Abstract
THIS instrument is not a new invention. We claim for it rather the honour of being the first of its kind invented. In the article on “Anemometers” in the “Encyclopædia Britannica ” mention is made of the efforts of several scientific men in this direction, but neither in this nor in any other such publication can we find any notice of M. Huet's invention. In the said article these instruments are divided into various classes according to the principle upon which they are based, the class to which M. Huet's anemometer would be assigned being described as instruments which “measure the wind force by the difference of level it is capable of producing in an inverted syphon, or U tube, containing water or some other liquid. Lind's anemometer, invented in 1775, is the best known of this type, and is still in common use.” Turning to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society for 1775, we find on p. 353 a “‘Description and Use of a Portable Wind Gage by Dr. James Lind, Physician, at Edinburgh.’ Redde May 11, 1775.” Dr. Lind's description of his instrument may be briefly stated as follows:—“This simple instrument consists of two glass tubes … connected together like a siphon by a small bent glass tube … The whole instrument is easily turned round upon the spindle by the wind, so as always to present the mouth of the tube towards it. The force or momentum of the wind may be ascertained by the assistance of this instrument by filling the tubes half full of water.. and observe how much the water is depressed by it in the one leg and how much it is raised in the other.”
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LEWIS, W. Huet's Anemometer. Nature 43, 323–324 (1891). https://doi.org/10.1038/043323a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/043323a0