パワーハウスミュージアムのインスタグラム(powerhousemuseum) - 6月4日 15時13分

?Today's #PhotoOfTheDay is of an item from our collection.
This is a highly ornamental aneroid barometer. Ornate barometers became popular in the 1870s, and were being designed to hang on the walls of halls, libraries, yachts, and saloons.

The aneroid barometer was developed by Lucien Vidie in the 1840s. 'Aneroid' means 'without liquid' and instead of using mercury trapped in a glass tube, the instrument uses the expansion or contraction of a flexible metal box to measure atmospheric pressure. Aneroid barometers first became available in Australian in 1849 and were quickly preferred for use in exploring, over the delicate mercury barometers.

Australia's weather was a mystery to its early colonists, and instruments similar to this barometer were used to measure atmospheric pressure and make weather forecasts for Sydney and its surrounds.

In exploring Australia, the supply, transport, maintenance, and repair of scientific instruments posed many difficulties. No instrument was more at hazard than the mercurial barometer. A meter long glass tube filled with mercury, even when encased in the metal outer tube, was very vulnerable on long inland journeys. The introduction of the aneroid barometer was a great success as Casella describes in 1871 "This ingenious and elegant instrument is now regarded as almost indispensable to all who take interest in the weather, whilst, to travellers in particular, it presents advantages which hitherto they could not obtain. Although the aneroid barometer was not as precise as a mercurial barometer, it allowed early colonists to take meteorological measurements while exploring the Australian countryside.

The ability to forecast the weather was an important feature in the pioneering of Australia. This barometer is also significant for its association with nineteenth century meteorological instruments and instrument makers. #POTD #MAAScollection #Aneroid #Barometer #BitWetOut #AlwaysTakeTheWeatherWithYou

Object statement
Aneroid barometer, metal / ceramic / glass, made by J H Steward Limited, London, England, 1885-1895

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