Weathervane : The History!
weathervanes
For centuries, weathervane has had a role in the humanity life. It was in Athens at 48 B.C, the history of weathervanes began. The person who made the first weathervane is the astronomer Andronicus on the Tower of the Winds to honor the Greek God Triton, and it came in the form of bronze sculpture with a head of a man and a tail of a fish. Triton chose which God would choose today’s weather by referring to the direction of the weathervane.
In the 9th century, the Vikings also invented weathervanes. Many Viking ships used them, and most of them were built based on the Norse tales. In today’s Norway and Sweden, you can see many weathervanes.
Even though we can predict the weather better with today’s technology, but in the past weathervanes played an important role. For example, to predict the climates for farmers, or to be a very important navigation tools for sailors. Even, the highest peak of the wealthy men’s houses is decorated with weathervanes.
To remind people about the betrayal of Christ by Peter, every church in the 9th century is adorned by a rooster. At first, it was just a symbol but as time goes by, they became weathervanes.
In European, all of the castle towers were equipped with flags and banners. To helped archers predicting the wind’s direction, they began to replace it with small metal spinner. Actually, the word of weathervane is derived from fane (an old English word), which means flag or banner. At first, the name was wind vanes, then it changed into weathervane.
The highest point of the building is the most effective place to place the weathervanes. They have to be balanced on their axis, and the unequal area on each side for the wind to blow is required. Any surface area that protects a side of the weathervane will reduce the force and affect the indicators.
In America, the first weathervane maker is Deacon Shem Downe, and his first creation was a grasshopper on top of Boston’s Fanecuil Hall in 1942. To read wind direction from the inside of the house, Thomas Jefferson put the rooster weathervane on the roof, then attach a string to a pointer in the house. At the early 1800, the patriotic was the mainstream, you would find so many Federal Eagle and Goddess of Liberty that time.
Nowadays, there are so many designs, and we can choose from the modern designs to the traditional ones. Copper is the main materials, and it comes with a variety of patinas, while the finishing is copper and verdigris’ polishing. Today’s size is also variable, from the size of desk sculpture to the size that suits the churches and barns.
Even in this time that full of high-tech era, you can still find weathervanes as a part of our lives.