pyrometern.
/pʌɪˈrɒmᵻtə/, U.S. /paɪˈrɑmədər/ Physics and Engineering.
1. An instrument for measuring the expansion of a solid under the influence of heat. Now historical.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > heat > [noun] > measurement of heat > instrument
pyrometer1734
calorimeter1794
actinometer1833
radiation pyrometer1904
1734 J. T. Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. I. v. 426 So much translated from Dr. Muschenbroek, serves to shew some of the many Uses of the Pyrometer; which I have improv'd by the following Changes.
1749 Gentleman's Mag. 19 361/2 The Draught of an accurate Pyrometer or Instrument to measure the Extension or Contraction, of Metal, or other Rods,..invented by Mr. Withurst of Derby.
?1793 Catal. Optical Instruments (W. & S. Jones) 8 Pyrometers, shewing the expansion of metals.
1905 Science 20 Oct. 485/2 Awards of the Rumford Premium... 1832. John Frederic Daniell, experiments with a new register pyrometer for measuring the expansion of solids.
1956 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 12 135 John Ellicott (ca. 1706–1772), F.R.S., clockmaker to King George III, described his ‘pyrometer’, an apparatus for measuring the thermal expansion of metals, in Phil. Trans., 1736, 39, 297.
2. An instrument for measuring the temperature of something very hot, typically hotter than can be measured by a mercury thermometer; esp. one used in furnaces and kilns.The first such instrument was invented by Josiah Wedgwood in 1782, though his paper describing it refers to it as a thermometer ( Philos. Trans. 1782 (Royal Soc.) (1783) 72 305–26).optical, radiation pyrometer: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > measurement of temperature > [noun] > instrument > for very high temperatures
pyrometer1791
fire measure1829
resistance pyrometer1868
optical pyrometer1901
1791 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 81 320 The degree of fire denoted by Wedgwood's pyrometer was 166°.
1812 H. Davy Elements Chem. Philos. 73 Clay contracts considerably in dimensions by a very intense heat, and on the measure of its contractions the pyrometer of Wedgwood is founded.
1881 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 305/1 The ball of a Siemens pyrometer can be introduced into the tuyere through the orifice.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 4/2 Special furnaces which are controlled by the assistance of electrical pyrometers.
1924 A. J. Allmand & H. J. T. Ellingham Princ. Appl. Electrochem. (ed. 2) xxiii. 598 Control of temperature is by voltage variation, the taps on the secondary of the transformer being automatically worked by pyrometers.
1996 Internat. Jrnl. Thermophysics 17 1219 The temperature of the sample was monitored in absolute terms by a two-color pyrometer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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