Barometers Realm

This is a highly expressive Stormoguide from the celebrated firm Short & Mason, circa 1930—one of the most innovative and comprehensively conceived aneroid barometers of the first half of the twentieth century. Its appearance marked a deliberate attempt to turn the domestic barometer into an “intelligent” instrument capable of delivering an immediate, legible forecast.

The barometer’s remarkable Bakelite body—described by Short & Mason themselves as a walnut finished Bakelite case—evokes the dignity of walnut, yet does so in its own language: not through woodgrain imitation, but through dense, disciplined geometry and the depth of a polished surface. The composition is conceived as a miniature instrument plinth: a broad base-platform carries a central block set between side supports, so that the barometric module appears “suspended” and mobile—like a calibrated instrument unit designed for precise orientation and unhurried observation. The central element is especially distinctive: executed in a hexagonal form, its faceted geometry sets this Stormoguide case variant apart from others. A Bakelite bezel holds a mineral glass crystal with a faceted edge; the slight bevel catches the light and accentuates the depth of the dial, creating a sense of showcase-like precision.

Beneath the glass lies one of Stormoguide’s most recognizable signatures: a dial of silvered brass with fine two-colour engraving, where colour is not decoration but meaning. The numeric barometric scale is concentrated in the 28–31 inches of mercury range, and around it unfold the forecasting sectors: black inscriptions, placed outward relative to the numeric scale, refer to rising pressure and promise clearing weather, steadiness, and a “proper” wind; red formulae, placed inward and closer to the centre, belong to falling pressure and speak in the language of warning—rain, strengthening winds, deterioration. This is the very logic of the Stormoguide: not merely “what it reads,” but “what it implies if the hand is moving one way or the other.”

At the bottom of the dial sits another characteristic, patented feature: the mechanical trend indicator. In a small window it delivers the essential information—whether pressure is rising or falling. This is not a decorative flourish and not the familiar “memory” hand, but a mechanical signal tied directly to the instrument’s motion. And precisely for that reason the traditional brass setting marker—normally adjusted via an external knurled crown—is absent here: the Stormoguide assumes the role of “memory” and “comparison” itself, presenting trend directly, without the owner’s intervention.

A curious detail turns this example into an eloquent document of its era. At the centre of the dial appear the initials S & M, belonging to Short & Mason—the maker of the mechanism and the concept. Yet below, at the base of the scale, one finds the name of another famed London house: Negretti & Zambra. Such coexistence, paradoxical at first glance, is entirely natural in the commercial practice of the twentieth century: most likely Negretti & Zambra acted as the retailer of S&M production, offering the instrument under their name in their London shop. For the market of the time this was a normal mode of collaboration—especially given the close, sometimes competitive, sometimes partnered relationships between major British instrument houses.

Finally, another “internal” pride of the Stormoguide is concealed on the reverse: a patented altitude-calibration mechanism that allows the barometer to be adjusted to local elevation above sea level. In this variant, the accessible limit of the scale is up to 2500 feet, making the instrument convenient for movement between regions and for aligning its indications with sea-level-reduced pressure—without recourse to external tables or lengthy recalculation.

At the heart of the barometer is the recognizable S&M movement, in which the aneroid capsule is tensioned by a C-shaped spring, and motion is transmitted to the pointer arbor via a fusee chain.

In sum, the Stormoguide in this Bakelite “walnut” guise reads as a complete statement of its time: precision presented as an interior object; forecasting translated into mechanics; and an engineering honesty that does not hide—rather, it lives demonstratively on the dial.

The Stormoguide model was developed in the late 1920s by Short & Mason, a company that since 1900 had belonged to the American Taylor Instrument Company. In the United States, barometers of this type were initially promoted under the Tycos trademark (Taylor Instrument Companies); Taylor used the Tycos brand roughly from 1908 to 1932. The Stormoguide was conceived as a “weather forecaster”—Short & Mason’s answer to the popular forecasting barometers and accessories of Negretti & Zambra. The earliest Stormoguides (1922) even echoed the Negretti & Zambra forecasting principle by using simple lettered symbols, which then had to be interpreted via a legend placed at the centre of the dial.

Stormoguide incorporated several innovations protected by patents. Among them were an original double forecasting scale, a pressure-trend indicator (the coloured “Rising/Falling” display), and an altitude-adjustment mechanism.

The principal novelty of the Stormoguide was a special dial-scale that allowed the weather forecast to be read directly from the current pressure and its tendency (rising/falling). Two groups of prognostic inscriptions were applied: one for rising pressure, the other for falling. In total, the Stormoguide carries on the order of fifteen typical forecasts distributed between the two scales. This organisation enabled the user—once the pressure trend was known—to obtain a coherent forecast immediately, without having to interpret the bare numerals of a conventional scale.

