The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-11
TEMPERATURE BY SOUND.
ELECTRICAL ARRANGEMENT TO
HEAR HEAT OR COLD.

From the New York Sun.
It is now possible to hear heat and
cold. DR.. George c. whipple, biologist OF
the Brooklyn water works, has invented
an electrical instrument by means Of
which the various ranges of temperature
may be heard in an ordinary telephone
receiver Explorer Peary owns one of
these Instruments and he has taken 1t
with him to the Arctic regions to listen
TO the intense cold which prevails there.
He had one of the instruments with him
on his last Arctic expedition and ne was
able to lower the end of 1t into a crevasse
in a glacier and hear how cold it was
there.
The apparatus Is very simple In con-
struction. In external appearance it is
like an ordinary electric battery box,
such as Is used in sick rooms. From ore
side of the box extends a very long in
sulated wire carrying a small coil of bare
wire on the end Of it. From the other
side of the box extend wires which hold
a telephone receiver. The latter is 10 be
held to the ear so that the temperature
into which the bare coil is thrust may
be heard.
1t is the presence of heat or cold acting
in the bare coil of wire which causes an
electric current to set up a buzzing in the
telephone. When the instrument Is used
the telephone is held to the ear while
the listener looks at dial on the battery
box. This dial, which in appearance Is
like the face of an ordinary mechanical
thermometer, is marked with figures rep
resenting degrees of temperature above
and below zero. Let one suppose, for in
stance that he is to listen to the tempera-
ture of a pail of water. The coil of bare
wire is thrust into the water, and the OBJ
server places the telephone to his ear.
There Is a hand or pointer pivoted in the
middle of the dial face. The observer
turns the pointer from figure to figure
on the dial. When the telephone is first
placed to the ear a loud buzzIng does not
happen to be at the figure representing
the temperature of the water In which
the bare coil Ia placed. As the pointer
nears the figure that indicates the correct
temperature, the buzzing sound in the
telephone becomes fainter. When II
comes opposite 1t stops altogether. AS
soon as the buzzing stops, the observer
knows that the temperature of the water
has been found.
DR.. Whipple tried the instrument the
other day in a room the temperature of
which was about 70 degrees. The reporter
placed the telephone to his ear and heard
a loud buzzing. DIR. Whipple moved the
pointer toward the figure 70. The moment
20 was reached the buzzing stopped. This
was because the temperature of the room
surrounding the coil had been found. DR..
Whlpple then held the bare coil of wire
between both hands The buzzing in the
telephone began again because the
warmth of his hands had raised the tenn
perature. The reporter moved the pointer
around until 1t reached IS degrees. The
buzzing stopped again, showing that the
temperature of the hands had been found.
Then DIR. Whpple lighted a match and
held the flame against the coil The buzz
zing began again, and the pointed had to
be moved forward until the temperature
of the lighted match was found. The
coil was thrust into a basin of water The
buzzing began and did not stop until the
pointer was moved down to 60 degrees,
showing that to be the temperature in the
basin. When the coil was held against
piece of ice the pointer had to be turned
back to 10 degrees above zero.
The instrument Is now used in the state
house in Boston, Mass. In order thai the
engineer in the basement Of the building
should know the temperature of every
part of it, one of these staightened-out
coils has been placed behind the wains-
coting in the court house corridors at the
hight of a mans shoulders. If the en-
gineer wishes to know the temperature
he has merely to place the telephone
to his ear and turn the dial pointer until
the buzzng ceases. He then can note The
temperature of the building in all its parts
without going out of the engine room.
The instrument is now being used in cold
storage warehouses to ascertain the tenn
perature of the various rooms without
an. 1iF,cr In al 1.,xy
storage work 1t was necessary to keep the
refrigerating plant operating under high
pressure all the time, because il was not
possible TO tell the temperature of any one
room without opening it, and 1t was not
always advisable to do that. So to make
sure all the rooms were kept as cold
as possible. Now each room in the ware
house has in it one of these new electric
thermometers. Several times a day an
official goes to a series of push buttons
upon the Office wall and throws into cir
cult one after another the thermometers
in the various rooms of the warehouse BY
placing the telephone TO his ear and ma
nipulating the dial he is able accurately
to determine the temperature of every
room In the building.
The new thermometer can be made to
ring an alarm, and hence would be useful
in the powder magazine of a warship Per-
haps its greatest value viii be found in the
Teau.
1t is the purpose of Dr. Whipple to carry
on a series of experiments with his Their
mometer attached TO kites and balloons II
has been almost impossible with the an
paratus which heretofore has been in use
by the weather bureau to obtain a con-
tinuous record of the temperatures of the
upper strata of the air. Yet upon this de-
ponds the efficiency of the weather bu-
reau predictions In fact, it is said that
the meteorology of the future viii depend
mostly upon what is learned of the condi-
ton of the elements high above the earth.
one of these instruments invented by DR..
Whipple could be sent up in a captive
balloon or on kite string and kept In
operation for days. A very accurate. curve
representing the successive temperatures of
the upper air might be obtained in this way
As the conditions which periodically affect
the surface of the earth always exist
up above for some time beforehand. some
very accurate predictions might be made
as To weather In store for ls