Pyrometer

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A pyrometer usually demonstrates the different degree of thermal expansion of various metals. This example, dating from around 1800, is of a type invented by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95) in 1782. It uses the degree of shrinkage of clay during firing as a means of determining kiln temperatures.

The instrument consists of a gauge with a tapering groove, used in conjunction with clay cylinders of a standard size. The cylinders were placed in the kiln and removed one at a time. Once cooled, they were placed in the pyrometer groove, and the temperature gauged from where they fitted.

Josiah Wedgwood, the extremely successful pottery entrepreneur, also obtained an international reputation in the world of science, through his publications in the 'Philosophical Transactions'. Before the invention of his pyrometer, the only way of estimating kiln temperature was by observing the colour of the fire.

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• Online ID: 000-100-104-173-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1856.89.601
• Date: Around 1800
  c. 1800
  
• Material: Specimen / pottery / manufacture / product / pyrometer
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Specimen / pottery / manufacture / product / pyrometer
  
• Subject: 22. PHYSICS, Heat (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who: Wedgwood, Etruria, Staffordshire (Pyrometer maker)
  
• Where: England, Staffordshire, Etruria
  
• Event:
• Description: One of a collection of specimens illustrating the manufacture of Wedgwood pottery from Etruria, Staffordshire - a pyrometer, c. 1800
  
• References:
  • Exhibited in Smith, Cyril Stanley, From Art to Science: Seventy-two Objects Illustrating the Nature of Discovery. Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1980 
  • See also Young, Hilary (ed.), The Genius of Wedgwood. London, 1995 pp 42-3 and Josiah Wedgwood: The Arts and Sciences United. London, 1978 
  • Wedgwood, Josiah, 'Description and Use of a Thermometer for Measuring the Higher Degrees of Heat, from a Red Heat up to the Strongest that Vessels made of Clay can Support' in Philosophical Transactions 74 (1784) pp 358-384 
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