| Description | Providing an early reply to Lewis's letter re Brunts Query. Had not realilsed the P. T. was so slow in coming into use, and suggests three reasons for it - Dines more interested in the design than pushing it commercially; vested interests at Kew and elsewhere who disliked seeing old equipment superceded; money tight at the time.
Brunt may not be particularly interested in the direction recorder part, but Sum can speak of this from personal knowledge, though never discovered why Father never went ahead with it. He found its remains at Pyrton Hill when his job was to investigate wind currents, and using their Father's essential design fitted it onto a P.T. thereafter coming into fairly general use. Thiniks the date would be about 1911. States Stanley's predecessor at the Meteorological Office modified it subsequently.by fitting the long arms to replace the vertical slides, which made it cumbersome but work better.
Supposes that after the Tay Bridge disaster their father did not have many workshop facilities - perhaps the acquisition of the workshop at Oxshott brought the P.T into existence.
Postscript; Concerning the instrument in the Science Museum, he sent it there from Benson but some doubt as to whether it was instument no 1 or no 2, though forgets reason for this doubt. It had Munro's plate on it, so must have been made by Munro.
Note at end; Replied 2/12/50 |