Beschreibung:

A RARE PRINTED CARD 'WEATHER FORECASTER' CALCULATOR PILKINTON'S COPYRIGHT, BUXTON, CIRCA 1930 The rectangular card applied with three graduated rotating discs, the upper inscribed HANDICAP VALUES ARE SHOWN IN THE SLOTS with aperture revealing a number opposing an arrow indicator for printed settings to the upper margin the middle disc beneath annotated STEADY HIGH, STEADY LOW, RAPID FALL, SLOW FALL, RAPID RISE and SLOW RISE over inscription BEHAVIOUR OF THE BAROMETER, this second disc also with an aperture revealing a number opposing a pointer for the lower disc titled WIND DIRECTION, WHENCE COMING annotated in a similar manner N., NE., S., CALM, SE., SW., E. and W., this last disc again with further conforming aperture revealing a number opposing a pointer to read against a scale calibrated in barometric inches annotated IN INCHES, BAROMETER, REDUCED TO SEA LEVEL printed on the card back panel, the upper margin titled WEATHER FORECASTER over inscription PILKINTON'S COPYRIGHT, BOROUGH METEOROLOGISTS FOR A THIRD OF A CENTURY beneath the discs, the lower margin with instructions for use and GRADED FORECAST TABLE providing weather forecasts from the numbers revealed within the apertures; together with an ivorine pocket weather forecaster, Negretti and Zambra, early 20th century formed as three discs, the outer for setting DIRECTION OF WIND and signed NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, LONDON, the middle for BAROMETER AT SEA LEVEL and the centre pierced with three sectors annotated FALLING, STEADY and RISING and inscribed PAT. NO. 6276/15, the rear is annotated with 26 sectors describing a weather forecast beside a letter of the alphabet, in original card box with instructions titled WEATHER FORECASTER, (2). The panel 32.5cm (12.75ins) high, 18.5cm (7.25ins) wide; the pocket forecaster 5.5cm (2.25ins) diameter. The design of the first item in the present lot was almost certainly devised by Miss E.W. Pilkington who was the Borough Meteorologist for the area around Buxton 1923-62, and appears to be based on the principals first incorporated by Negretti and Zambra into their 'weather forecaster' patented in 1915, an example of which is also included in the lot. Negretti and Zambra's design used actual weather conditions over a ten-year period and was said to be 80% accurate by the Manufacturers. By setting the wind direction and barometer reading on the outer two scales, the weather can be forecast by reading the letter that appears within the appropriate sector in the centre of the dial taking into account whether the pressure has been rising, falling or remaining steady and the season (summer or winter).