Weather Indicator Aneroid Barometer by Short & Mason c.1915

A rare brass cased Weather Indicator aneroid barometer by Short & Mason, retailed by Hutchinson’s Testing Apparatus Ltd, London. Weather Indicator having 4¾” printed alloy dial marked “Falling” or “Rising” with associated weather prognostications, barometric scale calibrated in inches of mercury with a range from 27½” to 31½”, top centre marked “Setting Point,” the lower part annotated “Hutchinson’s Testing Apparatus Ltd, 11, Tothill Street, Westminster, S.W.” Further instructions printed at bottom along with “Patent No 8519-11.” Blued steel pointer, all set beneath a bevelled glass. 2½” capsule driven movement tensioned on a C spring, raised on a cut steel chassis. Enclosed within a high copper content brass drum form case with flared mouth. The lower case with semi-circular slot, sliding screw headed adjuster, arrow set true pressure indicator, the verso with port for calibration screw. Extension post and suspension ring. Condition: Fully serviced, conserved and calibrated under laboratory conditions. Generally worn, the bezel with some distortion, the dial clean and crisp, the movement working well with a more than acceptable degree of error. Comments: A scarce early precursor to Short & Mason’s Stormoguide weather forecaster, patented in the early 1930s. The entire movement rotates within the case, caused by sliding the screw headed adjuster. This enables the pointer to be mapped precisely to the setting point and later observations then interpreted. Prior to 1925 when the BBC commenced broadcasting weather forecasts, numerous companies and individuals applied themselves to designing better and more accurate means of forecasting the weather, the most well-known being products from Negretti & Zambra, including the Weather Watch, Weather Foreteller, and various brass and celluloid forecasters etc. Short & Mason’s Weather Indicator looks to have been produced in relatively small numbers. This is an attractive and very well functioning barometer with the additional interest in the history of forecasting. A collector’s piece.