Price Water Current Meter

Description:

William Gunn Price, an employee of the U.S. Engineer Department, designed an exceptionally robust and successful water current meter. This example is the instrument that Gunn, with the aid of four mechanics, built in 1882. It has a five-conical bucket wheel mounted on a vertical-axis, and a four-blade rudder. It is 30.5 inches long. Gunn was living at Paducah, Ky., at that time, and used this meter on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916.

Ref: Arthur H. Frazier, William Gunn Price and the Price Current Meters (Washington, D.C., 1967), p. 40.

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.

Date Made: ca 1882

Location: Currently not on view

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences, Water Currents, Measuring & Mapping

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: U. S. Geological Survey

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: PH.289638Accession Number: 59263Catalog Number: 289638

Object Name: Water Current Meter

Measurements: overall: 4 1/2 in x 32 1/2 in x 7 1/2 in; 11.43 cm x 82.55 cm x 19.05 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-b659-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1434207

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