One of the earliest recording precipitation gauges was developed in England for the measurement of rain in the late 1830s. The weight-activated gauge with a clock-driven drum recorded rainfall amount on a rotating strip chart (Strangeways 2006). Accuracy improved significantly with earlier versions of modern weighing all-season precipitation gauges in the mid-20th century (Metcalfe & Goodison 1993). Recording precipitation data on punched paper tapes or a chart recorder, the earliest gauges were the Belfort and Fischer Porter. Modern weighing gauges (Table 2) use either vibrating wire transducers or solid-state load cells (Larson 1993).