General Information

Serial #

118

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

metal (brass?) armour/ glass tube/ mercury?

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

30.5 cm

Width

N/A

Height

N/A

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

1.5 cm

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Meteorology

Category

Atmospheric temperature measurement

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

1970s+; ithis instrument was apparently in use for 30 years (Ref. 6)

Canada

An example of an armoured thermometer of a type used by the Meteorological Service of Canada. Part of a large collection of meteorological instruments acquired from the Meteorological Service of Canada (previously Atmospheric Environment Service) by the CSTM since 1967. MSC is the government agency responsible for collecting and disseminating meteorological data and forecasts in Canada. It was founded in 1871 in Toronto where it is still headquartered. The MSC was originally on the University of Toronto downtown campus but moved to Downsview in 1971 on land owned by UofT. The headquarters houses laboratories, research facilities and calibration and instrument maintenance facilities (now largely contracted out).

Function

An instrument used to measure temperature by means of its effect on a column of mercury in glass, armoured for use in measuring water temperature.

Technical

An armoured thermometer which appears to be the type used with B.M.O. (British Meteorology Office) type sea temperature buckets of the kind used by the Canadian Meteorology Service circa 1971 (see 1987.0825, 1987.0826, 1989.0112). The armoured thermometer was fixed in the bucket, the bucket was suspended from a stationary or moving ship so that water passed through it, enabling the thermometer to reach the temperature of the seawater (Ref. 1). Surface water temperatures are measured on ships as part of the meteorological observations. Surface water temperature is an important source of energy for the atmosphere and is needed for computer forecast models (Ref. 4). In 1971 the Canadian Meteorological Service of the Department of Transport became the Atmospheric Environment Service (AES) of the Department of the Environment; the name was changed back to MSC by 1999 (Refs. 2-3). Artifacts marked ‘AES' were made in that period. Temperature has been measured in degrees Celsius in Canada since the mid 1970s.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Black lettering on thermometer front reads 'AES SEA TEMP' , 'BCY5' and '118'/ black scale markings and numbers for approx. -10 to 35 degrees C.

Missing

complete

Finish

gold coloured metal armour/ clear, colourless glass tube with white back/ metallic bulb

Decoration

N/A