In the original U.S. patent for such a construction (No. 1,786,219, 1930, inventor Herman Neuwirth) it is stated: “dial having a calibrated pressure scale and two sets of interpretive legends … whereby the weather is ascertained on falling or rising of the atmospheric pressure.” In other words, the instrument provides two forecast scales, and at any given moment the relevant reading belongs either to the “Rising” group or to the “Falling” group—depending on whether atmospheric pressure is increasing or decreasing. Stormoguide became the first widely produced aneroid in which forecasts were integrated into the dial and effectively “activated” by taking trend into account. Neuwirth’s 1930 patent formally established the idea of the double scale and the three-hand indicator (see below) as a ‘novel dial-indicator construction… readily set for ascertaining coming changes of weather.’ In Great Britain, analogous rights were secured in the early 1930s; British Stormoguide dials bear the patent number No. 407451 (1932), relating to the forecasting scale and indicator construction.

The second key Stormoguide invention was the mechanical trend indicator showing whether pressure is rising or falling. In the early Neuwirth patent (1930), this function was achieved via a three-hand pointer: the main hand showed current pressure, while two additional hands simultaneously pointed to the corresponding forecast legends for rising and falling pressure. Thus, of the two “forecast” hands, either the right-hand (forecast for rising) or the left-hand (forecast for falling) would be the “active” one. This complex concept is described in the claims as a “tri-hand pointer actuated by the barometer mechanism… having hands for respectively indicating a reading on each of said (rising/falling) nomenclatures.” Although the three-hand solution was feasible (we know of its use, for example, in the Maxant tendency barometer “Indic”), in practice Short & Mason adopted a different approach: a coloured flag-type indicator visible through a window in the dial.

At the bottom of the Stormoguide dial are two small square windows, with legends or symbolic marks for Rising/Falling, behind which sits a small movable flag. This indicator automatically deflects left or right with the slightest movement of the main hand, showing the direction in which the latter is travelling. The flag construction was patented (British patent No. 407451 is noted directly on the scale) and became a piece of early-1930s Stormoguide “know-how.” Descriptions note that the flag is extremely light, with minimal friction, and that its deflector is linked to the pointer axis: when the hand turns clockwise the flag shifts one way; on reverse motion it shifts the other. As a result, one window reveals a red mark if pressure is falling, while the other reveals if it is rising. In the literature the device is referred to as a “novelty pressure trend indicating flag,” reacting very quickly to change. The flag was made from thin metal or a painted plate. The system provided a vivid colour signal: “pressure rising—improvement expected” versus “pressure falling—deterioration likely”. Such an automatic indicator was both original and exceptionally useful; traditional barometers usually relied on a manually set brass trend hand and the user’s own comparison over time. Stormoguide eliminated the need for manual trend determination—which took time—since its indicator reacted immediately: a glance at the appropriate window sufficed. In patent language the innovation is generalized as “means for indicating the direction and extent of change of barometric pressure… and an index for each set … operated in correspondence with the movement of said mechanism.” Put simply, the mechanism automatically shows which set of forecasts to consult—falling or rising. Of course, the Stormoguide indicator did not quantify the “rate” of change (a feature implemented much later in electronic barometers), but for its era it was distinctly advanced.

Another important Stormoguide feature was a convenient method for calibrating the barometer to elevation above sea level. Aneroid barometers indicate local atmospheric pressure, which decreases with altitude; for meteorological use it is often necessary to adjust the instrument so that it displays the equivalent sea-level pressure. Stormoguide introduced user-adjustable altitude regulation via a large disc on the rear of the case. This disc bears an altitude scale from 0 to 2500–3500 feet, and by rotating it the user shifts the entire dial reading by the appropriate correction. In essence, turning the disc rotates the entire mechanical assembly relative to the dial, changing the effective zero point of the pressure scale. The altitude scale is graduated so that, for example, setting it to 500 ft makes the hand indicate pressure corrected to sea level for a location approximately 500 feet above sea level.

Although altitude calibration had appeared earlier (for example in Negretti & Zambra’s forecasting barometer under Whiteside-Cook’s Patent in pocket format), Stormoguide offered a simple, convenient external mechanism specifically for desk and wall instruments. Company advertisements mention a “patented feature of adjusting the dial for varying altitudes.” Thus, the same barometer could be used in a coastal town and in mountainous regions after a straightforward adjustment. When relocating the instrument, one would compare its reading with a reference (or a known normal pressure) and rotate the disc until the readings matched.

The Short & Mason Stormoguide—whose technical solutions embodied a drive to increase informational clarity and user convenience—secured its niche and remained popular among enthusiasts and in maritime practice. Its various modifications, from elegant Art Deco desk instruments to utilitarian ship’s barometers, demonstrated the versatility of the concept. Stormoguide aneroids stand as a vivid testimony to how the classic aneroid barometer was raised to the level of a “domestic weather station” long before the digital era.