Draper's self-recording thermometer
Datecirca 1887
Inventory Number1996-1-0177
ClassificationThermometer
Subject
Maker
Black & Pfister
fl. 1880s - 1890s
Inventor
Daniel Draper
1841 - 1931
User
Department of Geology and Geography, Harvard University
1890 - 1961
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions52.2 × 33.9 × 15.5 cm (20 9/16 × 13 3/8 × 6 1/8 in.)
Material
DescriptionAtop two angular metallic feet sits the base piece of the instrument, thin dull-grey and made of iron. Its shape brings to mind that of a two-dimensional circle resting atop an isosceles trapezoid. Atop the circle are a small metal handle, and a small metal fitting that would allow it to be mounted on a nail or screw.
On the front of the trapezoid, one finds raised red lettering that conveys the name of the object and the manufacturer. Under it is a bubble level. Fitted over the circular component is a circular frame, of the same color and material as the base piece. It is connected to the circle by a hinge on the right, and a ring-style clasp on the left. On the surface of the frame are two kinds of decoration: along each of the four quadrants is a raised curve painted a more lustrous version of the color of the handle; at each of the four 'corners' of the frame (the top, bottom, left and right) are small dots the color of the raised curves.
Set inside the circular frame is a circular sheet of paper. The sheet is divided into labeled days and hours by curved radial lines and into tens of degrees by concentric circular lines. Every other radiating section, the page is divided into fourteen of them, is colored blue, increasingly so closer to the center.
Slightly above and to the right of the center of the paper rests an arm that emerges from between the frame and the paper. The arm is made of two strips, each made of a different metal, welded together.
On the front of the trapezoid, one finds raised red lettering that conveys the name of the object and the manufacturer. Under it is a bubble level. Fitted over the circular component is a circular frame, of the same color and material as the base piece. It is connected to the circle by a hinge on the right, and a ring-style clasp on the left. On the surface of the frame are two kinds of decoration: along each of the four quadrants is a raised curve painted a more lustrous version of the color of the handle; at each of the four 'corners' of the frame (the top, bottom, left and right) are small dots the color of the raised curves.
Set inside the circular frame is a circular sheet of paper. The sheet is divided into labeled days and hours by curved radial lines and into tens of degrees by concentric circular lines. Every other radiating section, the page is divided into fourteen of them, is colored blue, increasingly so closer to the center.
Slightly above and to the right of the center of the paper rests an arm that emerges from between the frame and the paper. The arm is made of two strips, each made of a different metal, welded together.
Signedon the base, in arched lettering, raised and painted red: DR. D. DRAPER'S / RECORDING THERMOMETER / CONSTRUCTED BY / BLACK & PFISTER / 142 MAIDEN LANE N.Y. / PAT. APP'D FOR
Inscribedin the center of the circular face made out of paper: DRAPER'S THERMOMETER / OBSERVED AT / ___________ / WEEK ENDING / ________ / "COPYRIGHT" 1887 BY THE DRAPER MFG CO. N.Y.
FunctionThe function of the self-recording thermometer, or thermograph, is to record the continually changing air temperature in real time.
Draper's model possesses a metallic thermometer. One end of the thermometer is fixed; the other is attached to a train of levers which magnify the small expansions or contractions of the metal in the thermometer. The end of the final lever carries a pen which contains a non-freezing glycerin ink, and rests on the circular record sheet that rotates once a week. As the temperature rises, the pen is carried outwards from the center of the sheet; as the temperature falls, the pen is carried inwards. After any given time of any given day of the week, that moment's temperature in degrees Fahrenheit can easily be read off the sheet.
Although the Draper model was known to be less accurate than the standard mercurial thermometer, it was seen to make up for that slight inaccuracy by the continuity of its record; thus, it would often be consistently checked by frequent readings off of a mercurial thermometer driven by an accurate clock.
Draper's model possesses a metallic thermometer. One end of the thermometer is fixed; the other is attached to a train of levers which magnify the small expansions or contractions of the metal in the thermometer. The end of the final lever carries a pen which contains a non-freezing glycerin ink, and rests on the circular record sheet that rotates once a week. As the temperature rises, the pen is carried outwards from the center of the sheet; as the temperature falls, the pen is carried inwards. After any given time of any given day of the week, that moment's temperature in degrees Fahrenheit can easily be read off the sheet.
Although the Draper model was known to be less accurate than the standard mercurial thermometer, it was seen to make up for that slight inaccuracy by the continuity of its record; thus, it would often be consistently checked by frequent readings off of a mercurial thermometer driven by an accurate clock.
ProvenanceFrom the Department of Geology and Geography, Harvard University.
George Erle Beggs
Date: early 20th-mid 20th Century
Accessories: 6 deformeter gauges;
22 plugs;
2 cylindrical plastic boxes containing screws and metal strips for fastening the ends of the structure;
metal stylus;
2 metal pins;
2 celluloid wedges;
1 rectangular celluloid piece with a wedge coming out of one end
Object number: 1999-1-0064
Fabre et Cie
Date: circa 1856
Object number: 5468
Hammond Typewriter Company
Date: circa 1923
Accessories: four Hammond type shuttles for different type faces, each with a wooden storage box; four laminated paper rectangles with symbol placement guide; instruction book, instruction sheets, advertisements, and correspondence (in object file)
Object number: 1996-1-0373
American
Date: 1850-1900
Accessories: calorimeter; stand; lid
Object number: 1997-1-1142
American
Date: 1940
Accessories: 3 rules; a brasslike hanger rod
Object number: 1997-1-1870
Jakob Amsler
Date: circa 1906
Accessories: instrument is in four (4) parts; the rail is in own box and is inventory # 2006-1-0002b; letter from Prof. William Brower containing the complete history of ownership and use (missing)
Object number: 2006-1-0002a
L. E. Knott Apparatus Company
Date: 1928
Accessories: two cylindrical black weights; two pins with silver puck stands
Object number: 5816
Hermann & Pfister
Date: circa 1872
Accessories: pine box; instruction manual; glass tubes (2); open-ended tube; gas lamp (DW0854b)
Object number: DW0854a
Fabre et Cie
Date: circa 1856
Object number: 5469