Last Updated: Mar 28, 2019     Views: 73

I'm attaching a brief bibliography on the history of glass thermometers and barometers. If you are inquiring specifically about the spring made for the Accademia's "spiral thermometer," according to our Resident Adviser to the Studio, Bill Gudenrath,  the springs are probably lampworked. He thinks they are freehand lampworked, rather than twisted around a mandrel, but that part he is not positive about...something in the irregularity of the spiral, I guess, seemed to suggest freehand to him. He said a good source for information on this technique is Scientific Glass Blowing by W.E. Barr and Victor Anhorn, published way back in 1949. We have a copy here. If you are interested, I can photocopy the relevant pages and send them to you.

He also suggested contacting a scholar who has researched this instrument and others from the time period, Detlef Heikamp. We have a book by him that pictures the same thermometer....Studien Zur Mediceischen Glaskunst.

Dr. Detlef Heikamp is associated with the Kunsthistoriches Institute in Florence. His e-mail address is listed there as:

Prof. Dr. Detlef Heikamp
E-mail: heikamp@khi.fi.it
 

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