Victor Beaumont was a mechanic in New York City with at least six patents to his name. The patent issued on June 14, 1859, described a gauge for measuring the pressure of steam or other fluids. When he realized that Lucien Vidie, in France, had used a similar mechanism to construct the first practical aneroid barometer, Beaumont began making instruments of this sort. At the American Institute Fair of 1859 he was awarded a diploma for a “Cheap Barometer” that was “likely to prove of importance to the agricultural community, because it is cheap, costing only $4, and as effective as the most expensive kind and not likely to get out of order, and can be transported as easily as a watch, with as little danger of injury.”
This example is marked “Beaumont’s Barometer / 175 Center Street / NEW YORK / Patented June 14, 1859.” The scale extends from 18 to 31 inches of mercury, and is graduated in tenths.
Ref: Victor Beaumont, “Gage for Measuring the Pressure of Fluids,” U.S. Patent 24,365 (1859).
“A Cheap Barometer,”
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