"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
news
"Paul Crabtree" wrote ...
I have just purchased a Darton Thermograph on Ebay, looked a good idea
at the time !
It has now safely arrived and appears to be in semi working order,
clock and rotating chart appears to work but the ink has all dried up
and I suspect the nib is damaged.
Just wondered if anyone had any links to a full working order device,
or some instructions regards the ink and nib.
Brief photo on here http://tiny.cc/4z12x


... can't get that link to work for me - I get a '404': if you're going to
go in for what I suppose nowadays would be regarded as 'legacy'
instrumentation, then it might be an idea to get hold of the 'official'
book(s) that covers such equipment as I doubt (though might be proved
wrong) that such will be found easily on the Net.

The 'official' volume for the UK (and associated services), was the
Handbook of Meteorological Instruments (HMSO/Meteorological Office) ... in
several parts: the part you need is 'Part 1: Instruments for Surface
Observations'.

I see Amazon has some for sale, though not cheap ... £22= (+p&p) but if
you're into these things for the long haul, it would be a wise investment.

On the specific ink/nib thing, IIRC, autographic instruments such as this
were eventually switched to integral nibs which we just slipped onto the
pen arm rather than all that messing about with cleaning the triangular
nib (methylated spirits) and dripping ink (carefully!) into the nib etc.,
with the usual build-up of gungy-ink on the base of the
thermograph/hygrograph etc.

The problem was that the integral nibs would dry up suddenly (like a
'Biro') and unless you kept an eye on them, you could lose a 12-24hrs
worth of 'trace' (depending on how often the screen was visited), and at
this time, many offices were 'distant reading' temperatures rather than
traipsing out to the screen hourly (or more frequently) to read the
thermometers.

Someone in the newsgroup of course may have a copy of the publication and
might be able to scan the appropriate pages/diagrams.

Martin.


I found this Google Book useful when setting up a thermohygrograph
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Q...s_similarbooks
If you are using Firefox then Pixlr Grabber will allow you to 'grab' and
print pages
I've used Barometer World www.barometerworld.co.uk and Read Scientific
for consumables.
--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055