1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pyrometer

PYROMETER (Gr. πῦρ, fire, μέτρον, a measure), an instrument for measuring high temperatures. The term was first used by Musschenbroek to denote an instrument wherein the expansion of a metal rod measured the temperature. Discontinuous thermoscopes, depending on the fusion of a metal or salt, are also employed. Prinsep prepared a series of alloys of silver and gold, and of gold and platinum, whose melting points, as determined by accurate instruments, covered a range of temperature from 954° to 1775°, at intervals of from 25° to 30°. By placing ingots in a furnace and observing which one melted a fair idea of the temperature was obtained. Carnelley and Williams employed certain salts of known melting point; whilst the Seger's cones, employed in porcelain manufacture, depend on the fusion of small cones made of clay. (See Thermometry for scientific forms.)