The Hurricane Guide | Page 6

action of the tube; and then reduced to the standard temperature of 32�� Fahr., and to the sea-level, if on shipboard. For the first correction the neutral point should be marked upon each instrument. It is that particular height which, in its construction, has been actually measured from the surface of the mercury in the cistern, and indicated by the scale. In general the mercury will stand either above or below the neutral point; if above, a portion of the mercury must have left the cistern, and consequently must have lowered the surface in the cistern: in this case the altitude as measured by the scale will be too short--vice versa, if below. The relation of the capacities of the tube and cistern should be experimentally ascertained, and marked upon the instrument by the maker. Suppose the capacity to be 1/50, marked thus on the instrument, "Capacity 1/50:" this indicates that for every inch of variation of the mercury in the tube, that in the cistern will vary contrariwise 1/50th of an inch. When the mercury in the tube is above the neutral point, the difference between it and the neutral point is to be reduced in the proportion expressed by the "capacity" (in the case supposed, divided by 50), and the quotient added to the observed height; if below, subtracted from it. In barometers furnished with a fiducial point for adjusting the lower level, this correction is superfluous, and must not be applied.
The second correction required is for the capillary action of the tube, the effect of which is always to depress the mercury in the tube by a certain quantity inversely proportioned to the diameter of the tube. This quantity should be experimentally determined during the construction of the instrument, and its amount marked upon it by the maker, and is always to be added to the height of the mercurial column, previously corrected as before. For the convenience of those who may have barometers, the capillary action of which has not been determined, a table of corrections for tubes of different diameters is placed in the Appendix, Table I.
The next correction, and in some respects the most important of all, is that due to the temperature of the mercury in the barometer tube at the time of observation, and to the expansion of the scale. Table II. of the Appendix gives for every degree of the thermometer and every half-inch of the barometer, the proper quantity to be added or subtracted for the reduction of the observed height to the standard temperature of the mercury at 32�� Fahr.
After these the index correction should be applied. This is the amount of difference between the particular instrument and the readings of the Royal Society's flint-glass barometer when properly corrected, and is generally known as the zero. It is impossible to pay too much attention to the determination of this point. For this purpose, when practicable, the instrument should be immediately compared with the Royal Society's standard, and the difference of the readings of both instruments, when corrected as above, carefully noted and preserved. Where, however, this is impracticable, the comparison should be effected by means either of some other standard previously so compared, or of an intermediate portable barometer, the zero point of which has been well determined. Suspend the portable barometer as near as convenient to the ship's barometer, and after at least an hour's quiet exposure, take as many readings of both instruments as may be necessary to reduce the probable error of the mean of the differences below 0.001 inch. Under these circumstances the mean difference of all the readings will be the relative zero or index error, whence, if that of the intermediate barometer be known, that of the other may be found. As such comparisons will always be made when the vessel is in port, sufficient time can be allowed for making the requisite number of observations: hourly readings would perhaps be best, and they would have the advantage of forming part of the system when in operation, and might be accordingly used as such.
It is not only desirable that the zero point of the barometer should be well determined in the first instance; it should also be carefully verified on every opportunity which presents itself; and in every instance, previous to sailing, it should be re-compared with the standard on shore by the intervention of a portable barometer, and no opportunity should be lost of comparing it on the voyage by means of such an intermediate instrument with the standard barometers at St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, Bombay, Madras, Paramatta, Van Diemen's Island, and with any other instruments likely to be referred to as standards, or employed in research elsewhere. Any vessel having a portable barometer on board, the zero of