Very Unusual Forecasting Aneroid Barometer c1920 – SOLD
Antique barometer having 5″ open centre printed card dial with barometric scale calibrated in inches of mercury with a range from 25 – 31. The upper part marked “Weather Getting:” surmounting a cut out with moving indicator card marked “Better” and “Worse,” and bounded to each side by an outline printed pointing hand. The lower dial marked “Patented.”
Modified but conventional single 2½” capsule driven movement principally constructed in lacquered brass tensioned on a C-spring. The predictor mechanism comprising a fine toothed spoked gear mounted to the upper arbour and immediately above the indicator, made to the upper end as a pointer and carrying the indicator card. The lower end with swinging anchor, its projections engaging and alternately disengaging with corresponding pressure rise and fall.
All contained within a japanned and lacquered turned walnut case. Case projection and suspension ring. The verso struck “1/628,” instrument calibration port and screw.
Little is known about the origin of this instrument. Based on the execution of the movement and the barometric range, it is possibly American and most probably dating from the 1920s. It is clearly intended as a serious production item, the component parts including the printing of the dial all completed to a high standard. The number struck into the verso of the timber case might indicate a production figure of at least 628. The drive to produce instruments to accurately predict weather at this time was intense – Negretti & Zambra, for instance, launched their range of forecasters and associated barometers in 1915. As valid as many of these instruments were, the BBC began transmitting daily weather forecasts in 1923 making many of these ingenious devices obsolete overnight. This might in some part explain the apparent uniqueness of this forecasting aneroid barometer – as quickly as production started it probably stopped.
The dial with some warping, the printing partly faded, the bezel retaining some original finish, the movement generally clean with minor points of oxidation, the timber surround with minor marks and a vertical hairline crack, the structure unaffected. Conserved, serviced and calibrated.
An intriguing item.
Dimensions: 7½” diameter x 2¼” deep
Stock No: BA0748
Price: SOLD
