thermograph
(ˈθɜːməgrɑːf, -æ-)
[f. as prec. + -graph: cf. F. thermographe.]
1. A figure or tracing produced by the action of heat, esp. of the heat-rays of the spectrum upon a prepared surface.
| 1840 Herschel in Proc. Roy. Soc. 3 Mar. 209 He has discovered a process by which the calorific rays in the solar spectrum are made to affect a surface properly prepared..so as to form what may be called a thermograph of the spectrum. 1865 Reader 28 Jan. 105/2 His drying paper presented to him a thermograph of the spectrum, and showed the heating power to extend far beyond the red. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. ii. 48 The light is cut away,..but an invisible thermograph remains. 1906 Athenæum 23 June 768/3 Such experiments..will yield valuable ‘thermographs’, as the resulting parti-coloured ‘prints’ are named. |
2. A graphic record of variations of temperature; a heat register; = thermogram 1.
| 1843 Mech. Mag. XXXIX. 128 Obtained..by the aid of the pyrometer,..with the addition of the thermograph, or heat-register, which I have added to it. 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 55 These points are well seen in the following thermographs. |
3. A thermometric instrument which automatically records variations of temperature; a self-registering thermometer.
| 1881 Nature 15 Sept. 470/2 Bowkett's New Thermograph,..an instrument for recording changes of temperature, which are measured by the action of heat upon a hollow circular metallic ring connected with a circular vessel. 1883–4 Med. Ann. 78 Thermograph—an ingenious instrument..for recording in permanent diagrams all variations in temperature occurring in any patient. |
4. a. = thermogram 2. b. An apparatus for obtaining thermograms.
| 1964 New Scientist 16 July 163/1 Personal thermographs can sometimes with practice be recognised individually. 1964 Amer. Jrnl. Roentgenol. XCI. 919/2 This thermograph has been in daily use in this institution for over a year and has quite recently been replaced by a new model. 1970 New Scientist 5 Feb. 260/3 Thermographs of a person's finger before and after smoking show significant changes in the heat pattern. |