Mountain barometer

Barometer Ba*rom"e*ter, n. [Gr. ba`ros weight + -meter: cf. F. barom[`e]tre.] An instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, and hence for judging of the probable changes of weather, or for ascertaining the height of any ascent. [1913 Webster]

Note: The barometer was invented by Torricelli at Florence about 1643. It is made in its simplest form by filling a graduated glass tube about 34 inches long with mercury and inverting it in a cup containing mercury. The column of mercury in the tube descends until balanced by the weight of the atmosphere, and its rise or fall under varying conditions is a measure of the change in the atmospheric pressure. At the sea level its ordinary height is about 30 inches (760 millimeters). See {Sympiesometer}. --Nichol. [1913 Webster]

{Aneroid barometer}. See {Aneroid barometer}, under {Aneroid}.

{Marine barometer}, a barometer with tube contracted at bottom to prevent rapid oscillations of the mercury, and suspended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard.

{Mountain barometer}, a portable mercurial barometer with tripod support, and long scale, for measuring heights.

{Siphon barometer}, a barometer having a tube bent like a hook with the longer leg closed at the top. The height of the mercury in the longer leg shows the pressure of the atmosphere.

{Wheel barometer}, a barometer with recurved tube, and a float, from which a cord passes over a pulley and moves an index. [1913 Webster]