Drebbel thermometer
Datecirca 1880
Inventory Number1998-1-1277
ClassificationThermometer
Subject
Maker
J. Salleron
fl. 1858 - 1890
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions2.5 x 40 x 11.5 cm (1 x 15 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)
Material
DescriptionA glass vessel consisting of two spherical bulbs connected by a thin glass tube that is straight except for a 180 degree turn right before one of the bulbs. It contains a magenta-colored liquid with both bulbs filled partly with the liquid and partly with air. The vessel is mounted vertically on a rectangular wooden board (making the shape of a "J").
The board is covered by paper that has the maker's signature and a scale on both sides of the glass thermometer, going from 0 to 100 degrees.
The board is covered by paper that has the maker's signature and a scale on both sides of the glass thermometer, going from 0 to 100 degrees.
Signedon plate: Thermomètre de Drebbel. / J. Salleron Rue Pavee au Marais 24 à Paris.
FunctionA nineteenth century reconstruction of one of the earliest forms of thermometers, the Drebbel thermometer. The colored liquid in the column may have originally risen up to the temperature to which the lower bulb was exposed. At the moment, air has moved from one of the bulbs to the other completely flooding the thin tube with liquid.
ProvenanceWas found with Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory instruments.
Todd Scientific Company
Date: 1955-1965
Object number: 1996-1-0396
English
Date: 1850-1900
Accessories: cracked glass cover
Object number: 1998-1-0752
E. Ducretet & Cie
Date: 1870-1890
Accessories: stand (DW0186b)
Object number: DW0186a
American
Date: early 20th Century
Accessories: Liquid inside tube may be ether
Object number: 1997-1-2043
American
Date: early 20th Century
Accessories: rubber tubing, liquid inside tube may be ether
Object number: 1997-1-2042
Distillation Products Industries
Date: circa 1940
Object number: 1998-1-0034
Thomson-Houston Electric Company
Date: late 19th-early 20th Century
Object number: 1997-1-0767
John Cuthbertson
Date: 1770-1815
Accessories: brown storage box, descriptive tag, thin strip of paper in box with the inscription "lucernal microscope" in David P. Wheatland's handwriting (which refers to figs. 47-48 and 51 in this series), page from the book "Old Science and Medicine" with a photographic copy of the first print from this series, entitled "The Large Electric Machine at Haarlem."
Object number: 1998-1-1087
American
Date: 1850-1890
Accessories: paper photocopy of description and usage
Object number: 1998-1-1414
Sylvania
Date: late 19th-early 20th Century
Accessories: brown cardboard box, with handwritten note, "345 on 35"
Object number: RS0369