Friar of the weather

hair-tension hygrometer

The Friar of the weather (sold as fraile del tiempo ) is a hygrometer built with the hair of a blond, young woman of Slavic race.[1] Designed by the Calella inventor Agapit Borràs Pedemonte in 1894.[2] The figure represents a Capuchin friar seated with a globe at his feet and an open book in his right hand. Through the pointer of his left hand, the friar indicates whether the weather will be dry, rough, windy, good, unsafe, windy, wet or rain.[3] As the pointer moves due to hair expansion, so does the monk's hood.[4] The company has made more than 40 different versions of the instrument, in some of which the friar has been replaced by nuns, warriors, Christopher Columbus or even by the monk from the children's drink Kina San Clemente.[2] The product is available in Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Portuguese, French, Italian, German and English.[5]

The Friar of the weather

To commercialize it, the company Tot Ideas SL was founded , owned by the Borràs family from Mataró.[4] When, in 2001, Juguetes Borràs merged with Educa, this company was left out of the merger[2] and still markets today this instrument exporting it to France, Italy, Portugal[4] and even Malta.[6]

References change

  1. Parra, Sergio (2013-06-14). "¿Qué es lo que mide exactamente el fraile del tiempo con pelo de mujer rubia y joven de raza eslava?". Xataka Ciencia (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cedó, Fede (2014-06-22). "El meteorólogo más antiguo del mundo". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  3. "FRAILE DEL TIEMPO". Tot ideas (in Catalan). 2024-03-04. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "El famoso fraile del tiempo «que siempre acierta» cumple 120 años". Diario ABC (in Spanish). 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  5. "Higrómetro Fraile del Tiempo, el famoso y el más fiable para predecir el tiempo de las próximas horas". Fraile del tiempo (in Spanish). 2023-10-17. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  6. "Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 2024-03-04.

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