Cup-anemometer by Munro 1870

Shown being replaced by Bertie McClure after restoring it in October 2000

A Robinson Cup-anemometer was first erected on the roof of the Observatory in 1846. However, regular meteorological observations had commenced in 1795. In 1867, when the Board of Trade decided to establish seven first class meteorological stations throughout the British Isles, where complete sets of self- recording instruments, working by photography, should be in action day and night without interuption, Armagh Observatory was selected as one of the stations. From a note in the Observatory Minute Book, the clock work of the registry of the anemometer had been in action since March 1847. A description of the anemometer appeared in Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., [1850], 22, Pt.1, Science, 155, 1855. The results of Robinson's researches into the constants of the cup-anemometer were given in Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 169, 777, 1878 and 171, 1055, 1880.

Munro's Wind Speed Recorder

Drawing of Robinson's original cup-anemometer.

See also: Short video on the anemometer Return to History of Armagh Observatory Thomas Romney Robinson Historical Instruments of Armagh Observatory

Last Revised: 2009 November 5th