NMS


 

Record

Barometer

< 1 of 1 > Back

made in Edinburgh

Barometer
Add to album

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

To search on related items, click any underlined text below.


< 1 of 1 > Back