy, N.Y. 1905), pp. 152–166.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.335222
accession number
314672
catalog number
335222

Price Water Current Meter

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

Surveyor's Compass

This surveyor's compass has a 4-inch needle (the same "as is furnished with Gurley Precise Transits"), needle release, two folding sights, two levels on the face, and a jacob staff mounting.
Description
This surveyor's compass has a 4-inch needle (the same "as is furnished with Gurley Precise Transits"), needle release, two folding sights, two levels on the face, and a jacob staff mounting. Gurley introduced this form in the 1920s, describing it as "an excellent and portable instrument for running lines through woods." This example belonged to the University of Missouri at Columbia. New, it cost $35. The signature reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY TROY, N.Y. U.S.A."
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, The Gurley Line (Troy, N.Y., 1929), p. 305.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
PH.333635
catalog number
333635
accession number
300659

Aneroid Barometer

The inscriptions on the face of this instrument read "COMPENSATED FOR TEMPERATURE” and “Taylor Instrument Companies / ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S.A. / E.D. No.
Description
The inscriptions on the face of this instrument read "COMPENSATED FOR TEMPERATURE” and “Taylor Instrument Companies / ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S.A. / E.D. No. 4380.” One scale around the circumference extends from -200 to +1800 meters; another extends from -1000 feet to +6000 feet; and a third extends from 24 to 31 inches of mercury. There is a brown leather case. The Taylor Instrument Companies began operating, as such, in 1904.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904-1972
maker
Taylor Instrument Co.
ID Number
PH.333642
catalog number
333642
accession number
300659

Aneroid Barometer

The “James Green / New York / Compensated” and “U.S.G.S. No 60” inscription on this aneroid barometer indicates a date of 1879, after the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, and before Green took his nephew into partnership and began trading as J. & H. J. Green.
Description
The “James Green / New York / Compensated” and “U.S.G.S. No 60” inscription on this aneroid barometer indicates a date of 1879, after the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, and before Green took his nephew into partnership and began trading as J. & H. J. Green. The pressure scale around the circumference of the face reads from 15 to 31 inches of mercury, and the altitude scale reads from zero to 20,000 feet.
Ref.: Henry J. Green, Meteorological and Scientific Instruments (Brooklyn, N.Y., ca. 1900), p. 14.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1879
maker
Green, James
ID Number
PH.247924
catalog number
247924
accession number
47736

Geodetic Transit

This transit marked "Stackpole & Bro. New York 1504" is one of eight identical instruments that the firm made for the United States expeditions to observe the 1874 transit of Venus across the face of the sun.
Description
This transit marked "Stackpole & Bro. New York 1504" is one of eight identical instruments that the firm made for the United States expeditions to observe the 1874 transit of Venus across the face of the sun. It has a "broken" telescope that is viewed through one end of the horizontal axis, a graduated vertical circle, a cast-iron base, and a mechanism for lifting and reversing the telescope.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1873
maker
Stackpole and Brother
ID Number
PH.327719
maker number
1504
accession number
283654
catalog number
327719

Surveyor's Transit

Surveyors who carry instruments long distances, often over difficult terrain, are always concerned about weight. W. & L. E. Gurley made their first lightweight instrument—an aluminum transit—in 1876.
Description
Surveyors who carry instruments long distances, often over difficult terrain, are always concerned about weight. W. & L. E. Gurley made their first lightweight instrument—an aluminum transit—in 1876. But the prohibitive cost of aluminum kept them from manufacturing instruments of this material. Following World War I, Gurley introduced a line of instruments made of an aluminum alloy named Lynite. This transit is of that sort. Gurley termed it a Lightweight Engineers' Transit and sold it, with tripod, for $275. The inscription reads "W. & L. E. GURLEY TROY N.Y., U.S.A. 3028." The serial number indicates that it was the 28th instrument that Gurley made in 1930. The horizontal and vertical circles are silvered, graduated every 30 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes.
One standard is marked "PATENT 1731848." The reference is to the patent granted to W. L. Egy on October 15, 1929, and assigned to Gurley. This patent described a graduated circle or arc for surveying instruments made of an aluminum alloy.
Ref: W. & L. E. Gurley, Light Weight Transits (Troy, N.Y., 1929).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930
maker
W. & L. E. Gurley
ID Number
1986.0091.01
accession number
1986.0091
catalog number
1986.0091.01

