Minimum Thermometer
date: label: date made
content: 1885-1890
name: label: maker
content: H. J. Green
notes: label: Description
content: Spirit-in-glass Rutherford-type thermometer mounted on a heavy flat plate marked "HENRY J. GREEN NEW YORK" and "1868." A white porcelain strip on the plate is graduated every 5 degrees Fahrenheit from -75 to +90. The stem is marked "No. 1868 Signal Service U.S. Army" and graduated (but not numbered) every degree Fahrenheit from -82 to +98. It was made between 1885 and 1890 when Henry J. Green was in business on his own in New York.
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, New York City
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.317463
label: accession number
content: 230396
label: catalog number
content: 317463
objectType: label: Object Name
content: thermometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: tube: 10 3/4 in; 27.305 cm
label: Measurements
content: plate: 9 1/2 in; 24.13 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 7/8 in x 15/16 in x 3/8 in; 30.1625 cm x 2.38125 cm x .9525 cm