Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-11-01
"OLD PROB" AT HOME.
The Men and Materials at Weather
Headquarters.
A Berth In tho signal servics No sIneours
Hard Working Men Who unjust
Know Every Thing and Tell
All They Know.

IN INV
II Is n popular mistake that life In
the United States Signal Service corps
is a very easy. II not a lazy. affair.
As a matter OF fact, the members Of
the Signal Service corps have to per-
form multitude OF duties, and In
some cases the performance Of duty is
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
iirst-class stations. and the force at
each consists of six men or more.
whose work is 80 allotted that at least
one OF them is on duty at all times.
The interior OF even a frst-class
signal station Is not particularly at
tractive; few desks. two or three
huge barometers and thermometers.
some automatic registering instru-
ments, n telegraph keyboard, and q
hand press and printing outfit con-
stitute the conspicuous furniture.
There is nothing in the place that Is
not necessary to the prosecution Of
the work.
The instruments are small. but they
are most important and ingenious.
One OF them. for instance, which
works In conjunction 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 como
nearest to being Observation-Disclosures OF
any men In the Government employ.
They must be telegraph operators in
order TO send and receive messages
over the wires; they must be able to
set type and use press; they must un-
derstand meteorology; they must be
good mathematicians; 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
req uires careful training.
The first work OF the day is 10 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 10 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 tho state OF the weather.
This observation having been taken
and verified. the chief signal officer
reports 10 Washington by telegraph,
and records In his own book the exact
etuJo W uutlIs III ulb uiosViSI Ahho
work occupies perhaps thirty minutes.
ard within an hour after the time set
for the morning observation-eight
o'cloclS-the chief station at Washing
ton has received reports from all the
stations In the service, and summary
OF tnese 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. Tho blank form is a
map OF the United States, about two
feet loEg and fourteen inches wide.
which shows all the signal stations
and all the principal cities OF the coun-
try.
He does his work with pen and Ink.
and copies of 1t are then made upon an
apparatus called the cyclostyle. The
maps show u great number OF dotted
and solid lines. which indicate the reg
lister OF tho barometer reduced to seq
lcyel at different points. and the tenn.
perature III degrees Fahrenheit. A
press glvoy the finishing touches to the
mar. On this press is a large metal
bcd-pla.e perforated with from seventy
10 olc hundred square holes. each OF
which represents the geographical
position OF a prominent signal station.
Directed by his instructions from the
chief sigLal officer, the operator places
In each OF these holes what is called
symbol type. A fino circle means
clear; circle with heavy line across
II lne.ns fair; and there are various
OTHER marks, each OF which indicates
Il articular condition OF weather.
Through cach oil these circular SYM
bols Is an arrow which indicates the
direction OF the wind. The bed-plate
OF the press having been properly pre-
pared, the map sheets are placed upon
IL ~ they como from the cyclostyle,
and t.icn the maps arc ready TO be de-
livored to tho public. They show just
what The weather was all over the
United States at eight O'Clock In the
mI-niug. so that one can judge from
thonl, Il no knows something OF the
laws OF storms, what tho weather is
likely 10 be at any point for the next
four aud twenty hours. These maps
nro posted in public places, and are
also sent to o large number Of sub
scribers.