Barometers Realm

The device consists of a slender tube with a sealed air chamber and a column of colored liquid (oil). The tube is open at one end and communicates with the atmosphere. As atmospheric pressure changes, the compressible gas (ordinary air) above the liquid contracts or expands, moving the liquid column up or down. Since the gas volume also depends on temperature, an alcohol thermometer with blue indicator fluid is mounted next to it. To take a reading, the user compares the height of the red oil column in the sympiesometer tube with the level of the fluid in the thermometer. Then, the plexiglass dial at the top of the instrument is rotated in relation to the concentric scale around it—rightward if the oil column is below the thermometer level, leftward if it is above. The scale is marked in empirical units from 0 to 8 in both directions, which correspond to the divisions of the main linear scale along the sympiesometer tube. This allows one to determine the barometric tendency, further illustrated on the concentric scale with small pictograms representing bad, variable, or good weather.

The sympiesometer and thermometer tubes are mounted on the front of a plexiglass panel measuring 42 cm in height, 8 cm in width, and 1 cm in thickness. All scales are printed directly onto the plexiglass using pad printing or screen printing techniques.

A beautiful fusion of form and function, this instrument offers a clear and intuitive reading of atmospheric changes.