Pocket WIND VANE — ARTOYA Learning Hub

Watch

See it come together

Assembly video coming — scan again after the next production run.

Read

The leaflet in the box

The same leaflet that comes with the kit, English on one side, French on the other. Free to download and print.

Download the leaflet (PDF)

ARTOYA_LEAFLET_AV0118115.pdf — 198 × 298 mm, EN/FR

Learn

Four ways in

View of the Tower of the Winds and the Acropolis (hand-coloured engraving) — James Stuart (1713–1788) and Nicholas Revett (1720–1804) — drawn 1751; published in The Antiquities of Athens, vol. III (ed. Willey Reveley), London, John Nichols, 1794 — Wikimedia Commons (scan credited to el.travelogues.gr, Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation) — File:View of the Tower of the Winds and the Acropolis – J. Stuart & N. Revett - 1751.jpg (8813 × 5795)

A Timeless History

Among the oldest weather instruments there are. Around 100–50 BC, Andronicus of Cyrrhus built the Tower of the Winds in Athens: an octagonal marble tower with a wind god carved on each side and a bronze Triton on the roof that turned to point at the blowing wind. For centuries after, farmers, sailors and travellers read the weather from a vane, long before forecasts existed.

SourceEncyclopaedia Britannica, Tower of the Winds · Vitruvius, De architectura I.6 · Image: Stuart & Revett, The Antiquities of Athens — Wikimedia Commons (PD)

Washington, D.C. — the meteorological work of the United States Signal Service: arrangement of the wind instruments (cup anemometers and wind vanes) on the roof of the headquarters building; from sketches by H. A. Ogden — Archival photograph by Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS — 19th-century wood engraving (Harper's Weekly type) — 19th century (photographed 2010) — NOAA Photo Library (Flickr, noaaphotolib), via Wikimedia Commons — wea01316 — File:Wea01316 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg (1801 × 1385)

Science In Action

Torque — a push acting away from the pivot makes it turn; the further out, the stronger the effect • Balance — the vane is balanced on its pivot, so gravity cannot turn it; only the wind can • Surface area — the broad tail catches more wind than the narrow head, so the tail swings downwind • Sensitivity — a well-balanced vane turns in a breeze too faint to feel on your skin

SourceNOAA National Weather Service, glossary: wind direction · Encyclopaedia Britannica, weather vane · Image: NOAA Photo Library, wea01316 (PD)

Prancing Horse Weathervane — Unidentified artist — 19th century — Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington — Museum purchase from the folk art collection of David L. Davies; molded and gilded copper and cast zinc, 62.9 × 64.8 × 9.8 cm — 1992.12.2

Arts

Vanes became sculpture. Roosters, horses, ships, dragons, arrows: from the weathercock on the church steeple to the moulded copper vanes of 19th-century American farms, finished in gold leaf so they caught the sun as well as the wind. The Smithsonian's gilded Prancing Horse is one of them.

SourceSmithsonian American Art Museum, folk art collection · Image: Prancing Horse Weathervane, 19th c., SAAM 1992.12.2 (CC0)

Airport windsock at 66G (William 'Tiny' Zehnder Field), Frankenmuth, Michigan — Mrmanssss (Wikimedia Commons user), own work — 2024-04-27 — Wikimedia Commons — File:United States Airport Windsock at 66G Airport, Frankenmuth, MI.jpg (2304 × 1536)

Applications Today

Aviation — every runway has a windsock; pilots read it before take-off and landing • Wind farms — a small vane on each turbine tells the yaw motors to turn the rotor into the wind • Weather stations — wind direction is still one of the first readings taken, every hour

SourceFAA, Advisory Circular 150/5345-27F · U.S. Department of Energy, How a wind turbine works · NOAA National Weather Service · Image: airport windsock, Frankenmuth, Michigan — Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Rooster weathervane, pine and copper, c. 1900 — SAAM

Did you know?

A vane names the wind.

A north wind blows from the north. The arrow points into the wind, not away from it — the direction forecasters report.

One more thing

An airport windsock is built to fly straight out at 15 knots (28 km/h) — and to show the wind's direction within 5° from a breeze of just 3 knots.

SourceFAA Advisory Circular 150/5345-27F, Specification for Wind Cone Assemblies

The Tower of the Winds still stands in Athens: twelve metres of marble, a wind carved on each of its eight sides.

Go deeper

The long read

A two-to-three-page article with more images and full explanations — printable. Coming for this model.

Build

How it comes together

Every part is cut and marked on the board; full instructions are on the sheet in the box. Once built, it stays built.

1

READ THE SHEET

Take your time — every detail counts. Check all the pieces are on the board.

2

ONE PIECE AT A TIME

Press out each piece only when the sheet calls for it.

3

ROTOR, MAST, COMPASS

Three rings on the hub, mast and rings, then the N-S-W-E cross.

4

ARROW, BASE, CUPS

Arrow on top, mast into its frame, three paper cups in the rings.

5

PAINT LAST

Once it stands — or keep it plain. No two are alike.

What it will not do

It shows direction and how hard the wind blows — not a number. The arrow gives the direction, the spinning cups the strength; there is no scale to read. Set it where the wind can reach it — indoors it only moves in a draught.