Barometer

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This barometer was designed and made in the mid 19th century by Eugene Bourdon (1808-84), a French engineer and inventor. It is a type known as an aneroid barometer (from the Greek, meaning 'not wet').

The barometer has a curved evacuated tube which variations in the atmospheric pressure cause to flex, thus moving the pointer. The pressure is indicated by the scale on the outside of the dial.

Eugene Bourdon's aneroid barometer is derived from his metallic manometer for measuring pressures in steam engines, which he produced in 1849. It was never as popular as the Vidie pattern of aneroid barometer.

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• Online ID: 000-100-102-685-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  T.1935.15
• Date: Mid 19th century
  
• Material: Inscription: [Upward pointing arrow] 1
  Aneroid, barometer, Bourdon
  
• Dimensions:
• What: Aneroid, barometer, Bourdon
  
• Subject: 10. METEOROLOGY (Departmental Classification)
  
• Who: Bourdon (Eponym)
  Eugene Bourdon, Paris (Maker)
  
• Where: France
  
• Event:
• Description: One of a group of meteorological instruments and apparatus - a Bourdon aneroid barometer, by Eugene Bourdon, France, mid 19th century
  
• References:
  • Middleton, W. E. K., The History of the Barometer. Baltimore, Maryland: 1964, pp 403-5 
• Translations:
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