A MAGNETIC WEATHER GUAGE TO GIVE WARNING OF THE APPROACH OF GALES AND STORMS, &C.
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Buddo, of Saint Andrew's, Fifeshire, North
Britain, Surgeon, for the Invention of "A MAGNETIC WEATHER GUAGE TO
GIVE WARNING OF THE APPROACH OF GALES AND STORMS, &C.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Buddo at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
April 1854.
I, DAVID BUDDO, of St. Andrew's, Fifeshire, North Britain, Surgeon, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A MAGNETIC WEATHER
GUAGE TO GIVE WARNING OF THE APPROACH OF GALES & STORMS, &c." to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in the construction of an instrument, by means of
which observations may be taken as to the presence and degree of those
atmospheric currents of electricity which are found to precede storms, and
temporarily to increase the attractive force of magnets within the sphere of
their influence.
The instrument consists of a magnetic ring in two parts; one of which is
fixed to a base, & the other is connected to a screw, so as to be capable of
being drawn out of contact by means of power applied to the screw.
There is also connected with the screw a ring or collar, capable of being
moved thereby along a graduated rod, so as to indicate the amount or degree
of magnetic attractive force which has been overcome by the screw in break-
ing the contact of the two parts of the magnetic ring.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Buddo in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
BUDDO, of Saint Andrew's, Fifeshire, North Britain, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said David Buddo; Her special license that. I, the said
David Buddo, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said David Buddo, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereáfter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel. Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
A MAGNETIC WEATHER GUAGE TO GIVE WARNING OF THE APPROACH OF GALES
66
AND STORMS, &C., upon the condition (amongst otliers) that I, the said David
Buddo, by an instrument in writing under 'my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Buddo, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
My Invention of "A Magnetic Weather Guage to give Warning of the
Approach of Gales and Storms, &c." is intended to supply the means of employ-
ing the power of magnetic attraction as a medium through which the electrical
state of the atmosphere-may-be-indicated,-and-consists-in-the-construction-of-
an instrument by means of which observations may be taken as to the presence
and degree of those atmospheric currents of electricity which are found to
precede storms, and temporarily to increase the attractive force of magnets
within the sphere of their influence. The principle on which the instrument is
constructed is that of substituting for the column of mercury weighed against
a column of the atmospheric air, in the common barometer, a mechanical

page_text: force applied to the separation of two bodies previously held together by the
power of magnetic attraction.
The instrument which I have found to answer for the purpose consists of a
magnetic ring in two parts; one of which is fixed to a base and the other is
connected to a screw, so as to be capable of being drawn out of contact.by
means of power applied to the screw. There is also connected with the screw
a ring or collar capable of being moved or slidden thereby along a graduated
rod, so as to indicate the amount or degree of magnetic attractive force which
has been overcome by the screw in breaking the contact of the two parts of
the magnetic ring.
The precise mode of applying the mechanical force to the moveable part of
the ring or magnet may be varied, and also the mode of indicating the amount
of such force exerted. These arrangements will in each case be adapted to
the particular form of instrument to which they are applied.
•
In the case of such an instrument as that above referred to, it will be suffi-
cient to have a vertical screw suitably mounted at the upper part of a frame or
standards; which screw, by being made to act upon the moveable collar, will
cause it to be slidden along the graduated rod or tube, a distance corre-
sponding with the amount of mechanical force exerted; this being determined
by the elastic power of a spring fixed at one end to the moveable collar, and
at the other end to the link of connection with the moveable ring or magnet;
and the determinate amount of mechanical force thus exerted will be indi-
cated by the line at which the upper part of the moveable. collar cuts or
crosses the graduated scale on the rod or tube. This graduated scale may be
constructed in any convenient form and range; for instance, it may be made
in six divisions, indicating a mechanical force of four ounces between each
division; but I do not confine myself to such form and range. It is obvious,
however, that care must be taken to construct the scale, so that it shall
accurately indicate the degree. of tension brought upon the spring without
reference to the weight of the moveable ring or magnet attached to it, together
with the friction of the screw, &c.; (that is to say,) the scale should com-
mence with an indication of the mechanical force required to overcome all
mechanical obstructions to the parting of the moveable ring or magnet from
the fixed one, the remaining indications serving to shew simply the power of
magnetic attraction overcome.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not mean or
intend to confine myself to the precise form of the instrument described, nor
to the mode of applying the power and indicating the force exerted on the

page_text: moveable magnet; but what I claim as of my Invention is, the adaptation and
application of the ring or magnet in two parts, whereof one part is moveable
and the other fixed, to the purpose of a weather guage, in such a manner as to
supply the means of determining thereby the electrical state of the atmosphere,
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Buddo, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
DAVID (L.S.) BUDDO, SURGEON.
W. C. HENDERSON, Witness.