Retro Analog Tin Rain Gauge & Recorder Farmers Elevator Grain North

Larry was tired of bailing water out of his old fishing boat, tied up at the dock on Lake Chaubunagungamaug. Every time it rained, he’d show up with a bucket and a sigh.

       “How much water do you have to bail this time?” asked his friend Barney, watching from the dock with a coffee and zero intention of helping.

       “I dunno,” Larry grumbled. “How much rain did we get yesterday?”

       Barney, not exactly known for his scientific insight, brightened. “You need a glass and tin rain gauge. Like my uncle had. Simple.” He was thinking of the kind of rain gauge pictured above.

Larry blinked. “Wait, you’re telling me I don’t need an app? No satellite data? No phone alerts?”

       “Nope,” Barney said. “It’s a glass tube with numbers. Rain falls in it, you look at it. Boom. Knowledge.”

Larry scratched his head. “So... not everything has to be on my smartphone?”

       Barney grinned. “That’s right. Sometimes, the smartest tech is a stick in the yard. Now let’s talk about snowfall.”

       While the first rain gauge was invented in India in 400 BCE, it was improvements in tin and lithography in the late nineteenth century that made the inexpensive but fairly accurate analog gauges we still use today. Not to be confused with meteorological rain gauges, which are accurate to the hundredth of an inch, analog gauges like this one measure in tenths of an inch, which is good enough for your average farmer, gardener, weather watcher, or fisherman.

       The novelty industry, an early twentieth century spinoff of the gaming machine industry, came up with the idea of printing adverts on tin or painted steel outdoor thermometers and rain gauges in the 1910s. Think of any other utilitarian household item that you might look at several times during a day. Novelty manufacturers sent armies of salesmen from cities such as Chicago to agricultural businesses in the smallest of towns and burgs in the central US and sold them weather gauge advertising. Check the temperature, see their ad. Watch the rain gauge fill up and see their ad.

       If you’d rather watch a gentle rain shower than stare at a smartphone, this is the item for you. There is no manufacturing information or date on this device, but we’re guessing it is from the 1990s. Farmers Grain and Supply Association is still in business and doing well in North Creek and Pleasant Bend in northwestern Ohio.

There are two holes on the bottom plate (you’ll have to supply the nails) to attach this to a ledge or other location that gets the rain. Kind of tipsy otherwise, unless you put it on the ground or lean it on something. This is as accurate (and maybe more so) than any digital device, even in windy thunderstorms or deluges. Don’t think that the tube is too small to be correct. In a decent rainfall, the saturation is uniform whether an opening is an inch or a foot wide. You do have to remember to empty the tube after a good rainfall, but if you keep the tube clean it will be full of the softest water you’ll ever have.

    This gauge measures 6.75 x 5.25 x 1.5 inches (17 x 13 x 4 cm). Sorry Canadians, it doesn’t have a metric scale, just inches. The red metal disk remembers up to 100 inches if you want to keep track, more than most places get in a year. Perfect for a picturesque garden setting, especially for those who want to escape the digital rat race. Consider the advertising as ambiance, like a friendly old barn sign. Check out our other advertising collectibles at www.ebay.com/str/agitpropshoppe

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