The late 19th century was a pivotal period for agricultural advances, marked by significant innovations in both technology and crop science. The introduction of mechanical reapers drastically reduced labor costs and boosted yields, while crop science enhanced soil fertility and crop productivity, laying the groundwork for modern agricultural practices. The Armsby Respiration Calorimeter, housed in an unassuming brick building along Curtin Road on the Penn State campus, is considered a marvel of that age in agricultural science.
Construction of the building, located in an area of the campus known as Ag Hill, was finished in 1899 at the cost of about $10,000. Today referred to simply as the Calorimeter Building, the facility was designed to house a calorimeter, a scientific device used to perform experiments on the energy metabolism of cattle to calculate the nutritive values of a particular feed.
The calorimeter was used to measure feed according to its energy value that the animal could use for making milk or meat. Scientists could then take these findings and develop better feed to make animals healthier and more productive. That would then lead to more profitable farms and, eventually, food and milk that was less expensive for consumers.
The building itself had double walls and a heavy slate roof to reduce the effect of outside temperatures on the experimental readings taken by the researcher at the desk outside the calorimeter. The experimental area of the calorimeter resembled a cow stall in an insulated box. The walls were copper because it is a good heat conductor.
A mat was placed on the bottom of the stall and the animal stood or rested on the mat. The cow drank water from a fountain and feed from a manger. The animal’s urine was funneled into a bowl and its feces dropped into a trough.
More than 150 reports were published from research completed at the calorimeter. While animals and livestock were the subjects of most experiments conducted at the building, the facility later handled human studies. In the 1950s, scientists used the calorimeter to study human nutrition and metabolism.
The creation of the calorimeter at Penn State was the result of a formal arrangement starting in 1899 between the United States Department of Agriculture and Dr. Henry Prentiss Armsby, director of Penn State’s Agriculture Experiment Station. Armsby became nationally recognized for his fundamental research on Animal Nutrition and wrote several books that were standard texts in animal science. He also served as the dean of the School of Agriculture from 1895 to 1902.
In 1904, just a few years after the building was finished, its design won a grand prize at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis. The last experiment was performed in 1960 as part of an investigation into rumen fermentation. In 1969, the building was converted to a museum, and in 1979 it was designated as part of the Ag Hill National Register Historic District.
Matt Swayne
Sources:
“Armsby Calorimeter,” Penn State News. April 18, 2015.
Bezilla, Michael. The College of Agriculture at Penn State, A Tradition of Excellence. University Park: Penn State University Press, 1987.
Brown, Nancy Marie. “Henry Armsby’s Calorimeter.” Town and Gown, August 1989.
Henry P. Armsby Papers, 1872-1921. Penn State Archives.
“The Respiration Calorimeter,” The Pennsylvania State College, School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Bulletin, November 1933. https://agsci.psu.edu/calorimeter/publications/respirationcalorimeter1933.pdf (Accessed June 23, 2024.)
First Published: August 1, 2024
Last Modified: September 29, 2024