Crosby Steam Gauge – ca 1908
date: label: date made
content: ca 1908
notes: label: Description
content: This steam gauge was made by the Crosby Steam and Gage & Valve Company of Boston, Massachusetts around 1908. It is 8 ½ inches in diameter and nickel plated. The gauge was a gift of the Quincy Mining Company of Hancock, Michigan.
label: Description
content: For pressures of less than about one atmosphere (15 pounds per square inch), simple mercury columns were adequate as indicators. With the use of high pressure engines and boilers many types of gauges were introduced. In all of these the pressure of the steam acted against a spring loaded piston or diaphragm to move a pointer.
label: Description
content: This is a Bourdon type gauge. This type, one of the first truly successful gauges, was invented in 1849 by Eugene Bourdon of France, a curved tube, elliptical in cross section, was used. When pressurized, the ellipse tended to become more circular, causing a slight straightening of the tube exactly proportional to the pressure. The free end of the tube was linked to the indicating pointer. Bourdon gauges remained in widespread use well into the 20th century.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Boston
topic: label: Subject
content: Steam Engines
label: Subject
content: Gauging
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
label: Exhibition
content: Power Machinery
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Quincy Mining Company, Hancock, Michigan
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.319574
label: catalog number
content: 319574
label: accession number
content: 244877
label: serial number
content: 698575
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Gauge, Steam
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: dial: 8 1/2 in; x 21.59 cm