Barometer (detail), made by Adie & Son

This photograph shows a detail of the signature on a stick barometer made by the firm Adie & Son in Edinburgh around 1860. This stick barometer is of a type that became known as a 'cottage barometer'. Although it is a conventional mercury in glass tube, it was made to appeal to a broader domestic market than hitherto.

The signature across the top of the silvered register plate reads: 'Adie & Son / EDINBURGH'.

Cottage barometer of this style were first marketed by Louis Casella, a London instrument maker, in 1857, and deliberately designed as cheap, light and portable instruments for use in cottages, garden sheds, greenhouses and farm buildings. however, this particular example shows more care in construction than the basic Casella instrument, suggesting that Adie & Son were trying to popularise barometers with a public who previously would not have considered using them.

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