Anemometers

ANEMOMETERS

Mechanical anemometers are an instrument used to determine the volume of air entering or exiting mine workings. They were invented by Benjamin Biram, house steward to the Earl Fitzwilliam, owner of numerous collieries in South Yorkshire, England, in 1844.

The formula used most often in mine ventilation using an anemometer was q=av, in which q equals the number of feet of air per minute, a equals the area of the airway in square feet and v equals velocity of air current in feet per minute. Anemometers, as used in mines, were produced in two styles, the Biram style which have the the dials and vanes on the same plane and the offset style which has the dials perpendicular to the vanes.

Anemometers are generally collected by mining collectors and scientific instrument collectors. The earlier models do not have the capability to return-to-zero as later models do. Most have 8 vanes but range from just 4 up to 12 vanes, and have from 1 to 6 dials on the face.