Minimum Thermometer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: maker
content: H. J. Green
notes: label: Description
content: This alcohol-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer is mounted on a silvered brass plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "NO. 7390 U. S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MINIMUM" and graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -35 to +105. The stem is graduated every degree F. from -39 to +117. The thermometer was made between 1890 (when H. J. Green moved his business to Brooklyn) and 1904 (when it came to the Smithsonian).
label: Description
content: John Rutherford, a Scottish country doctor, devised this form in 1790. Green stated in 1900 that it was "the only one in general use." It has a black index inside the tube. "On a decrease of temperature the alcohol recedes, taking with it the glass index; on an increase of temperature the alcohol alone ascends the tube, leaving the end of the index farthest from the bulb indicating the minimum temperature."
label: Description
content: Ref: Henry J. Green, <i>Meteorological and Scientific Instruments</i> (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 23.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Brooklyn
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Thermometers and Hygrometers
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.230006
label: catalog number
content: 230006
label: accession number
content: 42625
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Thermometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in; 27.94 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 1/8 in x 15/16 in x 1/2 in; 30.7975 cm x 2.38125 cm x 1.27 cm