Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.8478
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    Standard Troy Pound

    Date
    1853
    Creator - Organisation
    Troughton and Simms, Instrument maker
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height: 80mm
    Content object
    Description
    Official Parliamentary copy of the Standard Troy Pound [right as viewed] as defined by the 1824 Weights and Measures Act, with original carrying case [left] and its locking key.

    Brass plaque on case engraved: 'Royal Society Troy Pound'.

    In 1843 the original British Standard Pound was destroyed in a fire at the Palace of Westminster. Parliament Commissioned the Restoration of this Standard, on which the Royal Society advised. Upon completion in 1853, this new Standard was deposited with the Society.

    Troughton & Simms was a British scientific instrument making firm, formed when Edward Troughton (1753-1835) took on William Simms (1793-1860) as a partner in 1826.
    Object history
    Presented by George Biddell Airy FRS (1801-1892) who, as the then Astronomer Royal, had been working closely on the Parliamentary Commission [MM/11/31].
    Related fellows
    Sir George Biddell Airy (1801 - 1892, British) , Astronomer and Mathematician
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
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