General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

non-ferrous metal - bronze?/ metal clips

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

8.1 cm

Width

8.0 cm

Height

N/A

Thickness

6.0 cm

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Meteorology

Category

Atmospheric temperature measurement

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Unknown

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

This device was apparently in use for 50 years (Ref. 7)

Canada

A thermometer stand of the type used by the Meteorological Service of Canada to gather temperature data across Canada. Part of a large collection of meteorological instruments acquired from the Meteorological Service of Canada (previously Atmospheric Environment Service) by the CSTM since 1967. MSC is the government agency responsible for collecting and disseminating meteorological data and forecasts in Canada. It was founded in 1871 in Toronto where it is still headquartered. The MSC was originally on the University of Toronto downtown campus but moved to Downsview in 1971 on land owned by UofT. The headquarters houses laboratories, research facilities and calibration and instrument maintenance facilities (now largely contracted out).

Function

A holder in which a thermometer was mounted so as to be held a specific distance above the ground to measure the grass minimum temperature, which is the minimum temperature of the surface of the ground at night.

Technical

An example of a MSC stand for a grass minimum thermometer. This small heavy stand holds a bare minimum thermometer in the clips. This places the thermometer 5 cm off the ground which is the location of the lowest (and highest) temperature above the ground. Grass minimums were used at agricultural sites to determine damage to crops. It is only used for local consumption at agricultural research stations. The reason for the bare thermometer was to reduce any effects due to the sheath or thermometer holder. Older grass minimums used a large spherical bulb. See also 1989.0105 for a similar thermometer stand with a minimum thermometer (Ref. 1). This type of stand appears in the 1952 and 1971 MSC thermometer manuals (Refs. 2 & 3) and the 1992 AES Climatological Observation manual (Ref. 4).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

none

Missing

appears complete

Finish

grey

Decoration

N/A