Weather is always a topic of conversation in South Dakota. While everyone depends upon their favorite weather app to plan their weekend activities, farmers and ranchers need accurate weather forecasts in order carry out their work. This piece of antique weather equipment was once used on the South Dakota State University campus ca. 1931-1950s.
Combination recorders are one piece of equipment making up a weather station. Data is collected from a wind vane and anemometer mounted on a tower, a rain and snow gauge and a sunshine duration transmitter. More complex recorders can have a barometer, an air thermograph, a hydrograph, minimum/maximum thermometers and other piece of equipment attached to them. This recorder records conditions of rainfall and sunshine, plus wind velocity from eight compass points. Electric transmitters collect data from the instruments and record it on a single chart. The cylinder drum on this machine has graph paper wrapped around it and different colored pen tips scribe the information on the graph.