Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine Read Free Page B

“What on earth is the matter?” he asked. “Is someone hurt?”
    â€œNot yet,” groaned Joe. “But I will be.”
    â€œYou know how Joe squawks, Professor,” Danny said cheerfully. “We borrowed his father’s barometer so I could take it apart to see how it works. We want to build one of our own. Now he’s worried that I may not be able to put it together again.”
    The Professor pushed his glasses up on his forehead. He was a tubby, merry-looking man with rosy cheeks and a bald head across which a few strands of hair were plastered. He said, “Danny, do you know how to put together a barometer?”
    Danny rubbed his chin. “We-e-ell,” he said, “I’ve never actually done it before....”
    â€œOooh!” Joe collapsed tragically in a chair. “ Now he tells me.”
    â€œDear me,” said the Professor. “Danny, I’m afraid you acted without thinking, again. I’ve had occasion to tell you before not to be so headstrong.”
    Danny said nothing, and the Professor went on more gently, “A barometer is relatively simple. But I’m afraid you’ve broken the air-tight seal on the case, and that isn’t easy to fix. Also, the hairspring must be coiled tightly, and you haven’t the tools with which to do that.”
    Danny hung his head, and his cheeks began to burn. “You’re right, Professor Bullfinch,” he said. “I—I guess I just thought it was the best way to find out how the thing worked.”
    â€œI’m not saying anything against your scientific curiosity,” said the Professor. “But you must think before you act. Why did you want to make a barometer?”
    â€œWe were going to set up our own weather station,” said Irene. “We looked in the encyclopedia and found that we’d need some basic instruments like a barometer, a rain gauge, a wind vane, an anemometer....”
    â€œMost of those things are easy to make for yourself out of odds and ends,” said the Professor. He went to a bookshelf at one end of the room, and got down a slim volume. “Here’s a book I got from the author, who is a friend of mine. It’s called Everyday Weather and How It Works , by Mr. Herman Schneider.”
    He flipped it open to a picture. “Here’s a simple way to make an anemometer, which is a machine for telling the speed of the wind. You use four paper cups, and fasten them to arms made of cardboard. When the wind blows, it turns the cups. By counting the number of turns in thirty seconds and dividing that number by five, you will get the wind speed in miles per hour. Or you can take it to the weather station and compare it with the one they have there.” Danny glanced quickly at Irene, but neither of them said anything.
    The Professor was turning over the pages of the book. “Here’s a way of making a weather vane out of a coat hanger and some heavy cardboard cut in the shape of an arrow. Or you can make one out of light wood, and mount it on a post with a nail so that it will turn with the wind. As long as you know where north is, you can figure out the direction from which the wind is blowing.”
    â€œWhat about a rain gauge?” Danny asked.
    â€œMerely a glass jar with a funnel in it to catch the rain. Then you measure how much rain has fallen. You can use my steel ruler, marked in sixty-fourths of an inch.”
    He paused. “But the barometer is another matter. I’ll call Mr. Pearson and explain what happened. But what are you going to do about it, Danny?”
    â€œI’ve got some money saved up,” Danny said earnestly. “I’ll buy another one for Joe’s father just like the one I took to pieces. How can you make one without all these springs and things, Professor?”
    â€œWell,” said Professor Bullfinch, “Mr. Schneider has a plan for a very good one in his book. But I used to make