The speed of wind is measured with the instrument named anemometer (In Greek anemos – wind). There are these famous four ” dippers”, which turning themselves in wind. It had not this shape always and at present all anemometers don’t look like this way either.

The first mechanical anemometer was appeared in 1450 yet. His creator was Leon Battista Alberti, an Italian artist and architect. His anemometer was in a shape of the wind weather – cock and on its end was the rotary small desk fitted vertically. If the wind won the weather - cock was turning in his direction and wind [the press of air] misalignment the desk from the vertical position about the angle corresponding to the speed of air.

Hook’s anemometer
(Taken from http://134.2.62.74/people/frku/anemometer/damals/damals.html)

At the same principle Englishmen Robert Hooke created his anemometer 200 years later, which is known especially with his rule from the area of straining of material (so called The Hook’s Rule) for students. Sometimes Hooke is marked like the inventor of the anemometer by mistake.

Indians from southern Mexico were interested in the speed of wind. The famous is so called ” the Tower of Winds”. It was high about 11 meters. In its basic part was created the scale in a shape of limped circles [similar like a target], divided according to the direction of world’s sides into 12 parts. From the center of the top of tower a small balls with a diameter about 2,5 cm fell down on the scale. When the wind won the small balls fell down out of the center and just this deviation was the measure of the speed of wind. The small balls were various colors, for that they created the ”record” of the change of the wind for the certain time. This instrument – the anemometer connected with a recorder – is named anemograph.

In 1775 The Scottish physics James Lind used for the measuring of the speed of air the principle of the common pipe’s manometer. The measure of the speed of wind was the difference between the atmospheric press [it is the statistic press] and the press, which is created by the flowing air [wind]. There was enough only it when the one end of the pipe – turned in the shape ”U” – was turned this way that the wind could blow in it. The column of water was swung out about the difference of the both presses and this difference showed on the scale the speed of winds this way.

This anemometer had the disadvantage however, that it was only little sensitive. For example the water column swung out only about 2,5 mm during the speed 8m/s. W. Snow - Harris solved this problem in 1858. He as increased the diameter at the part of the pipe, where the wind blew and this way the whole power increased, which pressed the column of water and he so divided the scale into two parts. The first part of the scale was horizontal and it served for small speeds, the other part was vertical and it served for higher speeds.

During years the next construction were worked up on various principles [sonic, heat, laser thermal]. The revolving anemometer is the most common one with which the speed of revolving measure mechanic shows the speed of air flowing on the scale of anemometer’s tachometer. These anemometers are small – wind’s or bowl’s ones.

The bowl’s anemometer
(Taken from http://www.columbia-center.org/fascinating/obs/instrmnt.html)