Ellis Water Current Meter
date: label: date made
content: 1874-1898
name: label: maker
content: Buff & Berger
notes: label: Description
content: After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, General Theodore Grenville Ellis resumed work as an engineer in Hartford, Conn. In 1867 he was placed in charge of the U.S. Corps of Engineers navigation-improvement study of the Connecticut River. For that task, in 1874, he built a current meter with four revolving cups and a four-blade rudder. This was similar to, but smaller than, the current meter designed by Daniel F. Henry.
label: Description
content: This example is a slightly improved version of Ellis’ original meter. The U.S. Geological Survey transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1916. The “Buff & Berger, Boston, 2154” inscription refers to a firm that was in business from 1871 to 1898.
label: Description
content: Ref: Buff & Berger, <i>Hand-Book and Illustrated Catalogue of the Engineers’ and Surveyors Instruments</i> (Boston, 1890), pp. 61-62 and 135-137.
label: Description
content: Arthur H. Frazier, <i>Water Current Meters in the Smithsonian Collections of the National Museum of History and Technology</i> (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 62-63 and 74-75.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U. S. Geological Survey
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.289637
label: accession number
content: 59263
label: catalog number
content: 289637
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Water Current Meter
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 1/4 in x 18 in x 6 in; 10.795 cm x 45.72 cm x 15.24 cm