IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BAROMETERS OR INSTRUMENTS TO INDICATE PRESSURE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William. Edward Newton, of the Office for. Patents,.
:
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BAROMETERS OR
INSTRUMENTS TO INDICATE PRESSURE."-A communication from Mr. Alfred
Nobel of Paris.
Sealed the 15th July 1859, and dated the 2nd March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd March 1859.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BAROMETERS OR
INSTRUMENTS TO INDICATE PRESSURE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention of improvements in the construction of
a portable
barometers or instruments to indicate pressure is to produce
barometer in a cheap form, and which will indicate the variations in the
pressure of the atmosphere with tolerable accuracy. One of the essential
features of the instrument is a box or chamber made of metal, glass, caout-
chouc, or other suitable material, which is sufficiently elastic by its nature or
by the form of the box or chamber, to admit of the atmospheric pressure

page_text: compressing or acting upon it naturally, so as to thereby diminish the internal
capacity of the box or chamber more or less according to the extent of the
pressure.
In constructing barometers of the above description, the box or chamber
must be first filled with liquid, and then it is to be submitted to the pressure of
a column of mercury 78 centimetres in height, which pressure corresponds
to the minimum of the atmospheric pressure. This done a glass indicating
tube must be adapted to the neck or opening of the box or chamber, and a
vacuum having been made in the tube, the end thereof must be closed her-
metically. Now the box or chamber having been submitted to the minimum
atmospheric pressure only, any increase in that pressure, by reason of atmo-
spheric changes, will cause the liquid to rise more or less in the indicating tube,
and thus a portable barometer of great simplicity and not exceeding the size of
ordinary thermometers, may be produced.
In order to prevent changes of temperature from injuriously or materially
affecting the accuracy of the indications of atmospheric pressure, the box or
chamber must be constructed of such a form that it will present a large
surface to the pressure of the atmosphere, and yet not contain a large body
of mercury in comparison to that contained in the indicating tube..
Another method of obviating this difficulty is by the employment of some
liquid, the volume of which is not liable to be greatly affected by changes,
of temperature, such, for instance, as water or liquid more or less saturated
with some salt.
Instruments of the construction above mentioned may also be employed as
manometers, with this difference, viz., that the pressure is given within.
the instrument, and, consequently, instead of making a vacuum in the tube, as
in barometers, a cock must be adapted for the purpose of giving access to
compressed gas or air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office 3
⚫ on the 31st August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of our..

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license
that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF BAROMETERS OR INSTRUMENTS TO INDICATE PRESSURE,"
being a communication from Mr. Alfred Nobel, of Paris, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto anuexed;
and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention of " Improvements in the Construction of
Barometers or Instruments to Indicate Pressure" is to produce a portable
barometer in a cheap form, and which will indicate the variations in tho
pressure of the atmosphere with tolerable accuracy. One of the essential
features of the instrument is a box or chamber made of metal, glass, caout-
chouc, or other suitable material, which is sufficiently elastic by its nature or
by the form of the box or chamber, to admit of the atmospheric pressure
compressing or acting upon it naturally, so as to thereby diminish the internal
capacity of the box or chamber more or less according to the extent of the
pressnre.
In constructing barometers of the above description the box or chamber
must be first filled with liquid, and then it is to be submitted to the pressure
of a column of mercury seventy-three centimetres in height, which pressure
corresponds to the minimum of the atmospheric pressure: This done a glass.
indicating tube must be adapted to the neck or opening of the box or chamber,
and a vacuum having been made in the tube, the end thereof must be closed

page_text: hermetically. Now the box or chamber having been submitted to the minimum
atmospheric pressure only, any increase in that pressure, by reason of atmo-
spheric changes, will cause the liquid to rise more or less in the indicating
tube, and thus a portable barometer of great simplicity, not exceeding the size
of ordinary thermometers may be produced.
In order to prevent changes of temperature from injuriously or materially
affecting the accuracy of the indications of atmospheric pressure, the box
or chamber must be constructed of such a form that it will present a large
surface to the pressure of the atmosphere, and yet not contain a large body
of mercury in comparison to that contained in the indicating tube.
Another method of obviating this difficulty is by the employment of some
liquid, the volume of which is not liable to be greatly affected by changes of
temperature, such, for instance, as water or liquid more or less saturated with
some salt..
:
Instruments of the construction above mentioned may also be employed as
manometers, with this difference (viz.), that the pressure is given within the
instrument, and, consequently, instead of making a vacuum in the tube, as in
barometers, a cock must be adapted for the purpose of giving access to
compressed air or gas.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing represents a front view, and Fig. 2 a
sectional view of the improved portable barometer, taken vertically through
the middle of the instrument in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1. If the box or
vessel a be filled with any fluid, such as water or mercury, and be then
submitted to pressure, it will be understood that a portion of the liquid will
be forced out, and will run over.
In constructing a barometer or pressure gauge on the above principle the
first thing to be lone is to fill the box or vessel a with liquid, and then to
submit it to. the minimum pressure of the atmosphere. The box at that
minimum pressure will therefore only contain just enough liquid to exactly fill
it-to the neck or brim. That done the glass tube bis adapted to the neck or
opening of the box or vessel, and a vacuum being made in the tube all the
parts are hermetically sealed, and of course. upon any increase in the atmo-
spheric pressure taking place the liquid will be forced out of the box a, and
made, to rise in the tube b, to which is adapted a. scale c, whereby the extent
and variation of the pressure may be ascertained.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in the Construction
of Barometers or: Instruments to Indicate Pressure," as communicated to me by.
my foreign correspondent, for which I have obtained Letters Patent as afore-
said, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim the

page_text: 5
mode herein set forth and described of constructing portable barometers or
instruments to indicate pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)