Abstract
“DR. CURRY'S weather prophet” is an attractive aluminium instrument, light in weight, circular in shape, and thin enough to go easily into the pocket, which is being marketed in England by W. B. M. Unland, 72 Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.3. The face of the disc is adorned with a ring of coloured slips, ranging from a deep mystical blue, like the blue of the sky seen from a high mountain, through violet to a pinkish hue. In the centre of the disc is a tiny, restless compass. The tale of magic is not yet done: there are two little fairy casements. Through one, when the stage is set, can be seen a letter telling of the direction of the wind, and through the other, Dr. Curry's weather prediction in plain black print, an austerely definite pronouncement. According to an experienced motor salesman, the public estimates the value of a motor-car by the array of instruments on the dashboard. Dr. Curry, or if not Dr. Curry, then the instrument designer who has given his idea practical shape, is evidently an equally profound student of ill-informed, would-be-expert humanity. Here is an instrument of character and charm which makes the more expensive forecasting aneroid barometer look as though it should cost far less. The price is 65. 9dL, and for an extra shilling the weather wisdom of the aneroid is ‘thrown in’ by a simple device. If mass production could bring the price even lower it might take even the South Sea Islands by storm, not because it is a praiseworthy attempt to get automatically a useful forecast from the observed direction of the wind and the relative humidity as shown by the hue of a chemically-treated slip, but because it is impossible for any human being to see one without being impelled to find out what it is all about.
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Mechanical Weather Forecasting. Nature 134, 452 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134452c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134452c0