Wind vane

“ The outside, or wind-receiving parts are represented in the above figure, and consist of Robinson's cups C, for the wind-velocity, and a double fan F, or windmill governor, for wind-direction. The fans serve as a vane, turning so as to keep their axes constantly at right angles to the wind, and are more steady than the ordinary vane. ”

“ Robinson anemometer, electrically connected with recording apparatus, P. 239.
The Wind Vane.—The wind vane of the spread-tail pattern, used by the Weather Bureau, is probably the most practical form in use. It holds steadily to the wind; it is sensitive enough to respond to a breeze of 2 miles an hour. The regulation vane is 6 feet over all. The tail is made of very thin board strips, thoroughly weather-proofed; the metal work is rust-proof; the bearings are constructed so that friction is reduced to the minimum. This is the general service vane designed to show wind direction only. ”

“ There is at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich an instrument for noting the direction of the wind, the essential part being an ordinary wind-vane, the movements of which are automatically recorded on a sheet of paper.Illustration of spurious connection. As the wind shifts from north to east the pencil moves in one direction, and when it shifts back again towards the north the pencil moves in the reverse way. But sometimes the wind shifts continuously from north to east, south, west, and back to north again, the vane making a complete revolution ”

“ A windmill or a weather-vane points toward the source of the wind, obviously not because either exercises any special choice in the matter, but because it is constructed on such lines of symmetry that when the wind strikes it, if it slants the slightest to left or right, the more exposed surface receives the greatest pressure and thus swings the body back into the line of least resistance. ”

“ Wire and Sheet-Metal Vane
The toy windmill or weather vane shown in the sketch is made to represent a Blériot monoplane. The propeller is turned by the wind. The frame is made of heavy wire and connected with straps of tin. The construction is plainly shown in the illustration. The windmill vane can be made in any size to suit the builder. ”

“ To keep the wheel facing the wind at all times, a vane must be provided. It is made of basswood or hard maple, as shown in Fig. 5. It is not built up solid, air spaces being left between the slats to reduce the wind resistance. Unless built in this manner, the vane is liable to twist off in a gale. The horizontal slats are 1/4 in. thick, and the upright and cross braces 3/8 in. thick, while the long arm connecting the vane to the supporting standard is 1/2 in. ”

“ Over these the shingle lath are nailed, and then the thatching of salt hay or shingles may be laid on. A wind-speeder and a weather-vane may be arranged at either end of the roof, as shown in the drawing, and seats may be built in between the end posts, with a supporting rib at the middle and braces under the seats. There is room enough under this roof to swing a hammock.
59 Chapter IV
WEATHER-VANES AND WINDMILLS From the time of the earliest habitation of the earth, nature’s great forces, wind and water, have been employed to furnish power for man’s uses. ”

“ The greatest nuisance of these wind vanes at first was that they were made so generally obtrusive that they could be seen from the enemy’s lines, and they nearly always drew fire from snipers, and sometimes actually from the artillery. Presumably the enemy thought that where the wind vanes were installed [50] company headquarters were probably situated. The position of the wind vanes consequently had to be chosen so that the direction and speed of the wind would be measured several feet above the ground without the apparatus being too obvious. ”

“ In these low latitudes the heat in the day-time is so intense, and the sun burns with such an incessant glare, that the entire atmosphere becomes pervaded with a glowing vapor. The wind, too, blows only in fitful gusts, and through long intervals of perfect calm the sails flap idly and uselessly against the mast. ”

“ Near the high pressure the sky is blue, then as we approach the low pressure feathery cirrus, or some form of windy sky, makes its appearance, while a blustery wind whirls the dust, or blows the soot down; and animals turn their tails to the wind to avoid its force on their faces:
When chimneys smoke and soot falls, bad weather is at hand. The whistling of the wind heard within doors denotes rain. ”

“ There was what they called ‘a heavy swell,’ which turned everything topsy-turvy, and that went on till Saturday afternoon, when there came on a regular gale of wind, which made the sea ten thousand times worse, carried away two of our sails, filled all the cabins with water, and, in short, was just what a gale of wind always is—the most awful and unpleasant thing in the world. ”

