The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1889-08-30
"OLD PROB" AT HOME.
The Men and Materials at Weather
Headquarters.
A Berth in the signal Service No slnecure
Hard Working Men Who cMust
Know Every Thing and Tell
All They Know.

All They Know.
1t Is popular mistake that life ii
the United States Signal Service corp
is a very easy, il not a lazy, affair
As a matter of fact, the members O
the Signal Service corps have to per
form a multitude OF duties, and il
some cases the performance of duty /:
attended with real hardship.
There are more than one hundred
signal stations in the United States
OF these the largest are those at New
York. Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Gin.
cinnati and Kansas City. These are
tirst-class stations, and the force a,
each consists Of six men or more,
whose work is so allotted that at least
one OF them is on duty at all times.
The interior of even first-class
signal station is not particularly at.
tractive; Il few desks, two Or three
huge barometers and thermometers,
some automatic registering instru,
ments. telegraph keyboard, and a
hand press and printing outfit con-
stitutc the conspicuous furniture
There is nothing in the place that is
not necessary to the prosecution Of
the work.
The Instruments arc small, but thoy
are most important and ingenious.
One of them, for instance which
works in injunction with whirligig
on the roof, registers the velocity of
the wind the whole day long. and an
other registers the temperature. These
instruments are very delicate in con-
struction and accurate in performance.
Electricity and clock-work play no
small part in their operation.
The men in the Signal Service come
nearest TO being Jacks-at- all-trades of
any men in the Government employ.
They must be telegraph operators in
order 10 send and receive messages
over tie wires; they must be able to
set type and use press; they must un-
derstand meteorology; they must be
good raathomaticians; they must be
good book-keepers
The signal station in great seacoast
city is at the top of high building.
The officer in charge comes to the
place little before eight o'clock in
the morning. and usually remains until
after eight in the evening. Every
moment of his day is occupied by
routine duty, the performance of which
requires careful training.
The first work OF the day is TO take
the morning observation. This is done
at the same instant of time at all the
stations in the country. The chief OBJ
jects OF this observation are to note
the condition of the barometer, the
temperature, the dew point, the rela-
tive humidity of the atmosphere, the
direction and velocity of the wind,
and the state OF the weather.
~, This observation having been taken
and verified, the chief signal officer
reports to Washington by telegraph,
and records in his own book the exact
state OF affairs in his district. This
work occupies perhaps thirty minutes.
and within an hour after the time set
for tho morning observation-eight
oclf-the chief station at Washing
ton has received reports from all the
stations In the service, and summary |
OF these reports has been sent out to |
all points.
Upon receiving from Washington the
summary of the reports OF the entire
service, our signal officer prepares his
weather map. The blank form is a
map OF the United States, about two
feet long and fourteen inches wide,
which shows all the signal stations
and all the principal cities Of the coun-
try.
Hc docs his work with pen and ink,
and copies Of it are then made upon an
apparatus called the cyclostyle. The
maps show q great number Of dotted
and solid lines, which indicate the reg
WA . . l
lister OF tho barometer reduced to sea
level ut different points, and the tenn
peraturc in degrees Fahrenheit. A
press gives the finishing touches to the
map. On this press Is large metal
bed-plate perforated with from seventy
to one hundred square holes, each Of
which represents the geographical
position OF prominent signal station.
Directed BY his instructions from the
chicf signal officer. the operator places
III each OF these holes what Is called
symbol type. A fine circle means
clear; circle with II heavy line across
It means fair; and there are various
other marks, each OF which indicates
u particular condition Of wsstksl. /,