Apparatus for Automatically Transmitting to a Distance the Reading of various Meteorological Instruments.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 15th May, 1897-Accepted, 14th May, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Automatically Transmitting to a Distance the Reading
of various Meteorological Instruments.
We, Dr. LUIGI CEREBOTANI, of 63, Sendlingerstrasse, Munich, Bavaria, Professor,
and ALBERT SILBERMANN, of 74, Blumenstrasse,, Berlin, Prussia, Germany, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The present invention consists of an apparatus by means of which the readings
of instruments of different meteorological stations may be automatically transmitted
to any desired distance. Thus the expense accruing from the employment of
officials for out-of-the-way stations, such for instance as the station at Mount
Blanc, etc., will be saved.
The invention consists of a drum having a non-conducting circumferential
surface, said drum being mounted together with the meteorological apparatuses,
in an iron kiosk at the station in question. On the surface of this drum, which is
rotated by means of an electromotor driven by a local circuit, is formed a reporting
segment, the arc of which is slightly less than the arc of the drum circumference
corresponding to the division of the same by the number of instruments in connec-
tion therewith or in other words if eight instruments are in communication with the
drum the reporting segment would be equal to something less than an eighth of the
drum circumference. On the reporting segment are arranged a series of vertical
conducting strips which gradually decrease in height and which are in electrical
communication with a lower conducting rim of the drum. The reporting or trans-
mitting segment also comprises a series of horizontal contacts communicating with
the conducting lower rim of the said drum. The above mentioned parts are
arranged in such manner that if the main line circuit is closed and thereby the
drum detent disengaged, both the local circuit operating the drum and a clock
work will be rendered operative and cause the brush contacts of all the meteoro-
logical apparatuses in connection with the drum to be brought into communication
with some of the contacting strips of the reporting segment. According to the
number of contact strips operated, the reading of the meteorological instrument in
question may be transmitted to the desired distance and reported there by means
of an ordinary Morse apparatus switched in the main circuit.
And in order to render the present specification more easily intelligible reference
is had to the accompanying drawings in which similar letters of reference denote
similar parts throughout the several views: -
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus constructed according to the present
invention, showing the kiosk or housing in vertical section.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line a-x of Figure 1.
Fig. 3 a side elevation of the drum showing the reporting segment or circum-
ferential surface,
Fig. 4 a section through the same but showing the lower bevel gear as seen from
underneath,
Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a cam drum employed to show the direction of the
wind,

page_text: Fig. 6a plan of Figure 5,
Fig. 7 a side elevation of the unrolled circumferential surface of the drum shown
at Figure 5, and
Fig. 8 a front elevation of a disc with an eccentric cam arranged thereon serving
in connection with the apparatus to report the strength of the wind.
The apparatus illustrated is intended to report the readings of eight apparatuses,
but the invention is not restricted to any particular number of instruments, since
it will be evident that any number may be employed. Each instrument, baro-
meter, thermometer, hygrometer, etc., is provided with a pointer a¹ a² a³.. a8 said
pointers being tangentially arranged as regards the drum T and adapted to press
lightly against the surface of the said drum.
The particular construction of the mechanism for transmitting the direction and
strength of the wind will be subsequently described, since the same involves
features not contained in the device for operating and transmitting the readings of
the barometer, thermometer, etc. The drum T is made of or covered with non-
conducting material and a segment of the same, equal to somewhat less than the arc
obtained by dividing the circumference by the number of instruments, is provided
with the conducting strips b and b. For the purposes of this Specification this
segment or arc of the drum will be termed the reporting segment. These con-
ducting strips consist of a number of vertical strips 6 and two or three horizontal
strips b¹ and all the strips are in electrical connection with a ring c of conducting
material arranged at the lower part of the drum. The vertical strips are of
gradually decreasing length so that all the strips taken together represent a right
angled triangle (Figs. 1 and 3). To the drum T is rigidly attached a tooth disc d,
which rotates with the said drum when the latter is rotated by means of the electro-
motor B. The electromotor is driven by means of the local battery D. A spring f
brushes the ring c of the drum T said spring being connected by means of a wire
and clamping screw f' to the coils of an electromagnet V. A pivoted rod having
an elastic upwardly turned end forms the armature g of this magnet and the said
rod or armature engages with its upper end an orifice in the tooth disc d (Fig. 4)
and forms a detent for the disc and the drum T which is rigidly connected therewith.