“ Without, through the open doors, the night shows inky black; the smoke and steam beat down and are blown in with the wind, or the fog is sucked in quickly by the currents. Now the rain beats hard on the roof and runs through in streams, while the wind clatters between the stacks and ventilators overhead with a noise like thunder ”

“ By the spirit of Pan, my pool felt good after the long day's hike!
The wind had changed with the waning afternoon and now blew gently from the southwest, promising a period of fair weather. It gave us, also, the advantage of greater freedom in noises; for, when living in the wild, one comes to realize how potent a carrier, or muffler, of noises is the wind. A fire at night, or smoke by day, may be tempered with human ingenuity, but nature bandies the sound waves with her breath.
I dined in the elegance of simplicity, and Smilax extinguished our small fire of buttonwood. ”

“ The wind was a-surge in these clouds and they visibly careened, and collapsed, and filled out anew as if they were sails spread to the fury of a gale, but no token of motion was in the densely wooded mountains beneath them, and only a gentle breeze ruffled the tree tops of the valleys, a silver wake following its invisible passage. ”

“ So the hot winds, of which I have been speaking, are not felt in the degree we should be led to suppose. Like the air the spirits are buoyant and light, and it is for its disagreeableness at the time, not any after effects that a hot wind is to be dreaded. ”

“ When there’s no wind on a boat, and her sails flap lazily against the mast, she can have no guidance, for there is no steerage-way on her. She may drift with a current, or rot in a calm, or wait to be crushed by some heavier craft surging against her. Any wind—a squall, a hurricane—would be better than that. ”

“ If all the shutters on one side were open, whilst all those on the opposite side were closed, the wind, acting with undiminished force on the vanes at one side, whilst the opposite vanes were under shelter, turned the mill round; but whenever the wind changed, the disposition of the blinds was altered, to admit the wind to strike upon the vanes of the wheel in the direction of a tangent to the circle in which they moved. ”

“ Perhaps it isn’t every one who knows what a wind-sail is, so I’ll tell you; it’s a contrivance like a great canvas stocking, six or seven feet round, and twenty or thirty long and by letting one end of this hang down through the cabin-hatch or skylight, and having the other bowsed up in the rigging, you have like a great open pipe bringing you down a reg’lar stream of cool air in the hot weather. ”

“ The vibrations in the air were so terrific as to break windows and overturn frame houses over a hundred miles away, and the pressure wave, like some huge blast of wind, traveled round the world three times before it died down. ”

“ The lowland wind, at first a mere breeze playfully teasing the north wind, like a child that kicks the bed-sheets before falling asleep, increased its force and swiftness, and scattered huge mountains of snow, but the steadily rising drone of the north wind soon mastered the situation. ”

“ The north-west wind, on the contrary, is the wind that brings the sense of inland spaces, the smell of warm, wet earth and the fragrance of leaf mould in sweet breathing woods. It is the wind that fills the rivers and the wells and brings the fresh purifying rain. ”

“ And whenever storm-winds find this prepared snow-dust in a loose condition on exposed slopes, where there is a free upward sweep to leeward, it is tossed back into the sky, and borne onward from peak to peak in the form of banners or cloudy drifts, according to the velocity of the wind and the conformation of the slopes up or around which it is driven. While thus flying through the air, a small portion makes good its escape, and remains in the sky as vapor. ”

“ Throughout the day it blew furiously, for the ship was running into the gale, a phenomenon that we shall explain, as most of our readers may not comprehend it. All gates of wind commence to leeward; or, in other words, the wind is first felt at some particular point, and later, as we recede from that point, proceeding in the direction from which the wind blows. It is always severest near the point where it commences, appearing to diminish in violence as it recedes. ”

