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.
The other forms of velocity anemometer may be described as belonging to the windmill type.
The great advantage of the tube anemometer lies in the fact that the exposed part can be mounted on a high pole, and requires no oiling or attention for years; and the registering part can be placed in any convenient position, no matter how far from the external part.
The Robinson anemometer, invented (1846) by Dr Thomas Romney Robinson, of Armagh Observatory, is the best-known and most generally used instrument, and belongs to the first of these.
Most weather stations measure wind speed using a spinning cup anemometer, which rotates depending on the wind.