Mercury Barometer
date: label: date made
content: 1854-1881
name: label: maker
content: Adie, Patrick
notes: label: Description
content: In 1854, in the interest of safety and economy, the British Parliament authorized the establishment of a uniform system of meteorological observations at sea and the formation of a Meteorological Office within the Board of Trade. Under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy, the Met Office issued a call for a barometer suitable for use by the Royal Navy. Patrick Adie got the contract, and the Kew Observatory tested each barometer before it was sent out. Matthew F. Maury, director of the U.S. Naval Observatory, reported in 1855 that he had ordered many barometers of this sort for the U.S. Navy.
label: Description
content: This example is marked “ADIE, LONDON No 1710” and “SIGNAL SERVICE U.S. ARMY For Comparison of Barometers for International Simultaneous Meteorological Reports.” It may have been acquired by the Signal Service soon after the start of a weather service in 1870; it was last calibrated by the Weather Bureau in 1970.
label: Description
content: Ref.: Sara Dry, “Fishermen and Forecasts: How Barometers Helped Make the Meteorological Department Safer in Victorian Britain,” Center for Analysis of Risk and Regulation Discussion Paper 46 (2007).
label: Description
content: M.F. Maury, <i>Explanation and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts</i> (Philadelphia, 1855), p. 639.
label: Description
content: <i>Report of the Chief Signal Officer to the Secretary of War for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1881</i>, p. 1128.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Barometers
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: National Weather Service
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.333822
label: accession number
content: 304553
label: catalog number
content: 333822
objectType: label: Object Name
content: barometer, mercury
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 42 1/4 in x 4 in x 3 1/4 in; 107.315 cm x 10.16 cm x 8.255 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 43 3/4 in x 4 3/4 in x 5 in; 111.125 cm x 12.065 cm x 12.7 cm