THREE BLACK JAPANNED AND LACQUERED BRASS KEW-PATTERN MERCURY MARINE STICK BAROMETERSJ. HICKS, S. AND A. CALDERARA, AND KELVIN & HUGHES LIMITED, LONDON, EARLY TO MID 20th CENTURY Each with slender cylindrical case with the upper section incorporating silvered scale with vertical slot to reveal the tube and sliding Vernier reading against silvered scale calibrated in barometric inches to the right for all three and millibars to the left for the examples signed J. HICKS, LONDON with Met Office monogram MO and numbered 1298 and KELVIN & HUGHES MARINE LIMITED, LONDON, No. 8507, the third without Millibar scale and signed S. &. A CALDERARA, LONDON to upper margin over Met Office MO monogram and number 2209, the shafts with Vernier adjtment disc to right and applied mercury tube Fahrenheit scale thermometer (Hicks lacking thermometer tube), the bases with cylindrical cisterns, The Kelvin and Hughes now in a wooden box applied with paper labels relating to an instrument by 'F, Darton & Co. Ltd' supplied to the Air Ministry Meteorological Office, (all unrestored lacking scale glasses and in varying states ofpleteness), (3).The Hicks and Kelvin approximately 90cm (35.5ins) high, 5cm (2ins) max diameter; the Calderara 100cm (39,5cm) high, 9cm (3.5ins) max diameter.Provenance: The archive collection of Barometer World Meum, Merton, Devon; the second and third acquired direct from the Meteorological Office.James Joseph Hicks is recorded in Banfield, Edwin BAROMETER MAKERS AND RETAILERS 1660-1900 as working from Hatton Garden, London from 1861 until after 1900. He was amitted Catholic who presented vario meteorological instruments to the Vatican receiving the title Knightmander of St. Gregory in recognition for his services.The firm of Kelvin and Hughes Limited was formed in 1947 with the merger of Henry Hughes and Son Limited of London with Kelvin, Bottomley and Baird Limited of Glasgow.Serafino and Alfred Calderara are recorded by Banfield as working from 10 Cross Street, Hatton Garden, London from 1875 until well into the 20th century.The Kew pattern marine barometer was developed prior to 1855 by John Welsh of the Kew Observatory and Patrick Adie and included refinements such as iron cistern beneath thermometer bulb within the brass tube case (in order for the temperature reading to mirror that of the mercury in the tube), a restriction in the bore of the tube (to dampen the movement of the mercury) and a Bunten air trap.