The rod is provided with a branch arm g¹ capable of being moved into the plane
of motion of the flyer m of a clockwork in order to arrest the said clockwork when
the armature is not attracted by the magnet, i.e., when the drum does not rotate.
To the lower side of the armature gis attached a metallic plate g2 which is insulated
Two contact surfaces ii are
by means of a layer h from the said armature.
arranged in proximity to the metallic plate g³ so that the latter is capable of con-
necting the two contacts and making current or closing the circuit to the local
battery and the electromotor.
The apparatus operates in the following manner: —
The drum T remains stationary as long as the rod or arm g engages the orifice d'
(Fig. 4) on the lower side of the tooth disc d. The line wire A is provided, in the
meteorological station with a number of branch arms corresponding to the number
of instruments in connection with the apparatus, and each branch is connected to
one instrument, the connections being so arranged that the pointer of one of the
instruments, say of the barometer will be in contact with the proportionately broad
strip y, when the drum is stationary, whilst all the other pointers will rest on the
non-conducting surface of the drum T. All the pointers are in metallic connection
with the line wire and one of them is in contact with the conducting strip y and a
line battery is provided at each receiving station, having one of its electrodes in
connection with the earth and the other with the line wire. This conductor leads
to the above mentioned pointer a¹ so that the current can pass through the strip y
to the ring and then through the brush contact f, the coils of the electromagnet V
to the earth (Fig. 1).
If now the circuit is closed at the receiving station, the magnet V will be excited,
the armature g attracted and the upturned end of the armature g. disengaged from
the orifice Fig. 4 releasing the drum T which will rotate in the direction of the
arrow Figs. 1 and 2, since the flyer m will be released simultaneously and also, by

page_text: means of the contacts ii the circuit to the local battery and electromotor closed.
The armature g will be attracted by a single impulse, but the motion of the drum
will continue after the circuit which caused the attraction of the armature has been
broken because the upwardly bent end of the armature 9 will be depressed by the
toothed disc until the said end again engages the orifice p¹ when it will pass into
the same but before this takes place the local circuit and the clockwork will continue
to run.
Since, now the making and breaking of the circuit is dependent on the contacts
formed consecutively by the pointers a¹-a8 as long as the circuit at the receiving
station remains closed a number of impulses will be transmitted corresponding to
the number of contact strips passed by the pointers a¹ a² a³. The number of
contacts thus formed will be dependent on the vertical position of the pointer in
question owing to the triangular form of the series of strips b, so that the position of
the pointer will be indicated at the receiving station by the number of impulses
received. As soon as one instrument has recorded its reading the rotation of the
drum will cause the strips to contact with the pointer of the next instrument and so
on until the readings of all the instruments have been recorded.
As far as the construction of the instruments in connection with the drum is
concerned, it will be evident that the thermometer, barometer, hygrometer and
similar instruments require no alteration whatever, since these instruments can
easily transmit their readings to the drum. The transmission of the force and
direction of the wind is, however, not so simple and the arrangements made for
this purpose will now be particularly described.
A weather vane o having a downwardly extending rod o¹ is mounted so that the
lower end of said rod shall be in proximity to the said drum T, the said spindle o¹
being rigidly connected to a cam drum o² and to a disc o³ below the latter. The
cam drum is shown projected in Figure 7 and consists of a long incline z and a short
sharp incline connecting the lowest and highest points of the incline z.
