Wheel Barometer

“The whole length of the tube of the wheel barometer, from C to A, is 34 or 35 inches, and it is filled with mercury, as usual. The mercury rises in the short leg to the point a, where there is a small piece of glass floating on its surface, to which there is attached a silk string, passing over the pulley p. To the axis of the pulley is fixed an index, or hand, and behind this is a graduated circle, as seen in the figure. It is obvious, that a very slight variation in the height of the mercury at o, will be indicated by a considerable motion of the index, and thus changes in the weight of the atmosphere, hardly perceptible by the common barometer, will become quite apparent by this.” —Comstock, 1850

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