Charles Wilder of Peterborough, New Hampshire. A mahogany case stick barometer. 213121.
This stick barometer is American-made. It was made by Charles Wilder of Peterborough, New Hampshire.
This wall barometer was made by Charles Wilder and is considered by us to be his standard stick form. The case is constructed in mahogany and retains an older finish. The case is designed to protect the straight-line glass barometer tube and cast iron cistern, which is installed inside the length of the case. A vernier or marking slide is fitted to the engraved brass faceplate to the right of the tube, which is centered in the case. This faceplate is also die-stamped, "C. WILDER / PETERBORO, / N.H., "and "WOODRUFF'S PAT., JUNE 5, 1860." The faceplate on the left is fitted with a mercury thermometer. "BLOOD HEAT / SUMR / HEAT / TEMPE HEAT / AND FREEZ / ING" are markers on the thermometer along with numerical values. It is also interesting to note that this barometer was made "FOR / BUSTER & GRIFFITH / BALTIMORE." It is so die-stamped in the lower left of this temperature plate. This is very interesting in that it suggests that Wilder had commercial clients. According to the Woods Baltimore City Directory of 1865-1866, BRUSTER & GRIFFITH (James Bruster, John M. Griffith) are listed as manufacturers of Buck-eye mowers and reapers, as well as other agricultural implements. Their shop was located at 49 N Paca in Baltimore.
This instrument is complete and currently working. It was made circa 1865.
Overall, this barometer measures approximately 37 inches long.
Inventory number 213121.
Charles Wilder, the son of Mark and Eliza Ann (Thayer) Wilder, attended common schools and the Academy in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He became a popular teacher and later served as Principal at the Academy. Although he intended to pursue a legal career, his father's debts required him to join the family's shoe peg manufacturing business. After two years, in 1860, Wilder obtained the rights to manufacture portable mercury barometers under a patent held by Lum Woodruff of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Woodruff, who reported weather observations to the Smithsonian Institution, patented a portable barometer that gained significant popularity. The instrument's primary innovation was a divided two-chamber cistern, which allowed the lower portion to remain filled with mercury and be isolated from the upper section when empty. In the fall of 1861, Wilder converted a factory in Peterborough into a barometer workshop and actively promoted Woodruff's instrument. He described it as "simple, durable, accurate, perfectly portable, and very cheap" and "a very beautiful and ornamental piece of furniture." The barometer was marketed as providing farmers with a five percent savings on crops, offering "superior accuracy" for scientists, and serving as a "never ending and constantly varying study of interest" for "gentlemen of leisure and cultivation." All three of Wilder's standard barometer designs also functioned as thermometers, with Fahrenheit scales typically ranging from -20 to 120 degrees. Wilder Barometers were distributed throughout the United States via advertisements in leading agricultural periodicals. As a prominent businessman and community member, Wilder was an active church supporter and served as a state legislative representative in 1869 and 1870, as well as town moderator in 1869. He died in 1900. The business continued briefly before being sold to the W. & L. E. Gurley Instrument Company of Troy, New York. Most of this information was provided by the Peterborough, New Hampshire Historical Society.
