Fairmount Dines Pattern Tilting Siphon Rainfall Recorder

The Tilting Siphon Rainfall Recorder is manufactured to British Met Office drawings (Modified in the case of Tropical version). It produces a record of rainfall against time. The automatic tilting action ensures unlimited collecting capacity. It is frequently used in conjunction with a daily rain gauge to provide a permanent record of the start and end of rainfall, together with variations in intensity.

Tropical Tilting Syphon Rainfall recorder – Tropical pattern showing mechanism

The movement of a float in the collecting chamber causes a pen to mark a daily or weekly chart, which is viewed through the hinged front window. When 25mm (Tropical) or 5mm (Temperate) of rain has fallen – represented on the chart by a linear distance of 50mm – the pen is at the top of the chart and the chamber tilts and empties. The pen then returns to the bottom of the chart to start recording again. The Gauge is constructed from non-ferrous materials and supplied with a hand-wound clock. Recording is effected on the chart by disposable fibre tipped pen.