Maximum Thermometer
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: maker
content: H. J. Green
notes: label: Description
content: This thermometer is so designed that an air bubble separates a small amount of mercury from the main part of the column. When the instrument is mounted horizontally, the detached mercury remains in place when the rest of the column falls, thereby indicating the maximum temperature. John Phillips, an English geologist, introduced the form at the 1832 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1856 he showed an improved form made by Louis P. Casella of London.
label: Description
content: Appleton's <i>Encyclopaedia</i> noted in 1860 that James Green of New York "appears to have removed the objections to the previous forms of the maximum thermometers, and produced a highly simple and perfect instrument." Henry J. Green, who was James Green's nephew and successor, also made instruments of this sort. This example has a grooved aluminum plate that is marked "H. J. GREEN B'KLYN. N.Y." and "NO. 9746 U. S. WEATHER BUREAU" and "MAXIMUM." The plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -20 to +125. The bulb is spherical. The stem is marked "U.S. 9746" and is graduated every degree F. from -22 to +126. It was made between 1890 (when H. J. Green moved his business to Brooklyn) and 1904 (when it came to the Smithsonian).
label: Description
content: Ref.: Henry J. Green, <i>Meteorological and Scientific Instruments</i> (Brooklyn, 1900), p. 22.
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
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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.230005
label: catalog number
content: 230005
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; thermometer: 12 1/8 in x 15/16 in x 3/8 in; 30.7975 cm x 2.38125 cm x .9525 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall; parts in box: 2 in x 3 in x 13 5/8 in; 5.08 cm x 7.62 cm x 34.6075 cm