Lind's anemometer, which consists simply of a U tube containing liquid with one end bent into a horizontal direction to face the wind, is perhaps the original form from which the tube class of instrument has sprung.
When a current is passed through the wire, continuous or alternating, it creates heat, which expands the air in the bulb and forces the liquid up one side of the U-tube to a certain position in which the rate of loss of heat by the air is equal to the rate at which it is gaining heat.
It consists of a glass bulb, in which there is a loop of fine wire, and to the bulb is attached a U-tube in which there is some liquid.
The oxidation, which is effected by chromic acid and sulphuric acid, is conducted in a flask provided with a funnel and escape tube, and the carbon dioxide formed is swept by a current of dry air, previously freed from carbon dioxide, through a drying tube to a set of potash bulbs and a tube containing soda-lime; if halogens are present, a small wash bottle containing potassium iodide, and a U tube containing glass wool moistened with silver nitrate on one side and strong sulphuric acid on the other, must be inserted between the flask and the drying tube.
In one, applicable only to liquids which do not mix, the two liquids are poured into the limbs of a U tube.