Barograph help needed

[Sans Bateau]

SWMBO has bought me an antique Reid and Young (Glasgow) baroghraph for Christmas! What an imaginative present?!!

Trouble is, I've never used one before, are there any do's and dont's? I would hate to damage it.

 

[sarabande]

Assuming the arm goes up and down in relation to atmos pressure, all you need is to find a set of charts, a nib with slow-dry ink, and to verify that the instrument is "zero-ed" to your local air pressure. Is the clockwork OK ? There should be a little speed adjustment lever to help it run 24 hours to the day.

Keep it away from radiators, bright sunshine, laundry rooms (humidity), and you should have a lot of fun. I still have my chart from the 1987 storm, but that's from a Lufft barograph !

 

[stephenh]

If you have any blank papers with it , take one away and photocopy it and then keep the original in a safe place as they are very expensive / difficult to find.

Good luck - I'm green with envy !!! - mine went awol years ago.....

 

[philmayfield]

Charts and ink can be obtained from here
http://www.barometerspareparts.co.uk/index.html
You'll need a barometer to set and check the calibration which is adjusted with the setting screw.
Get up eary every Sunday morning to wind it, change over the chart and re-ink the pen!

Phil

 

[VicS]

Treat it like you would any delicate scientific instrument.

The clockwork mechanism will need periodic cleaning and oiling by a good watchmaker.

You can check the barometer reading against the figures for your nearest station on http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ If it needs ajustment do it when the pressure is fairly steady and close to the mean of 1013mb. (I guess being antique original charts will be in inches Hg so that's about 29.9" . You can choose in. Hg readings from the above website)

Modern ones use fibre tipped pens but I guess yours is going to need the special ink. Hopefully you have the little bottle.

Some can be set to give either weekly or monthly recording.

DONT TAP IT.

Also very envious!

 

[Sans Bateau]

Oh! Thanks and a merry Christmas to you all!

Yes! What a present, could not believe it when I took the wrapper off! Isnt she a darling!

The instrument came with a box of weekly papers, but I will copy a whole load well before they run out. It also came with some ink, it has a little well and sort of nib to draw the line. I have it running now and have a line about 1cm, sorry 1/2 inch long!

I have now been told it is early 20th century but is in beautiful condition, I will treasure it always!

 

[AndrewF]

You lucky lucky lucky b........d.
Green with envy.

 

[sarabande]

put up a piccy when it's running please ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[peterb]

Lucky man! Best I've managed is one of those electronic weather stations.

Can I reinforce VicS's "DON'T TAP IT". Its a good way to ruin the bearings. If you must tap, then tap the table it's standing on.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
If you must tap, then tap the table it's standing on.

[/ QUOTE ] But preferably a table its not standing on.

We had a beauty where I worked in the 1970's. It had been overhauled by our own insrument department sparing no expense some years earlier. I wonder who nicked it when the place closed, I bet someone did, it just sat on a little shelf in the shift engineers office and could have been taken at anytime by almost anyone.

 

[michael_w]

Met check supply charts, ink etc. I sent them a copy of my barograph's chart. They supplied a pack of new ones by return.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, what a present! And, dare I say, an excellent investment. Make sure that it is covered by your household insurance policy. What you DON'T want is 'new for old', though /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Darmik]

This arrived this morning, I cant wait to get it up and running

 

[sarabande]

That's a good looking piece of kit. Quite a lot of electronic barographs around, but nothing beats the tactility of paper tracking.


Somewhere under the office desk I have Casella museum instrument. I'll post a photo when I return from a car journey.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I have an ancient thermograph which I built up from a box of bits hoping, when I was given it, that it was a barograph. Note the spring loaded feet. I suspect it was originally installed somewhere prone to vibration, perhaps a ship's engine room.

I converted it to felt tip pen as it's a lot less messy. @Darmik, if you want a bottle of ink drop me a PM with your address.

 

[Darmik]

I have an ancient thermograph which I built up from a box of bits hoping, when I was given it, that it was a barograph. Note the spring loaded feet. I suspect it was originally installed somewhere prone to vibration, perhaps a ship's engine room.

I converted it to felt tip pen as it's a lot less messy. @Darmik, if you want a bottle of ink drop me a PM with your address.

View attachment 191036

If only I had see your post an hour ago, ive just ordered some….Thats really kind of you Thanks

 

[Darmik]

I was looking through the old charts that were in my Barograph drawer, and came across these two….