The History and Types of Garden Weathervanes

The History and Types of Garden Weathervanes

For as long as man could remember, the weather has always played a significant role in the lives of humans-the way they live, the things they do, and the time they do these things. Early man then came up with the idea of developing a primitive tool intended for monitoring, predicting, and tracking the weather, and this primitive tool is what present man calls the weather vane. Today, modern technology has made scientific advances for more accurate monitoring, predicting, and tracking of the weather, but garden weathervanes are still widely used today.

Copper weathervanes are a common sight on top of buildings, whether big or small. Records show that the earliest weather vane known to man was built by an astronomer on top of Athens's Tower of the Winds in 48 BC. Although you have probably seen weathervanes mounted atop a majestic historical structure or even from the top of your grandfather's barn, for regulation purposes, wind is generally gauged at a height of thirty-three feet or ten inches. Hence, tall buildings are often the structures of choice when it comes to installing weathervanes.

Garden weathervanes once served as primary indicators of the direction of the wind. The results delivered by these weathervanes were then taken into consideration before making decisions, such as when to farm or when to fly. Nowadays, weathervanes serve no more function than as decorations or works of art for homes or buildings. Advanced and, therefore, more sophisticated weathervanes now make use of wind data loggers to provide a history or record of wind direction. In such terms, direction refers to where the wind came from, not to where it is headed. Direction plays an important role for the analysis of surface weather and for weather prediction. Thus, the information it gives off is very useful.

Garden weathervanes are also called wind vanes. These copper weathervanes are basically made up of these parts: a rod, directionals, a large lower globe, a smaller lower globe, and a rotating ornament, which is situated on top and the only moving part in the weather vane. For the weather vane to be as accurate as possible in indicating wind direction, the rotating ornament must be unequal in both area and mass on both of its sides. This permits the makers to come up with ornaments in all shapes and sizes-from arrows, airplanes, and banners to roosters, scrolls, and common shapes.

Garden weathervanes also come in swell-bodied three-dimensional forms. These vanes are usually made of sheet copper that has been hammered, and these copper weathervanes are often a few inches thick. Full-bodied rotating ornaments that come in three-dimensional forms are available as well, and their proportions are more realistic than their swell-bodied counterparts.

The rooster rotating ornament owes its popularity reportedly to a papal decree in the ninth century. The decree requires that a rooster-shaped ornamental be used on every church steeple or dome in reference to the prophecy made by Jesus about Peter renouncing him thrice before the cock would crow.

With the garden weathervanes having such a colorful history, you will never look at copper weathervanes the same way again.

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