Tag: Inventions

The RNLI at 200
Aneroid, Barometers, Barometers in Action, History of Aneroid Barometers, Marine, Weather | March 4, 2024
The RNLI at 200
A national lifeboat service was the vision of Sir William Hillary, a resident of the Isle of Man, who wanted to the reduce the death toll from the 1,800 shipwrecks annually around the British Isles at the time. He convinced a group of influential people in the City of London to take notice and the Royal National Institution for the...
Hysteresis and the Watkin Hicks Mountain Barometer
Aneroid, Barometers, Barometers in Action, History of Aneroid Barometers, How do I repair an aneroid barometer, Is my barometer working, Pressure, Surveying, Technology, Testing Barometers, Vavasseur Antiques - Antique & Vintage Aneroid Barometers, Barographs & Other Scientific Instruments, Weather | August 28, 2023
Hysteresis and the Watkin Hicks Mountain Barometer
This scarce development of the aneroid barometer or altimeter, patented by Colonel H.S.S. Watkin in 1898, was born of poorly performing pressure sensing capsules. It had been known for some time that a first reading before an ascent of some high place would not agree once the observer returned to the same elevation even if the barometric pressure had not...
The Quest for Greater Resolution in Aneroid Barometers II
Aneroid, Barometers, Barometers in Action, History of Aneroid Barometers, Pressure, Restoration, Testing Barometers, Vavasseur Antiques - Antique & Vintage Aneroid Barometers, Barographs & Other Scientific Instruments | August 6, 2023
The Quest for Greater Resolution in Aneroid Barometers II
As a follow up to Patent No. 2457 lodged by Daniels, this piece is certainly of significance. The Daniels instruments sought to display greater resolution with the introduction of a geared sub-assembly greatly magnifying the small rotational movement of the primary arbor, that connected by a fine chain to the secondary lever - the result being that the main dial...
Two Extraordinary Altimeters, and the Trail to the British Nuclear Bomb
Aneroid, Aviation, Barometers in Action, Conservation, Featured, History of Aneroid Barometers, Pressure, Restoration, Technology | July 24, 2023
Two Extraordinary Altimeters, and the Trail to the British Nuclear Bomb
Sometimes the most obscure and almost unrecognisable objects appear, and with all the interest in Christopher Nolan’s epic docu-thriller Oppenheimer,  I decided to put pen to paper. Some years ago I was perusing an online auction and came across an instrument I recognised as a barometer or altimeter made by Negretti & Zambra. Puzzling, though, was the scale, calibrated in...
The Quest for Greater Resolution in Aneroid Barometers I
Aneroid, Barometers, Barometers in Action, Conservation, History of Aneroid Barometers, Pressure, Restoration, Surveying, Technology, Vavasseur Antiques - Antique & Vintage Aneroid Barometers, Barographs & Other Scientific Instruments | May 11, 2023
The Quest for Greater Resolution in Aneroid Barometers I
As marvellous an invention as the aneroid barometer was, it had many shortcomings, most of which were approached by various instrument makers over the 100 years or so of production. Resolution, perhaps expressed as the reading to the highest number of decimal places, was an illusive goal. The problem relates to the expansion and contraction of the cell over a...
Antique Pocket Hypsometers I - French Hypsometer
Aneroid, Barometers, Barometers in Action, Pressure, Technology, Testing Barometers, Vavasseur Antiques - Antique & Vintage Aneroid Barometers, Barographs & Other Scientific Instruments, Weather | April 12, 2023
Antique Pocket Hypsometers I – French Hypsometer
The term 'Hypsometer' is essentially applied to a device or system, perhaps mathematically based, that enables the determination of heights or elevations. It has been applied to aneroids and various trigonometrically based instruments. In this instance we are dealing with the instrument more generally recognised as a hypsometer, in essence a device not unlike a telescope however lacking lenses, the...
Harrison's Chronometer and the Determination of Longitude
History of Aneroid Barometers | October 29, 2017
Harrison’s Chronometer and the Determination of Longitude
The Science Museum recently posted a very interesting blog about the story behind John Harrison and his portrait at the Royal Observatory. In its own way, the invention of the aneroid barometer by Lucien Vidi and its determination of altitude was as significant an invention in the 19th century as Harrison’s was in the 18th. https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/portrait-mr-harrison-timekeepers/