The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-01-14
as leader followed by two or

serving as leader followed by two or
more Of the stendier Hurgraves.
The string employed in steel piano
wire. which was long ago found in deep
sea soundings to be oe great strength
and very slight liability to sagging. A
| steam winch, modification of Lord
kelV1n'S steam power windlass for sea
soundings is placed on the stern Of
the vessel. This works almost auto
maticaily. for the pull Of the kite suf-
fees to unwind the drum: only when
| drawing the kite in does the observer
! have to resort to steam power An au-
tomato register keeps account of the
length OF the wire paid out and the
pressure exerted. facts necessary to be
known In order that the tandem may
not break loose. Il 80
The self-recordlng Instruments are all
included In so-called meteorograph. q
compact lanter-shaped carrier which
contains an thermometer that records
continuously the velocity Of the wind !:
an alcohol thermometer. the liquid of
which as ii contracts cr expands con-
stantly alters the curvature Of the tube
itself, and thus furnishes q second con-
! tinuous record; hygrOscOpe, consist
Ing In essence Of bunch OF human
hairs which lengthen in moist air and
shorten In dry. thus revealing the rel
atiVe humidity Of the atmosphere; and
barometer which records the heights
reached and substnntintes the calcula-
tions made trtgonometrically at the sea
level station. These last are, OF course,
performed with greatest accuracy, the
| error caused by sagging Of the line
having been calculated to a nicety. All
changes In direction OF the wind are
also minutely recorded by the shift of
the wire at the windlass. The deck OF
vessel. 1t should be noted, offers
especially good vantage ground for sea
level observations contemporaneous
| with tose of the instruments aloft in
the air.
If this Joint American and German
ploration Of the tropical atmospheric
| depths should not be made. 1t is pretty
clear that somebody is going to undler-
take 1t before very long. for Mr..
Rotch's Idea Of flying kites from a NOV
ing vessel has already caught on In
Europe. Thos past summer Count vor
Zeppelin. the Swiss scientist. of airship
fame, has been towing kites up and
down Lake Constance from the stern
or small steamer. while two German
meteorologists. Messrs. Berson and
Elias. who by the way have been ap.
pointed to attend Mr.. Rotch on his
prospective tour, have already taken
records from shipboard In the Arctic
waters about SpitZbergen. Further
more. the German Antarctic exploring
vessel Gauss and the English ship Dis.
covery both set sail more than year
ago equipped with meteorological kites;
and they will undoubtedly bring back
interesting reports from the South Seas
ON the coast Of Scotland Mr.. Dimes OF
the British Royal Meteorological soci.
ETY. has been cruising with kites anS
declares himself very enthusiastic re.
garsiing their possibilities. 1t appears
therefore. that this plan of oceanic kite
lying has abundantly Justified itself
ana 1t Is only question whether the
country where 1T was evolved will have
the credit OF making notable scientifi,
discoveries or win leave 1t to the ambi
u tious Germans. -