Expert: Marc Ebelini - 12/18/2006

Question
Dear sir, I found an old, black guage at an estate sale that has on its face "The Bryant Heater & Mfg. Co.", Cleveland, Ohio. At the bottom it says ALTITUDE and it'ss calibrated from 0 to 70. Could this be a very old altimeter? Any help appreciated. Thanks, Richard.

Answer
It's obvious not an aircraft altimeter. To research it further I would go see if the company has a web site. Altitude information for heating equipment is static and required only for adjustment for the local sea level height. The basic two types of altimeters are sensitive and nonsensitive. Both have a circular scale of ten divisions.
In the later type each division was one thousand feet. In the other the first major division was one hundred feet in twenty foot increments rather than 200. The when the sensitive altimeter traveled one revolution a smaller point would indicate the number of times the large pointer traveled the 360 degrees. up to the rated altitude of the instrument. A picture might have helped. You're peaked my curiosity so I will look for Bryant Heater myself. If you need more help let me know. Sorry for any delay but apparently your e-mail did not reach my mail box. The web master alerted me to your unanswered e-mail