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Weights & Measures at Melbourne Observatory
Image: Metric mass measures (c. 1865), Troughton & Simms
Source: Museum Victoria
From its inception the Melbourne Observatory had sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weight and measure in the colony could be compared to these primary standards.
The measures were kept in the basement to reduce the effects of changes in temperature, but even so, special calculations had to be made to allow for the expansion and contraction of the metal in the standard yard. The standard yard was set up in a machine fitted with microscopes, so that exact comparisons could be made of two measures. In 1876 a permanent chain standard was erected in the Observatory grounds, to enable the ready testing of surveyor's and engineer's chain lengths.
A Weights & Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s, each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test the scales, weights and measures used by factories and shops. Every ten years the councils' standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian standards.
This checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, the weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, and the weights and measures and testing equipment installed on slate and granite benches. Because the large room had large whirling apparatus for testing air meters, it was always known as the Whirling Room.
When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue this area of the Observatory's work, and this branch remained at the Observatory site until 1995.
References:
Proctor, S.J. (1983). Weights and Measures in Victoria: A History and Survey, Glen Waverley: S.J. Proctor.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 41 - 50) 370 items
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Negative - Main Building, Melbourne Observatory, post 1892
View of Main Building of Melbourne Observatory. The presence of the Computing Room to the left of the dome dates the photograph to 1892 or later.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 0 -
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Compass - Liquid Prismatic, Carl Bamberg
Liquid Primastic compass made by Carl Bamberg, Berlin, No. 1429, and used at Melbourne Observatory.
From: Berlin, Germany Images: 0 -
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Thermometer - Centigrade, Adie
Centigrade thermometer by Adie, London, No. 734273. Range 0 to 50 degrees C. Used at Melbourne Observatory.
From: London, United Kingdom Images: 0 -
Negative - Equatorial House & Photoheliograph House, Melbourne Observatory
8 inch equatorial house and photoheliograph house at Melbourne Observatory, from the north-east.
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
Negative - Main Building, Melbourne Observatory, 1969
Main observatory building, Melbourne Observatory
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
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Coelostat - Paul Garnier
Coelostat made by Paul Garnier, Paris, and used at Melbourne Observatory. A coelostat reflects continuously the same region of the sky into the field of view of a fixed telescope. A mi ...
From: Paris, France Images: 0 -
Negative - Stevenson Thermometer Screen, Melbourne Observatory, circa 1879
Stevenson thermometer screen erected at Melbourne Observatory. Chain standard, erected in 1876, and tower of Government House visible in background. This photograph was possibly taken i ...
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1 -
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Thermometer - Fahrenheit, Grimoldi
Fahrenheit thermometer, by Grimoldi, Melbourne. Range +20 to 120 degrees. Used at Melbourne Observatory.
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
Negative - Timeball Tower, Williamstown
The timeball tower at Williamstown. A telegraph signal from Melbourne Observatory at precisely 1pm each day lowered the brass ball. This allowed ships in Hobson's Bay to correct their c ...
From: Williamstown, Australia Images: 1 -
Negative - Main Building, Melbourne Observatory, 1969
Main Building, Melbourne Observatory
From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 1
