Weather Vanes - Brief History And Different Types
by: Ashley Barnard
Weather Vanes - brief history and different types
Since the dawn of time, weather has had an impact on humans and how they
live, what they do and when. Today, there is an unbelievable array of land-based
and satellite-based equipment to help monitor, track and predict the weather,
but one primitive tool still used widely is the weather vane.
Weather vanes are common fixtures on the tops of buildings large and small.
The earliest known weather vane was constructed atop Athens' Tower of the Winds
by an astronomer in 48 B.C., but you've probably seen them topping everything
from a historical government building to your neighbour's barn. For official
purposes, wind is usually measured at a height of 10 metres or 33 feet, making
such edifices the perfect location to install a weather vane.
Now often relegated to uses no more pressing than decoration or folk art,
weather vanes were once key indicators of wind direction, which affected
decisions from farming to flying. Sophisticated, modern weather vanes use wind
data loggers (or computers) to create a history of wind direction. Direction,
which is reported in terms of which direction the wind is coming from, not going
to, is a key indicator for surface weather analysis and prediction, and
therefore, very useful information.
Sometimes called 'wind vanes', traditional weather vanes are generally
comprised of several parts, including a rod, a large lower globe, directionals,
and a smaller upper globe, all of which are fixed, and a rotating ornament on
top. To accurately indicate wind direction, the ornament must have unequal area
and unequal mass on either side of centre. This oddity allows for lovely
freeform ornaments, or more traditional arrows, scrolls, banners, or silhouetted
roosters, airplanes and other common shapes. Another popular ornament style is
the swell-bodied kind: three-dimensional forms a few inches thick, often made of
hammered sheet copper. Similarly, full-bodied ornaments are also
three-dimensional, but are more realistic in their proportions that swell-bodied
ornaments. Rooster ornaments are particularly popular atop church steeples
thanks to a reported ninth century papal decree calling for a cock to be
installed on every European church steeple or dome as a reminder of a prophecy
made my Jesus and recorded in Luke 22:34, that the morning cock would not crow
the morning after the Last Supper until Peter had denounced Him three times.
Medieval towers in Europe often flew fabric pennants so that archers would be
able to see wind direction. The cloth pennants were later replaced by metal
flags, the precursor of today's modern weather vanes.for more information on
weather vanes please go to our site at
http://www.weathervanesite.com
About The Author
Ashley Barnard
Over the past few years I have noticed an interest in weather vanes so
the thought past my mind as to where they came from and when they were first
used so I decided to a little research and write an article about them.
http://www.weathervanesite.com. |
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