The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-09-02
Made In keokuk Every Day at the
Postoffice by the Weather Man
Who Reads the Atmospheric
Changes in Curved Lines
INSTRUMENTS IN BOX
The Little Devices In the Coop on the
Roof Register the Weather and
Report 1t to the
Off1ce.

right here at home, and that 1t ism I
polite to criticise home products. VI
course the weather man at the post
office doesn't just say every day what
kind Of temperature he wants the ther-
mometer to register Or how fast ne
would like to have the wind blow, put
rather he goes on the theory Of James
lWhitcomb Riley's farmer who said,
when God sends rain, then rains my
choice" and accepts whatever sort OF
weather is handed down to him. and
proceeds to make 1t all up on his maps
and weather charts.
Besides getting special delivery
stamps at the stamp window and gro
ceries at the parcel post window, the
weather man gets lot Of other things
up In his little improvised chicken
coop on the roof Of the postoffice
building. That little box, all latticed
up, contains several instruments, one
of them which registers the temporal
ture every hour Of the day. Twenty
four hours are marked on revolving
chart on which the changes in the
temperature frcn hour to hour are
recorded in the proper places. The in
strument is run by battery, and Is
connected with another similar instru-
ment enclosed in glass case down
stairs in the observation room. me
enclosed instrument there receives
the same treatment as the one on the
roof, and 1t is from this one that t:e
weather man makes his daily flguren.
Another atmos pheric interpreter IS
the one which tells folks how fast the
wind Is blowing 1t has four little cups
to catch every whisper of breeze ana,
records the velocity of the wind on
the contraption down in the glass box
in the observation room. The direction
of the wind is told by watching the
weather vane which is fastened on a
pole OF, top of the building. It Is also
connected with the downstairs office
where It registers direction OF wind.
Look Like Freezers.
Theirs tin boilers, 'n'ever'thing on
the roof. The boilers look something
like thermo-rack ice cream freezers
but they aren't They're up there TO
measure the amount of rainfall and
snow which comes to KeoKuk. Ihey
also work automatically and register
! the results of their labors downstairs
! in the weather mans office.
I The weather man reads all OF MS
| instruments in the office and theii
! makes out his reports of the same on
large charts which are copied and filed
away in big books in the office. Fhe
record OF every days weather since
the bureau was established in Keokuk
forty.seven years ago have been flied
and nut away In those books and can
be had to look at now whenever there
is occasion for it. The maps which
are issued every day are not made
from observations taken here, but are
sent TO Keokuk from the Chicago Of
flee. However, the pencil curves
placed on the maps, showing the low
and high temperatures all over the
country, are put on the charts from
the Keokuk observations taken.
Bulletins Distributed.
These charts which are prepared are
sent out all ever Keokuk. The weather
bulletins which are seen posted IL
public places in this city were made II
the weather mans office. Some or the
information upon them comes from
Chicago and the local figures are taker
from the records made here with the
instrum ents In the glass box. Apou
eighty-five of these bulletins are made
and sent out to different places in the
city each day, which show the weather
predictions for the next twenty-fou
hours.
Most Keokuk business mems offices
look just about alike, but Observer
Gosewisch has something IN his thai
most other people don't have, and thai
is printing press. It's this press wh1cf
makes all the bulletins which are
posted in public places here. The
stencils are out and put on Ink pads
where the impression is made, ant
from which the copy is printed or
sheets OF paper. Postal cards with the
daily forecasts upon them are also
printed in this office.
The weather mans duties are OF Il.