Watkin Patent Extended Scale Barometer Altimeter by Hicks No 354 c1888
Finely engraved and silvered 3″ brass dial with tri-concentric altitude and barometric scales, reading indicator set at 6 o’clock, calibrations from 25.8-31 inches of mercury and from 0–5,000ft, “Watkin Patent” in an arc above the centre with “Compensated” and serial “No 354,” the lower dial signed by the maker “J. Hicks, 8, 9 & 10 Hatton Gardens, London.” Fine blued-steel index, very fine telltale with spring anchor to arbour. The whole contained within its original fine oxblood leather split case, having closing clip, inner rim to top and bottom section with fine tooled dogstooth pattern, the lid lined with cream silk, the lower lined with fine indigo velvet.
The dial unmarked, the case with very minor points of oxidation, some associated wear and age patination. The case inner lid with indistinct annotation in pen as follows: “Shap summit 1968, Carlisle? 1024, – 893,” “Beattock summit 1350, ?????, 740,” and “Bal 4, L Kat 2.5, Sh???? -7.5,” the instrument case with lightly hand-engraved caption “Jan 8th 1896″ and an index mark.
A rare and significantly interesting Watkin Patent extended scale aneroid barometer, remaining in ‘as found’ and entirely original condition.
Major (later Colonel) Henry Samuel Spiller Watkin of the Royal Artillery was granted a British patent no. 3425 for a rotary indicator and dial scale on 11 March 1886.
Dimensions:
Stock No: WP0293
Price: Vavasseur Archive
James Joseph Hicks
James J. Hicks of London, England was a well-known manufacturer of scientific instruments in the latter half of the 19th century. Born in Ireland in 1837, Hicks apprenticed as an instrument maker with L.P. Casella in London starting in 1852. By 1860 he had risen to a position of foreman with the company. This date also marks the start of Hicks’ many patent filings principally relating to meteorological and clinical thermometers. In 1861 Hicks started his own company at 8 Hatton Garden, manufacturing a variety of scientific and medical appliances. He married Emma Sarah Robertson, a milliner, in 1862 with whom he had a son and two daughters. By the 1870s, James J. Hicks’ manufactory was perhaps the most important supplier of barometers and thermometers in London at the time. He became the first major manufacturer of clinical thermometers and thermometers applied to meteorology and brewing. His company expanded to occupy 8, 9 and 10 Hatton Garden by 1878 catering to the developing science of meteorology, the growing use of industrial control instruments and to military needs through the manufacture of thermometers, barometers, pressure gauges, anemometers and many other types of apparatus. By the end of his working life, he claimed to have manufactured 13 million clinical thermometers, which he supplied throughout the empire. In 1911 Hicks’ company was sold to W.F. Stanley & Co., Ltd in London, and he died in 1916. Hicks’ instruments continue to be sought after for their quality and workmanship.
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