Mercury-in-glass thermometer with a blackened bulb. The scale extends from -20 to +200 degrees Fahrenheit, and is graduated by degrees and marked every 10 degrees. The stem is marked "No. 30 Patent 3647." This refers to the British patent for “Testing vacuum of solar thermometer” issued to J. J. Hicks, a meteorological instrument maker in London, in 1873. The surrounding glass container is marked "J. CALL New York."
This may have been used by John William Draper, an American polymath who received the Rumford Prize in in 1875 for his long-standing work on solar radiation. It may also have been used by his son, Daniel Draper, a noted meteorologist.
Ref: James J. Hicks, Illustrated & Descriptive Catalogue of Standard, Self-Recording, and Other Meteorological Instruments (London, about 1874), pp. 60-61.
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