Ar IMPROVED MAXIMUM MERCURIAL THERMOMETER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hicks, of Hatton Garden, in the County of
Middlesex, Meteorological Instrument Maker, for the Invention of "Ar
IMPROVED MAXIMUM MERCURIAL THERMOMETER.”
Sealed the 80th September 1864, and dated the 1st April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hicks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st April 1864.
I, JAMES HICKS, of Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Meteoro-
logical Instrument Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MAXIMUM MERCURIAL THERMOMETER," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing maximum thermometers with a short
tube or mercury chamber carried from the side of the ordinary column tube
near the bulb; the bulb of this short tube or chamber is larger than that of
the column tube, and the action is as follows:-The thermometer is set by the
bulb end being held downwards to allow the short tube or supplementary
chamber to become full. It is then placed in position horizontally, with the
short tube or supplementary chamber uppermost. Any increase in température
will cause the column of mercury to rise in the ordinary thermometer tube,
then upon a decrease in temperature taking place the column will remain at
the maximum, and mercury will descend from the short tube or chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Hicks in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
Hicks, of Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex, Meteorological Instru-
ment Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Hicks, Her special licence that I, the said James
Hicks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Hicks, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all timės
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 "AN
IMPROVED MAXIMUM MERCURIAL THERMOMETER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Hicks, my executors, or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 James Hicks, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in. what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings. hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in constructing maximum thermometers with a short
tube or mercury chamber carried from the side of the ordinary column tube
near the bulb; the bore of this short tube or chamber is larger than that of
the column tube.
Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 an end view
of one of my improved thermometers.
a is the bulb; b, the ordinary column tube; and c, the short tube carried up
from the side of the tube b; this short tube c may be either vertical, as shewn,
or inclined, or bent, but I prefer to make it vertical. The action is as

page_text: follows:-The thermometer is set by the bulb end being held downwards to
allow the short tube or supplementary chamber c to become full, it is then
placed in position horizontally with the short tube c uppermost. Any increase
in temperature will cause the column of mercury to rise in the ordinary tube b,
then upon a decrease in temperature taking place the column will remain at
the maximum, and mercury will descend from the short tube c.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, constructing
maximum mercurial thermometers with a short tube or supplementary
mercury chamber, substantially in manner and for the purpose herein-before
described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hicks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of October, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.