Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-02-01
THE WEATHER CLERK" IN LAP
LAND.
Automatic Registration of Meteoro'
logical Phenomena, Under
Difficulties,

If the weather observer in Lapland
were to initiate the tenants of the
stations on Mt. Washington or Pixies
Peak anil spend the winter on the
mountain top to observe the changes
in person, there would probably be
no observer left to tell the tale when
spring came. To secure the observa,
tons without sacrificing the observ
er, Professor Axel Hamberg, of the
University Of Stockholm, has con,
structed automatic registering appara-
tus for the Lapland Alps, one station
being on SahkO4l mountain at an alti-
tude of $500 feet, and the other on
the PortitjOkko at an altitude of
$500 feet. Each apparatus is expect
ed to run without interruption or ad-
justment for one year. Emil Guarini
describes the method Of operation and
the attendance difficulties in the Sci
entific American:
The registration is obtained by
means of bar, which, three times
an hour, fall across needles and pro-
duces in the paper perforations cor
responding to each of them. The
great difficulty to be surmounted is
the hoar frost. The Portitjokko sta
ton, for example, was, after a few
months, completely surrounded by a
stratum of frost of at least three feet
in thickness, and the apparatus very
naturally ceased to operate. The in
struments were then taken down to
500 feet from the summit, but, even at
this altitude, the formation Of frost
interferred with their operation, espe-
cially in autumn II. lis then almost
impossible to prevent Interruptions in
the registration of the velocity and
direction of the wind. In order to OBJ
viate this inconvenience, M. Ham
berg has the summit apparatus clean
ed from time to time by Laplander,
and after this the running proceeds
uninterruptedly till the succeeding
autumn.
The instruments must not only be
kept free from frost, but also from
moisture as far as possible:
In order to dry the air to as great
degree as possible, it became neces.
sary to place paper cylinders around
the clockwork movement, and, around
the registering apparatus, an iron
plate casting containing cups filled
with chloride Of calcium . It was ow-
ing only to such precautions that the
running of the apparatus became uni
form during the entire winter. The
apparatus installed at $500 feet alti-
tude has operated almost continuous
ly for two summers, and the second,
placed at 5000, has operated equally
as well. The winding up of the clock
work and the changing of the paper
bands of the registering apparatus
are needed but once year. The regi-
stration during the year requires the
use of 65 feet of paper. The weight
that actuates the clockwork move
ment descends but so inches a year.
This movement was constructed by
M. G. w. LinderOth, Swedish horolC-
gist.
A complete station comprises two
huts, one containing the paper cylin-
ders, the clockwork, and the register
ing apparatus, and the other the rain
and snow registering apparatus. This
latter is suspended from spiral
springs in large cask. When there
is fall of rain or snow, the cask de-
sends accordin to the greater or less
quantity of material that it receives,
and thus registers.