Amesbury Thermometer Co. – A Short-Lived Success

Ornate desk thermometer offered by Jennings Brothers Manufacturing Company and incorporating an Amesbury Thermometer Company mechanism and dial. (Photo courtesy of Amesbury Carriage Museum.)

When you set your oven temperature to roast a holiday turkey or pumpkin pie, you probably don’t think about how relatively simple cooking has become thanks to thermometers and thermostats. But before 1900, cooking in an oven wasn’t nearly so simple. Oven thermometers were a rare novelty at that time, meaning that temperature had to be gauged by the cook, who would thrust an arm into the oven and determine temperature by how long he or she could hold it there.

A dial room thermometer manufactured by Amesbury Thermometer Company. (Photo courtesy of AnalogWeather.com.)

Here in Amesbury, the growing popularity of a more accurate and less painful method of determining oven temperature – the oven thermometer – made possible a short-lived but prosperous business called Amesbury Thermometer Company. It operated from 1903 to 1913 and made thermometers that were built into ovens by many stove and oven manufacturers. “ATCo” dial thermometers were also incorporated into ornate desktop cases and hung on walls. The company made related items, too, such as temperature-activated oven dampers and thermometers that rang a bell when a pre-set temperature was reached.

Once again, ACM Industrial Survey Team member Mike Harrold has uncovered and documented the forgotten details of an Amesbury business success story for us to enjoy. Mike found that the company employed 30 to 60 employees and was located on Mechanics Row, off Main Street on the edge of Patten’s Pond. Operations there included plating, forging, machining and assembly – all in one building.

Their dial thermometers, unlike older and more delicate mercury or alcohol glass thermometers, contained a ribbon made from two different metals fused together. This ribbon curled and uncurled in response to temperature changes, and one end of the ribbon was attached to a pointer that moved across a printed dial. Temperature could be seen at a glance, and the device was much less likely to break accidentally.

These “bimetallic” thermometers weren’t invented in Amesbury, unfortunately. But a 1918 obituary in the Amesbury Daily News ascribes their invention to an employee of the Amesbury Thermometer Company, John W. Miller, who probably invented it in Peabody, Mass., before the Amesbury company was founded. Nonetheless, Amesbury Thermometer Company founders and Miller deserve credit for skillfully organizing the manufacturing process to create a thriving and profitable business that benefited its employees and the town for ten years.

Read Mike Harrold’s Amesbury Thermometer Company report here