| The Lighthouse Tendency
Barometer
has two color images of well-known lighthouses on this model. The top lighthouse
is the Portland Head Lighthouse in Portland, Maine.
It is a classic looking lighthouse while the lower lighthouse is the
Montauk Point Long Island Lighthouse in New York, one of the nations oldest
operating lighthouses.
The Tendency Barometer was patented on December 23, 1818 by Alexander Adie. It was used by Ross on his expeditions. He is quoted in his diary as saying " the advantage of the tendency barometer to a mercury barometer is as big as having a mercury barometer to having no barometer at all." It consists of two liquid filled, mercury free tubes. One tube in a U-shaped which is open ended and filled with a red fluid; and one closed thermometer tube filled with a blue fluid, mounted parallel to each other. When the fluid levels are the same, the weather is changing. When the red fluid level is below the blue fluid level, the weather is fair (high pressure pushes the red fluid down in the tube). When the red fluid level is above the blue, stormy weather is predicted (low pressure allows the red fluid to move up the tube). The thermometer measures in both Celsius and Fahrenheit and the barometer measures in millibars/ hPa. The overall instrument measures 20 inches high by 6.7 inches wide. An absolutely beautiful presentation piece that will last for generations. User Manual
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