Surveyor's Transit

This instrument was made by Stackpole & Brother in the 1860s, and sold to Benjamin S. Olmsted, an engineer in Rye, N.Y. A. J. Kirby of Westchester County, New York, acquired it around 1870 and used it for many years.
Description
This instrument was made by Stackpole & Brother in the 1860s, and sold to Benjamin S. Olmsted, an engineer in Rye, N.Y. A. J. Kirby of Westchester County, New York, acquired it around 1870 and used it for many years. His son gave it to the Smithsonian in 1930.
The instrument is unusual in several ways: the telescope is transit-mounted but too long to transit, and an adjustable strut at the objective end holds the telescope at a fixed angle of elevation. The horizontal circle is silvered, graduated to 20 minutes, and read by opposite verniers to 20 seconds. A magnetic compass in the center of the circle is suitable only for rough orientation, and a hanging level is below the telescope. The inscription reads "Stackpole & Brother, New York 939."
F. E. Brandis, who was working for Stackpole at the time this instrument was made, later incorporated some of its features--most notably the long transit mounted telescope and the adjustable strut--in what he called his Improved City Transit.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
ca 1865
maker
Stackpole and Brother
ID Number
PH.309850A
maker number
939
accession number
110078
catalog number
309850A

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

Recording Thermometer

Daniel C. Draper (1841-1931) studied at New York University (with a PhD in 1880), apprenticed with the Novelty Iron Works, and served for many years as Director of the New York Meteorological Observatory in Central Park.
Description
Daniel C. Draper (1841-1931) studied at New York University (with a PhD in 1880), apprenticed with the Novelty Iron Works, and served for many years as Director of the New York Meteorological Observatory in Central Park. In the 1880s he established the Draper Manufacturing Co., to produce registering meteorological instruments based on his designs.
This example is marked "DRAPER'S SELF-RECORDING THERMOMETER 152 FRONT ST. N.Y. CITY PATENTED 1887." It is a bimetallic instrument with a flat chart (missing) that revolves once a week.
Ref: Daniel Draper, “Recording Thermometer,” U.S. Patent 369,170 (1887), assigned to the Draper Manufacturing Co.
Daniel Draper, “Recording-Thermometer,” U.S. Patent 369,171 (1887), assigned to the Draper Manufacturing Co.
“Dr. Daniel Draper’s Contributions to Meteorology,” Scientific American 42 (Jan. 3, 1880): 2-3.
“Dr. Daniel Draper, Weather Man, Dead,” New York Times (Dec. 22, 1931), p. 28.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1887
maker
Draper Manufacturing Co.
ID Number
PH.316942
catalog number
316942
accession number
229396

Edison ammeter

Date made
c1882
ca 1882
associated person
Edison, Thomas Alva
maker
Bergmann & Co.
ID Number
EM.331146
accession number
294351
catalog number
331146
collector/donor number
20-03

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

Sextant

Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds. The inscription reads "E. & G. W.
Description
Sextant with a silvered scale graduated every 10 minutes from -5° to +155° and read by vernier with tangent screw and swinging magnifier to 10 seconds. The inscription reads "E. & G. W. Blunt, New York." Theodorus Bailey Myers Mason (1848-1899), a career naval officer, probably acquired this sextant in 1865 when he graduated from the Naval Academy at Newport, R.I. Mason's sister Cassie (Mrs. Julian) James, a Washington socialite, gave it to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1856-1866
user
Mason, Theodorus B. M.
maker
E. & G. W. Blunt
ID Number
PH.275100
catalog number
275100
accession number
70138

