Maurer heliograph
Datelate 19th Century
Inventory Number1996-1-0244
ClassificationSunshine recorder
Subject
Maker
Th. Usteri-Reinacher
1880s - ca.1920
User
Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory
1885-present
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Place of Use
Dimensions15.3 × 24.7 × 14.3 cm (6 × 9 3/4 × 5 5/8 in.)
Material
DescriptionThe instrument is a photographic sunshine-recorder, designed by Dr. J. Maurer of the Swiss Meteorological Bureau, It consists of a dark chamber, which is a brass cylinder, with its top oblique to the axis, pierced with a small rectangular hole. The face of the cylinder is inscribed with compass markings. The cylinder is supported on a bracket, which can be fixed at an adjustable angle controlled by a screw. The bottom of the cylinder is removable to allow of the adjustment inside of recording sensitized papers. A small latitude arc is placed under the instrument and the whole is supported on an iron stand with three leveling screws.
Signedinscribed on the face recorder surface: Th. Usteri-Reinacher No. 63 Zurich; inscribed on positioning bracket: Heliograph nach Dr. Maurer
Inscribedtag reads: 28 / Heliograph of Dr. Maurer by Th. Usteri-Reinacher. From BHMO, 9/29/58.
FunctionInstrument to detect and record amount of sunshine striking photographic paper on the inside of the chamber. If the cylinder be fixed with its axis adjusted for latitude and its North-South line in the meridian, the sun's rays passing through the hole at the top, leave a record of their course and intensity on the sensitized paper. As this record is approximately a straight line at right angles to the hour lines engraved on the paper, the duration of sunshine for any particular day can be readily ascertained.
ProvenanceFrom the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, 9/29/1958.
William Henry Pickering
Date: circa 1889
Object number: 1996-1-0191
L. Casella
Date: circa 1886
Accessories: metal 3/4 of a circle (1998-1-0836b); holds a cardboard strip with calibrations marked on it
Object number: 1998-1-0836a,b
Negretti and Zambra
Date: mid 19th-mid 20th Century
Accessories: metal cap
Object number: 1998-1-0843
Julien P. Friez
Date: 1890-1910
Accessories: part (a) is the stand, part (b) is the sensor
Object number: 1998-1-0837a,b
Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory
Date: circa 1939
Object number: 1996-1-0390
William J. Murdock Company
Date: 1910-1950
Object number: RS0163
Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory
Date: circa 1938
Object number: 1996-1-0152
Ralph Gerbrands Company
Date: circa 1950
Accessories: bob hanging by green thread on side; black and red power cord; spare fastening pins in envelope; spare roll of paper
Object number: 1999-1-0004