Wheel Barometer
Wheel Barometer
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- Invented in the 1660s by Robert Hooke, the "curator of experiments" in the new Royal Society of London, the “wheel” or “banjo” barometer has a tube that is bent into a J shape; a float, sitting on the shorter end of the tube, connects with a circular scale that is large and easily read. Barometers of this sort have long been popular for domestic use. This example is marked “D. Fagioli & Son, 39 Warner St Clerkenwell” and was made in London, perhaps in the 1840s. The dial reads from 28 to 31 inches of mercury. In addition to the barometer itself, there is a twisted gut hygrometer, a spirit thermometer, and a convex mirror. The Taylor Instrument companies gave it to the Smithsonian in 1923.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Barometer
- date made
- ca 1839-1854
- maker
- Dominic Fagioli & Son
- place made
- United Kingdom: England, London
- Measurements
- overall: 37 1/2 in x 10 3/8 in x 2 5/16 in; 95.25 cm x 26.3525 cm x 5.87375 cm
- overall in box: 9 1/4 in x 44 1/4 in x 17 1/4 in; 23.495 cm x 112.395 cm x 43.815 cm
- ID Number
- PH.308173
- accession number
- 70532
- catalog number
- 308173
- Credit Line
- Taylor Instrument Companies
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
- Measuring & Mapping
- Barometers
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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