HISTORY:
West German manufacturers sold these by the thousands back in the 1980's ~ 1990's and they can be found with a variety of manufacturer names or many which had no manufacturer name at all.
The mechanical/chemical mechanism's are all German made (prior to unification) and those components were used to create "weather stations" marketed by various German companies and although often the standard "Banjo" shape, other shapes exist as well.
The banjo style of weather stations all share a common layout, temperature at the top, barometer in the centre and humidity at the bottom. Some had wooden hand crafted ornate frames, others were more ordinary/plain - this weather station fits into the latter category. The only piece of plastic is the backing plate for the Thermometer.
Nice "old world" mechanical and chemical based technology!
If the internet fails or your Telco network fails and B.O.M fails to tell you what is happening/expected to happen, then you can look at your trusty West German "Weather Station" to get an idea what you can expect with the weather. For example, I am told by this weather station that the weather "should" be improving (about time!) as the barometer reading is increasing, the temperature is a pleasant 20 degrees (ish) and the humidity is low - Oh how we need some decent weather! There is a moveable pointer on the barometer which you can set as your "reference" and then you can easily tell if the barometric pressure is increasing (generally a good thing) or decreasing (hmmmm, we are heading into a "low" with unstable weather more likely)
NO batteries, NO "wind up" - it just sits there on your wall measuring three aspects of your environment.
UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER - Weather Station
Made in West Germany (pre-Unification in 1990)
Model: 518 01
NO CHINESE PARTS!
Wall hanging (hangs on a hook or screw already in the wall)
Weight: 400g
DIMENSIONS:
465mm tall
141mm wide (at the Barometer in the centre)
THREE SECTIONS:
Thermometer - Air Temperature
Barometer - Barometric pressure
Hygrometer - Humidity
THERMOMETER:
Uses blue liquid (Isoamyl benzoate and dye) which is NON-TOXIC, unlike Mercury, to indicate the air temperature.
Reads from Minus 10 ~ Plus 50 Celsius
Checked and working with reasonable accuracy - some detail below
BAROMETER:
Measures the air pressure and the changes that are occuring. In general terms, increasing pressure is a good thing and low pressure is not so great but it is also important to see the CHANGES in the air pressure. For example a sudden drop from a high air pressure to a much lower air pressure over a short period of time would tend to indicate the "TAKE COVER NOW!" the weather is about to get very nasty!
Checked over a number of days and it is working fine - some detail below
HYGROMETER:
Measures the amount of water vapour in the air, the humidity. At the moment the humidity is low but on those sticky hot days of Summer you can expect the readings on this instrument to go much much higher! Remember those hot sticky days? Seem like a distant memory here in Sydney!
Also observed over the last few days and it is working fine - some detail below
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Solid timber banjo frame is in good condition, the stained timber has a couple of small "knock marks" but nothing serious and there is no flaking!
The brass surrounds on the Barometer and Hygrometer are clean and shiny without oxidisation being evident - the instrument has not been sitting out in the elements!
The dial faces on both the Barometer and Hygrometer are clean and easy to read.
NO damage to the glass thermometer, Barometer face or Hygrometer face.
The rear is clean and the original manufacturers label (518 01 MADE IN WEST GERMANY) remains attached
TESTING:
Thermometer - working fine, responds/changes to the daily change in temperature and seems to be in the same "approximate" area as other old fashioned thermometers I have here.
Barometer is working fine also. When the photographs were taken (nice clear and sunny day) it was 1030 but now that the weather has gone foul, the barometer has dropped to around 1000
Hygrometer, is also working fine. I tested this (as the result of an enquiry) so I took it out of the sealed plastic and left it outside (under cover of course) for a few hours to see what happened with the Hygrometer readings ...
18:30 - Removed from plastic sealed packet inside the house (air-conditioned) reading 35%
18:50 - Hanging outside (but out of the rain!), the reading is now 65% and rising
20:00 - Now at 85% and the rain is now very heavy so I have now taken the weather station back inside and resealed it in plastic
Nice "old technology" that can still have practical uses as a guide to what is happening with the weather around you and there is no reliance on a power source, data connections or internet access OR just a fun thing to have hanging on your wall in the house!