A roller 2
(Fig. 1) runs on the inclined edge of the cam drum said roller being mounted in
the fork of the bar r. The bar r slides in a rigidly supported guide s and carries
a spring contact a', so that when the drum is rotated by the weather vane the
roller P and with it the pointer a' will be moved vertically up or down in its guide
sleeves according to the direction of movement of the vane. A spring t is provided
to keep the rod r in constant contact with the disc 03 (Figs. 5 and 6). The
rod has sufficient play in its guides to enable the spring t to act to keep its lower
end against the cam disc o³. The disc o is circular in form with the exception of
a cam depression o' which corresponds in position to the sharp incline of the cam
drum, so that the rod r will sustain contact of the pointer a with the drum T as
long as the spring & presses the said rod against the circular part of the disc o³,
but the contact with cease as soon as the lower end of the rod r passes the depressed
or cam part of the said disc, because the rod will be moved slightly laterally. Pre-
suming the highest point of the curve to denote the north, then contact between
the spring and the drum would be sustained along the gradually inclined curve z
passing from north-east to north-west. If however the roller contacts with
the sharp incline of the cam drum the contact of the pointer a³ with the drum T
will cease because the end of the rod will be pressed in the recessed part of the
disc o³. This peculiar arrangement, alone, enables the direction of the wind to be
recorded by the number of contacts on the drum T.
Thus for instance if the
curve z were regular and gradually rose again to the north on both sides of the
highest point, and if the disc 03 were circular in form a north wind would cause
contact with the smallest number of contact strips b and a south wind would operate
the greatest number, but the intermediate contacts would not be able to indicate
as to whether they belonged to the semi-circle north-south or to the opposite semi-
circle south-north, or in other words wind variations to the east or west would not
be recorded.
The pointers and a³ relate to an anemometer and a pluviometer. The horizon-
tal contact strips 6₁ serve to transmit the readings of these instruments.
The

page_text: said
anemometer consists of four arms supporting hollow hemispheres in the known
manner having their concave surface turned to the four points of the compass. The
rotation of these arms is transmitted to a disc n¹ by means of bevel gearing
disc n¹ having a circular cam groove n² eccentrically arranged thereon. A verti-
cally moveable pointer carrying a laterally arranged pin engages this cam groove
by means of the said lateral pin, so that when the recording segment of the drum T
passes the pointer as the rotation of the anemometer arms will cause a greater or less
number of contacts to be formed according to the strength of the wind, said
contacts being formed by means of the horizontal contact strips 6 in that the
pointer a passes up and down over the same. The pluviometer is in connection
with the pointer a³ and may consist of a funnel arranged on the roof of the housing,
said funnel being adapted to allow water to pass therethrough dropwise. The drops
issuing from the funnel fall on to the spoonlike end g of a pivoted lever the
lower arm of which forms the pointer a³. Thus each drop as it falls on to the
spoon g will cause a movement of the pointer a³ towards the drum causing contact
with the horizontal strips b¹, and the amount of rain may be estimated by the
number of contacts in a certain period of time.
and
It need hardly be mentioned that ordinary anemometers or pluviometers of the
ordinary type may be substituted for the above described devices.
Hail gauges
galvanometers may also be brought into connection with and
operated by means of the drum to transmit their readings in the manner described
with regard to the other instruments.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. An apparatus for automatically transmitting the readings of the various
apparatuses at a meteorological station to any distance, having a revoluble drum T
with a non-conducting surface, and means for arresting the said drum by means
of the armature g of an electromagnet V said drum having at a certain part of its
superficial area a series of vertical gradually decreasing contact strips and a series of
horizontal contact strips, the position of both series as regards the drum being
dependent upon the number of instruments in connection therewith as specified,
means for connecting the said series of contact strips with the ring c at the lower
part of the drum, a main line and connections from same to each apparatus, a local
circuit and an electromotor therein, and means in connection with the said arma-
ture g to close the circuit of said battery, means to rotate the said drum from the
electromotor and means for releasing the detent and closing the local circuit when
the main line circuit is closed and a series of pointers each appertaining to one
instrument, said pointers being of conducting material and adapted to brush said
drum substantially as described.
2. In combination with the drum T the arrangement of a pointer a7 a cam drum
and a roller in connection with said pointer to run on said cam, said pointer being
adapted to indicate the direction of the wind by means of the vertical contact
strips of the drum and according to its height on the said drum, substantially as
described.
3. The combination of the drum T, a pointer a³ in communication with the main
line, an eccentric cam groove n³ formed on a disc and means for rotating said disc
from the anemometer and means for transmitting the movement of the said cam
groove to the pointer and operating the same transversely the horizontal contact
strips of the said drum substantially as described.
Doted thin 15th
100%
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicants.