![Postcard of Barometer.](/database/media.php?file=postcard/image/0098/00987233.jpg&PHPSESSID=h430c0caaghu08krvjpb047ug2) 000-100-102-712-C © National Museums Scotland |
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Barometer
This special barometer without mercury, also known as a sympiesometer, was made around 1825, probably by Alexander Adie (1775-1858), a scientific instrument maker based in Edinburgh. Adie had patented his design in 1818.
Adie's sympiesometer is a glass tube filled with coloured almond oil with a gas bulb filled with hydrogen at the top. A thermometer registers the temperature and the sliding silvered brass scale of pressures slides against a fixed scale of temperatures.
The sympiesometer was developed especially for use at sea, where the motion of the waves causes mercury in an ordinary barometer to behave like a hammer, shattering the glass tube container.
Record details
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Online ID: |
000-100-102-712-C |
Image Rights Holder: |
National Museums Scotland |
Project: |
0098: National Museums Scotland
Project description | View all records in project |
Ref: |
National Museums Scotland T.1967.99 |
Date: |
Around 1825 c. 1825
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Material: |
Glass fronted wooden case, silvered face, purple fluid in glass tube, mercury in glass thermometer. Inscription: PATENT / A. ADIE / EDINBURGH / No. 579 // Spencer Browning / & Rust / Agents / London //; Capt Robertson / Monarch // Capt A. Paterson's / Shi
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Dimensions: |
24.50" H
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What: |
Sympiesometer
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Subject: |
10. METEOROLOGY (Departmental Classification)
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Who: |
A. Adie, Edinburgh (Maker) Captain A. Paterson (Inscribed on the Sympiesometer) Robertson (Inscribed on the Sympiesometer) Spencer, Browning & Rust (Inscribed on the Sympiesometer)
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Where: |
China Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh
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Event: |
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Description: |
Sympiesometer for meteorology, patented in 1818, by Alexander Adie, Edinburgh, c. 1825
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References: |
- Adie, Alexander 'Description of the Patent Sympiesometer or New Air Barometer'. Edinburgh Philosophical Journal 1. 1819 pp 54-60
- Middleton, W E Knowles. The History of the Barometer. Baltimore, 1964. pp 378-81
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