Water Stage Indicator
date: label: date made
content: 1914-1930
name: label: maker
content: Julien P. Friez & Sons, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: Julien P. Friez designed this instrument “to record automatically and continuously the variations in the height of water in tanks, streams, flumes, reservoirs, etc.” It consists of a float and a drum recorder and is based on the patent issued to Julien P. Friez in 1901. A metal tag on the base reads “JULIEN P. FRIEZ & SONS / BELFORT METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY / 1230 E. BALTIMORE STREET, / BALTIMORE, MD. U.S.A.” The Weather Bureau transferred it to the Smithsonian in 1954.
label: Description
content: Julien P. Friez was born north-eastern France in 1850, learned the instrument trade, came to the United States around 1868, and established a shop in Baltimore in 1890. He initially offered an assortment of mechanical and electrical instruments but, with close ties to Charles F. Marvin of the U.S. Weather Bureau, he began specializing in meteorological instruments. At the turn of the century, Friez bought land at the corner of East Baltimore St. and Central Ave. and built a factory. In honor of Belfort, a town near his native village, Friez named the new facility the Belfort Meteorological Observatory. The firm became Julien P. Friez & Son in 1913 and Julien P. Friez & Sons in 1914. Julien P. Friez & Sons, Inc., became a Division of the Bendix Corporation in 1930.
label: Description
content: Ref: Julien P. Friez, “Recording Water-Gage,” U.S. Patent 681,536 (1901).
label: Description
content: <i>Friez’s Improved Automatic Water Stage Register</i> (Baltimore, 1902). This is Circular W issued by the Belfort Meteorological Observatory.
label: Description
content: Julien P. Friez & Sons, <i>Friez’s Improved Automatic Water Stage Registers (Patented)</i> (Baltimore, 1916).
label: Description
content: Edward Wegmann, <i>Conveyance and Distribution of Water for Water Supply</i> (New York, 1918), pp. 572-573.
label: Description
content: M. Eugene Rudd, “Julian P. Friez: An Important American Meteorological Instrument Maker,” <i>Rittenhouse</i> 8 (1994): 114-123.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Water Currents
label: See more items in
content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Weather Bureau
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.314526
label: accession number
content: 204612
label: catalog number
content: 314526
objectType: label: Object Name
content: water stage indicator
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 20 in x 8 in; 25.4 cm x 50.8 cm x 20.32 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; weight: 7 3/8 in x 4 in; 18.7325 cm x 10.16 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; indicator: 7 5/8 in x 19 3/8 in x 9 7/8 in; 19.3675 cm x 49.2125 cm x 25.0825 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; disc: 4 1/2 in x 10 1/2 in; 11.43 cm x 26.67 cm