12.12-7: Dwyer 1960 ‘U' Tube Manometer

HHCC Accession No. 2006.130	HHCC Classification Code: 12.12-7

Description:

Dwyer, ‘U’ tube manometer for measuring static air pressure and air velocity in air ducts and grills, equipped with a range of fittings and slide rule calculator, enclosed in blue soft side carrying case, part of the increasingly sophisticated tool box required of warm air heating and oil burner installation and service technicians by the middle years of the 20th century, Circa 1960.

Image Gallery (2 Images)

Group:

12.12 Pressure Atomizing Oil Burner Equipment and Systems - Installation, Test and Repair

Make:

Dwyer

Manufacturer:

F. W. Dwyer Mfg. Company, Michigan City Ind.

Model:

Serial No.:

Size:

4 inch x 9 inches x 1inch

Weight:

6 ozs.

Circa:

1960

Rating:

Exhibit, education, and research quality, illustrating the array of increasingly sophisticated measuring devices required by automatic warm air heating installation and service technicians in the middle and latter years of the 20th century - part of a newly emerging service economy in Canada.

Patent Date/Number:

Provenance:

From York County (York Region) Ontario, once a rich agricultural hinterlands, attracting early settlement in the last years of the 18th century. Located on the north slopes of the Oak Ridges Moraine, within 20 miles of Toronto, the County would also attract early ex-urban development, to be come a wealthy market place for the emerging household and consumer technologies of the early and mid 20th century.

This artifact was discovered in the 1950’s in the used stock of T. H. Oliver, Refrigeration and Electric Sales and Service, Aurora, Ontario, an early worker in the field of agricultural, industrial and consumer technology.

Type and Design:

U tube manometer design Calibrated for measuring static air pressure air velocity in air ducts and grills, equipped With a range of scales and fittings With slide rule calculator, Enclosed in blue soft side carrying case.

Construction:

Material:

Special Features:

Accessories:

Capacities:

Performance Characteristics:

Operation:

Control and Regulation:

Targeted Market Segment:

Consumer Acceptance:

Merchandising:

Market Price:

Technological Significance:

With the increasing sophistication and complexity of 20th century technology applications for the Canadian home, came the need for better instrumentation and measurement for equipment installation and calibration, performance monitoring, trouble-shooting and diagnosis . In the field of automatic home heating the requirements were in the areas of liquid and gas pressure, electrical and air flow measurement ‘ ‘if you can’t measure it you can’t control and regulate it’. This air flow and pressure manometer stands as a marker of the nature of test and measurement practices in the HVACR field by the middle of the 20th century. It demonstrates the robust, reliable and affordable test and measurement equipment for the oil, warm air heating and air conditioning industry in use in the early 1960’s.

In the 1960's HVACR test and measurement technology was still analogue, hydraulic and mechanical in nature, digital electronic measurement devices were still close to half a century away.

Industrial Significance:

In the early post W.W.II years, it became increasingly evident that the HVACR industry was seriously limited by the lack of affordable test and measurement equipment for field use in installation and after market service. The field was clearly dependent on those who would design, develop and bring such equipment to market, at a price the tradesmen could afford. Often the equipment that was available was of the laboratory type, too sensitive and delicate, lacking the robust quality needed for life in the toolbox. What was required was a new generation of such measurement and test devices.

Socio-economic Significance:

It was the 1930’s and as Canada slowly emerged from the economic depression of the period, so too would a new economic sector emerge, the service sector, one which would grow to dominate, contributing much of the country’s economic strength well before the end of the century. The home service trades grew rapidly during this pre W.W.II period and on into the 1950’s, plumber, electrician, heating and refrigeration. They brought with them a new quite different breed of industrial worker, mobile, entrepreneurial, and skilled in the new consumer technologies then available for the Canadian home. The age of scientific measurement in the HVACR industry was well established by the 1950’s, bringing with it a new generation of mechanics and technicians, able to use the equipment effectively.