General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

wood casing/ silver disk/ metal (brass?) tube and working parts/ glass thermometer tube containing mercury

Dimensions

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

Length

53.8 cm

Width

18.2 cm

Height

13.7 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Meteorology

Category

Sunshine intensity & duration measurement

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

This instrument was apparently in use for 40 years (Ref. 5).

Canada

A radiation measuring instrument of a type used by the Meteorological Service of Canada to gather radiation data. 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 the radiation from the direct beam of the sun; direct beam RF8 (Radiation Field 8) measurements are made at solar radiation research sites.

Technical

Pyrheliometers are the most accurate of all radiation instruments and are commonly used as standards. The Abbot silver disk pyrheliometer was designed in 1909 by C.G. Abbott at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This type of pyrheliometer is the most accurate, maintains its calibrations for many years and was used in the U.S. as a standard instrument for the calibration of secondary pyrheliometers and pyranometers. It must be calibrated against a primary standard. The silver pyrheliometer has a blackened silver disk supported by fine steel wires at the lower end of a copper tube. A mercury in glass thermometer is used to measure the temperature of the disk, with the thermometer bulb inserted into the disk. A series of diaphragms inside the tube is used to limit the angle of acceptance of the instrument to approximately 6 degrees and a triple shutter mounted in front of the tube is used to shade it from radiation (Refs. 2-4). This example has a cylindrical wooden casing at the lower end of the tube and no manufacturer's label. Silver disk pyrheliometer 2004.0344, which is mounted on a stand, is otherwise very similar in size and construction though with different wood and metal finishes. It also lacks a moveable viewer for the thermometer scale.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

label reads 'TALBERT' T7'/ thermometer scale marked for -10 to 50 degrees in 1/100th increments

Missing

stand

Finish

dark brown stained and coated wood/ plated tubes, parts/ colourless transparent glass

Decoration

N/A