ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER

Abelman, Frayne, &Schwab

On August 2, 1695, a British patent was granted to Daniel Quare for a "portable weather-glass column" (also known as a barometer) which were portable and could be turned upside down without spilling any of the mercury contained in it or letting air into the tube. Prior to Quare's invention barometers were delicate, immobile structures which could become unstable or inaccurate if jostled or moved in any way.

Quare's elegant barometers had a wooden or ivory column resting on brass feet and a brass compartment with a glass front to read the measurement scales at the top of the barometric tube.

Just below the top of the tube, Quare formed a constriction controlling sudden mercury flow to protect the closed end of the glass tube from breaking due to the impact by the mercury column during transport.

Daniel Quare was born in 1648 and was actually one of the outstanding clock makers and watchmakers of the generation in which London watchmaking established a leadership role throughout Europe. He was at the forefront of the development of the repeating watch (watches which chimed the hour and quarter hour) in the 1680s. In 1687 he was granted a patent for his system of repeating work after a dispute with Edward Barlow, which was taken to King James II (ruled 1685-1688) for adjudication.

Later in 1695 Quare obtained his patent for the construction of portable barometers as seen in the picture. Members of the Royal Society, were impressed by his design, which "inverted without spilling the quick silver (mercury), or letting in any air, or excluding the pressure of the atmosphere".