Surveyor's Compass

The "B. Pike & Son. N. York" and "Warranted" inscriptions on this surveyor's compass refers to a firm that was in business during the years 1831–1841 and 1843–1849. Benjamin Pike Jr.
Description
The "B. Pike & Son. N. York" and "Warranted" inscriptions on this surveyor's compass refers to a firm that was in business during the years 1831–1841 and 1843–1849. Benjamin Pike Jr. advertised compasses of this sort, with a 6–inch needle and level vials on each arm, for $28 and $32.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
B. Pike & Son
ID Number
PH.326556
catalog number
326556
accession number
261155

Surveyor's Transit

Keuffel & Esser offered this distinctive form of instrument, with the twisted standards, from the early 1890s to around 1915. This example, which has a vertical arc extending over 160 degrees, was made around 1901, and belonged to the University of Montana.
Description
Keuffel & Esser offered this distinctive form of instrument, with the twisted standards, from the early 1890s to around 1915. This example, which has a vertical arc extending over 160 degrees, was made around 1901, and belonged to the University of Montana. New, it cost about $220. The solar attachment, which allows the surveyor to determine the astronomical meridian, latitude, and time, cost an additional $50.
The horizontal circle is read by opposite verniers to single minutes. The vertical arc is read by vernier to single minutes. There are clamps and tangent screws to the horizontal circle and to the telescope axis. The signature reads "KEUFFEL & ESSER CO. 5884 NEW YORK" and "PATENTED DEC. 3. 89. MAY 26. 91. OCT. 13. 91." The dates refer to patents granted to John Paoli.
Ref: Keuffel & Esser, Descriptive Price-List of Improved Surveying Instruments (New York, 1893 ), pp. 11-13.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Keuffel & Esser Co.
ID Number
1984.0636.09
catalog number
1984.0636.09
accession number
1984.0636

Surveyor's Transit

The "Robert L. Shaw 222 Water St. N.Y." signature refers to Robert Ludlow Shaw (1813-1876). Shaw originally worked with John H. Wheeler, who boasted that he was a "real Manufacturer" of mathematical instruments.
Description
The "Robert L. Shaw 222 Water St. N.Y." signature refers to Robert Ludlow Shaw (1813-1876). Shaw originally worked with John H. Wheeler, who boasted that he was a "real Manufacturer" of mathematical instruments. In 1836, when Wheeler withdrew from business, Shaw and Addington Frye took over the shop. They showed their surveying and navigational instruments at several exhibitions, and won several prizes.
In 1845, now in business on his own, Shaw announced that "Having had many years experience in the Manufacturing Line, he feels confident that he can produce as good an article of his own manufacture, and at as low prices, as has ever been made in any part of the world." He went on to say that in manufacturing instruments, "no time or expense has been spared to enable him to compete, in point of accuracy, with the best manufacturers in Europe." Moreover, he had imported a large dividing engine based on the designs of Jesse Ramsden, "the same as is used by the London manufacturers, the accuracy of which has been subjected to the severest test, and proved to be correct." Shaw's product line included "Quadrants, Octants, Sextants, Circles, Astronomical Transits, Telescopes, Theodolites, Levels, and Surveyor's Compasses." In 1850 Shaw had $3,000 capital invested in his business; employed 11 workmen at $120 per month, spent $1,000 on materials, and produced goods worth $10,000.
Despite Shaw's claims, in design and production this instrument is less successful than those made by William J. Young. The horizontal circle is graduated every 30 minutes of arc, and read by opposite verniers to single minutes. The vertical arc is graduated every 30 minutes of arc, and read by vernier to single minutes. This transit belonged to John Ferris, a surveyor of Dutchess County, N. Y., who probably bought it around 1848.
Ref: Anne Preuss and Don Treworgy, "Robert Ludlow Shaw,"Rittenhouse 2 (1988): 65-69.
R. L. Shaw's Edition of the Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris for the Year 1848 (New York, 1845).
Conrad Ham, "A Family History of a Group of Surveying Instruments, 1750 to the Present Year 1954," Annual Report of Proceedings of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers 70 (1954): 134-138.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Shaw, Robert Ludlow
ID Number
1983.0548.04
accession number
1983.0548
catalog number
1983.0548.04