“ These are the strongest winds, and the most opposed to one another, both as to direction and power. For, the north wind condenses the air, and separates from it whatever is muddy and nebulous, and renders it clearer and brighter, and so in like manner also, all the winds which arise from the sea and other waters; for they extract the humidity and nebulosity from all objects, and from men themselves, and therefore it (the north wind) is the most wholesome of the winds. ”

“ It gradually becomes thicker and darker, packing in the valleys and then creeping up the heights. No sooner, however, has it reached the summit of the chain, than it is caught by the north-west wind and sent back in flying streamers, like the mare's tails we are accustomed to see in our skies presaging a change of wind, but with this difference, that these streamers are viewed from above. The north wind gathering strength, as though mustering its forces against the audacious invasion of the southern vapours, rages and blusters for several days. ”

“ The wind has no pity for weakness, and with a wild shriek of fiendish delight, it bore down upon the frail little body. Seizing the umbrella in its clutches, it whirled it into the air, whilst it made such a furious onslaught on the little waterproof cloak, that the owner of it staggered, lost her balance, and fell headlong to the ground, a bag of books discarding its contents in all directions. ”

“ But that which mends the Earth, spoils the Air, which would be all Fog and Mist, if it were not clear'd by the sharpness of their Frosts, which never fail with every East Wind for about four Months of the year, and are much fiercer than in the same Latitude with us, because that Wind comes to them over a mighty length of dry Continent ”

“ The air is filled with dense clouds of flying snow and sleet chased along by the gale. The trees bend and writhe, and, as if in fear, scratch their boughs upon the roof; the driving flakes beat with an angry, hissing sound upon the window-panes, and for a moment there is a muffled, ominous silence. Now comes a wild and furious gust, and a great white whirlwind sweeps with serpentine contortions past the window and disappears in the thick darkness of the night. Our very walls sway and tremble to their foundation. ”

“ It is the best of winds, gives vigour to the eyes, increases the strength, and soothes the blood and the Pittam without aggravating the bodily Vayu. The West wind:—The West wind is pure, non-slimy, dry, rough to the perception, and keen. ”

“ To give some idea of the wind's power, as shown in a larger way, one of the lifeboats on the after skids was up-ended against the mizzen-mast, and there crushed flat by the wind, as though a monstrous invisible hand had pinched it. Does this help you a little to gain an idea of wind-force never met with in a thousand ordinary lives? ”

“ The wind song in the trees is not menacing, it is simply a minor melody, full of melancholy, as if it knew sad things and could but let them tinge its music. But even on quiet days when the south wind drifts gently in over the bay there sounds from the air above these mellow glades the growl of white-faced breakers that are never still on the northern shore. ”

“ The wind seemed to come with a spite, an edge to it, which threatened to scrape us off the yards. The mere force of the wind was greater than I had ever seen it before; but darkness, cold, and wet are the worst parts of a storm to a sailor. ”

“ When the Helm-Wind has overcome all the resistance of the lower atmosphere, or of the opposing current from the west, and the temperature of the valley and of the mountain is more nearly equalized, there is no rebound or ascent of the wind, consequently the Bar ceases to be formed, the one already existing is dissipated, and a general east wind prevails. ”

“ On the 21st the wind was N.E. by N. with a weak breeze and the current running south straight from the land, which is no doubt owing to the outflow of the rivers which take their source in the high mountains of the interior. The eastern part of the high land, which we could see, bore from us N.E. and N.E. by N; in the morning we set sail with a N.W. wind and fair weather course held S.E. by E. and S.E. for three miles, and then S.S.E. for five miles; in the evening we dropped anchor in 7 fathom about 3 miles from the land, the wind blowing hard from the west with violent rains. ”

“ And there are black squalls, white squalls, thunder squalls, and unexpected gusts that come without a single sign in the sky; and of each kind no one of them resembles another.
There is infinite variety in the gales of wind at sea, and except for the peculiar, terrible, and mysterious moaning that may be heard sometimes passing through the roar of a hurricane—except for that unforgettable sound, as if the soul of the universe had been goaded into a mournful groan—it is, after all, the human voice that stamps the mark of human consciousness upon the character of a gale. ”