Antique thermometers
On this page I am going to show my collection of vintage thermometers. This is my virtual thermometer museum :).
Old thermometer with Celsius and Reaumur scale. The thermometer looks rather old. The scale is double - in degrees Réaumur (°R) and Celsius (°C).
The range is about -14 ... +45 °R and -17 ... +56 °C. The filling is mercury.
The exact age is unknown, but as it has scale in Réaumur, which is not used for a really long time, probably this is a very old piece.
Thermometer with original (little repaired) box.
Mercury column
Rear side
R and C scales marking.
Ancient design of measuring tip.
Thermometer with another 3 vintage thermometers with alcohol (spirit) based filling.
Thermometers in protective cases.
Rear side of thermometer for dairies made by Alfa Separator spol. s r. o., Praha XII (Prague 12), Jagellonská street 5, former Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic).
Highlighted temperatures for centrifuging the milk, curdling, sour cream and sweet cream.
Old thermomerter with metal case VEB Fettchemie (existed in years 1945 - 1991), exact age is unknown.
Range -20 ... +140 °C, mercurial.
Very old mercurial room thermometer with Réaumur (°R) a Celsius (°C) scales.
Cca -15 ... +40 °R and -20 ... +50 °C. On rear side it sis marked
425/25 and 2'10, maybe it means year 1910 or 1925.
Double scale °R and °C
Mercury tank with protective metal grid.
Vintage pre-war medical fever thermometer, probably 1918 - 1938 period.
On its scale (35.1...42°C) there is a guide: no fever - fever - medium fever - high fever.
Marking: "B91, Maxima 1/10C, 1 minute, twice tested, family guide." The glass is marked "DB b30"
Big, 28cm (11 inch) long room thermometer with Réaumur scale. Probably from end of 19th century. Scale is -20...+80 °R.
Very old thermometer with Réaumur scale with wooden box, probably from late 19th century.
Marked 591, Heinrich Kappeller, Wien, V.
Some sort of seal.
Almost 60cm (23inch) long accurate laboratory thermometer.
It has narrow range of 18...24 °C (17.80...24.35°C) with 0.01°C (!!!) resolution.
Bis zur Skala eintauchend justiert. Fadentemperatur 18°C. fein gekühlt. Centigrade. Normalglass.
(The thermometer is immersed to the start of scale and column temperature should be 18°C)
It shows 22.56°C.
Very interesting minimum thermometer (minimal value recording since last reset). -49...+37°C
It is filled with colorless alcohol, has a split tank and in the capillary there is the minimum mark. Measures with 0.2°C resolution.
The current temperature is 24°C, the minimum recorded temperature is 21°C. The minimum temperature is indicated by the end of the floating tag.
The thermometer works horizontally. It is reset by putting it in vertical position tip up.
Promotional thermometer from around the beginning of the 20th century, graduated in Reaumur and Celsius. 25...50°C and -20...40°R.
Marked K.Hubacek, Praha II 106.
It is alcohol (ethanol, spirit) filled. The alcohol was probably colored, but faded into light yellowish color.
Glass bulb with alcohol liquid.
Parts of disassembled thermometer during cleaning and varnishing.
Small room thermometer with scale in °C and °R. Blue spirit liquid.
Restored the maximum and minimum (max and min) thermometer, also called Six's thermometer (named after James Six, who invented this mechanism in 1780).
This historic piece probably dates from the 1940s and was made in Hungary.
Six's maximin thermometer is filled with two liquids: alcohol and mercury. It has two scales, both of which show the current temperature.
One of them is inverted. The capillaries are brands that are floating in alcohol and mercury are pushed upwards to
record the maximum and minimum values. A magnet can be used to return them to the levels of mercury.
Detail of capillary and the mark. The mark is made of a hollow blue glass tube with iron wire inside.
The thermometer shows temperature in Celsius and has a range of -30 ... +50 °C.
Temperature is sensed by alcohol (spirit) tank in the middle. Alcohol expands and moves mercury - mercury thus does not serve to measure, but only
show the temperature and move the marks. Although it is a bit confusing red values are negative, black positive. Lower scale (minimum) records the minimum,
upper one (Maxima) the maximum.
Deckert & Homolka thermometer before and after restoration.
Disassembled thermometer during restoration.
Thermometer scale after cleaning.
This mercury room thermometer measures in degree Réaumur and has a range from -20 to +59 °R.
The termometer is produced in Deckert & Homolka Praha (Prague), which operated under that name in years 1878 - 1912, before it was taken over by Ericsson.
Thermometer should thus come from this period.
Vintage thermometer from Austria: Carl Wokurka Graz, Opt & Mech, der k. k. Univ. Aug. Klinik
Set of 6 accurate thermometers - divisions are 1/20°C (-1...18, 17...35, 34...52, 51...68, 67...85, 84...102 °C).
Non-complete set of precise thermometers for Höppler Consistometer in a box.
At rear they are marked: Zum Höppler Konsistometer. Eintauchtiefe 90mm (tells the immersion depth).
Mittl. Fadentemp. (mittlere Fadentemperatur) tells the average capilary temperature.
The most interesting thermometer in the set has range -50 ... -30 °C. As mercury alone gets solid at -39°C, it probably uses
HgTl alloy (Mercury + 8.5% Thalium), with melting point at -59°C. The thermometer also has an expansion tank,
so that it can be stored at temperatures over its range. This thermometer really measures in °C, not in Euros,
as one of my readers joked :).
Legendary quick medical thermometer (30...42°C, division 0.1°C). You don't have to shake this thermometer down.
The column falls immediately after the thermometer is removed. It has to be read before it is removed.
Wall room thermometer with a wooden board and a scale manually scratched into a glass panel. There's a paper under the glass.
Filled with a black liquid. Double scale in degrees Celsius and Réaumur. Range: 0 - 50 °C / 0 - 40 °R.
Added: 9. 11. 2013
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