Horizontal Sundial

This sundial was made by Christopher Colles (1738?-1816), an Irish immigrant surveyor and inventor.
Description
This sundial was made by Christopher Colles (1738?-1816), an Irish immigrant surveyor and inventor. Colles has received credit for the first American steam engine, publication in 1789 of the first American road atlas, the country’s first semaphore telegraph system in 1813 and his visionary proposals for canals and waterways. Colles established a scientific instrument business in New York in the mid-1780s, and this sundial was one of his products.
This dial, mounted horizontally, shows the hours at a fixed location, in contrast to a portable pocket dial a traveler might carry from place to place. The copper octagonal plate is pierced by eight holes for fastening it to a base and four more holes for attaching the gnomon (not original), the slanted part of the dial that casts the shadow. The plate is engraved, from the center to the edges, as follows: “C. Colles/fecit/42 Pearl”; a central compass rose; indications of latitude, longitude, noon and midnight: “Lat 40o, 40’”, “Lon 74o W of London” and “N is Noon”/“M is Midnight”; a table showing the equation of time for setting mechanical clocks; the corresponding time at major world cities at noon or midnight in New York; Chapter ring with Arabic hour numerals and marks for half hours and minutes; and a Latin inscription, sometimes found on other sundials, that reads “Me ortum vides forsan non occasum” (“You see me [the sun] rise, but perhaps you shall not see me set”).
Other sundials by Colles survive in museum collections at the New-York Historical Society and Van Cortlandt Manor, Historic Hudson Valley. An oil portrait of Colles by James Frothingham is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
See also: Bathe, Greville. An Engineer’s Miscellany. Philadelphia: Patterson and White, 1938.
Colles, Christopher. A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America, 1789. Edited by Walter W. Ristow. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap of Harvard University Press, 1961.
Koeppel, Gerard. Water for Gotham: A History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Popper, Deborah Epstein. “Poor Christopher Colles: An Innovator’s Obstacles in Early America.” The Journal of American Culture, 28(June 2005): 178-190.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1773
maker
Colles, Christopher
ID Number
ME.334118
catalog number
334118
accession number
306559

St. John Dry Card Compass

John Ransome St. John designed a mariner’s compass that would determine local changes in magnetic variation.
Description
John Ransome St. John designed a mariner’s compass that would determine local changes in magnetic variation. Although the instrument was complex and largely useless, it garnered a gold medal at the American Institute fair of 1849; a Prize Medal at the Crystal Palace exhibition held in London in 1851; and an English patent (#8785) in 1852.
The inscriptions on this example read "JOHN R. ST JOHN. Inventor-Buffalo, N.Y. U.S.A. 1843" and "Lith. of E. Jones & G. W. Newman" and "128 Fulton St New York."
Ref: "John R. St. John’s Variation Compass and Velocimeter," Transactions of the American Institute (1851): 204-205.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1850
patentee
St. John, John R.
ID Number
PH.314744
catalog number
314744
accession number
210834

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

Thermometer

Small mercury-in-glass thermometer mounted on a flat ivory plate that is marked "J. GREEN N.Y." and graduated every degree [Fahrenheit?] from +185 to +245. There are no graduations or marks on the stem.
Description
Small mercury-in-glass thermometer mounted on a flat ivory plate that is marked "J. GREEN N.Y." and graduated every degree [Fahrenheit?] from +185 to +245. There are no graduations or marks on the stem. It was made between 1849 (when James Green began in business in New York) and 1879 (when he took his nephew into partnership and began trading as J. & H. J. Green). It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Military Academy.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849-1879
maker
Green, James
ID Number
PH.316452
accession number
223721
catalog number
316452

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