The wet-bulb thermometer has to be exposed to the air with the same
precautions as are taken in the case of the dry bulb. The two may
be hung side by side—but at least six inches apart—in the screen or
cage described on p. 15; or the wet bulb may be employed as a sling
thermometer. One way to do this is to tie a muslin cap on the bulb of the
sling thermometer with a piece of wet lamp-wick coiled round the upper
part of the bulb, and then whirl it until the reading becomes constant,
taking care to moisten the bulb again if it should become dry. Another
way is simply to twist a piece of filter-paper or blotting-paper round
the bulb, and dip it in water before swinging.
_Aspiration Psychrometer._—Perhaps the most convenient form of wet and
dry bulb thermometer for use by a traveller is that known as Assmann’s
Aspiration Psychrometer. It requires no protecting screen, is not subject
to the risk attending the use of the sling thermometer, and gives an
extremely close approximation to the true temperature and humidity.
The principle of the instrument is very simple. The wet and dry bulb
thermometers are enclosed separately each in an open tube (see Fig. 4)
through which a current of air is drawn by means of a fan, actuated by
clockwork in the upper part of the case. In making an observation, all
that is required is to see that the water vessel for the wet bulb is
filled and the bulb properly moist, and that the dry bulb is free from
any condensed moisture. The instrument is then hung to a branch or other
support placed in the open air (or even held in the hand), preferably in
the shade, although this is not essential, and the clockwork wound up.
Air will then be drawn over the bulbs for five minutes or more, and if
the temperature of each thermometer has not become steady by the time the
clockwork has run down, it must be wound up again.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.—_Section of Assmann’s Aspiration Psychrometer._]
The thermometers in Assmann’s Psychrometer are graduated according to the
Centigrade scale, and each degree is subdivided into fifths on a slip of
porcelain enclosed in the outer tube of the thermometer (see p. 13).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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