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Your search found 16 records from all Smithsonian Institution collections.
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- Description
- Working at the Lamont Geological Observatory, a Columbia University facility in Palisades, N.Y., Frank Press and his mentor, Maurice Ewing, designed seismometers that responded to surface waves of long-period and small-amplitude whether caused by explosions or by earthquakes. Their horizontal seismometer was of the “garden-gate” form: here, the horizontal boom attaches to the lower end of a vertical post, and a diagonal wire extends from the upper end of the post to the outer end of the boom. The first example was installed in 1953.
- This example was made for the World Wide Standard Seismological Network. Established in 1961, the WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests, and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. The WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Each of the 120 stations in the WWSSN had two horizontal seismometers of this sort (one to capture the east-west component of the earth’s motions, and one to capture the north-south component). This example was used Junction City, Tx. It would have been linked to a matched galvanometer (such as 1999.0275.09) and a photographic drum recorder (such as 1999.0275.10). The “Sprengnether Instrument Co.” signature refers to a firm in St. Louis, Mo., that specialized in seismological instruments.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- W.F. Sprengnether Instrument Co., Inc., General Discription (sic) Long Period Horizontal Seismometer ([St. Louis], n.d.).
- W.F. Sprengnether Instrument Co., Inc., Sprengnether Horizontal Component Seismometer, Series H ([St. Louis], n.d.).
- Ta-Liang Teng, “Seismic Instrumentation,” in Methods of Experimental Physics, vol. 24 part B, Geophysics (1987), pp. 56-58.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- W. F. Sprengnether Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.04
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.04
- accession number
- 1999.0275
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- Description
- This carries a paper label marked: “Made from the Designs of Professor Ewing of Dundee, by the California Electric Works, 35 Market street, San Francisco; and recommended for use in California by Professor LeConte of Berkeley and by Professor Holden, Director of the Lick Observatory.”
- James Alfred Ewing was a young Scottish physicist/engineer who, while teaching in Tokyo in the years between 1878 and 1883, designed several seismographs. Among these was a duplex pendulum instrument that recorded the two horizontal components of earthquakes. It was, he claimed, “comparatively cheap and simple” and was “employed by many private observers in Japan.”
- The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company in England began manufacturing Ewing’s several seismographs in 1886. The first examples in the United States were installed in the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton and in the University of California at Berkeley. Edward Holden was then director of the former and president of the latter, and Joseph LeConte was professor of geology at Berkeley.
- Enthusiastic about the new science of seismology, Holden and LeConte convinced Paul Seiler, head of an electrical apparatus supply firm in San Francisco, to manufacture duplex pendulum seismographs that would sell for $15 apiece (rather than the $75 charged by the English firm). Over a dozen examples are known to have been distributed across the country and around the world, some recording earthquakes as early as 1889. This one came to the Smithsonian in 1964, a gift of Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Ref: Edward S. Holden, Handbook of the Lick Observatory (San Francisco, 1888), pp. 54-56.
- Edward S. Holden and Joseph LeConte, “Use of the Ewing Duplex Seismometer” (1887), reprinted in Holden, “Earthquakes on the Pacific Coast,” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 1087 (1898).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- late 1880s
- maker
- California Electrical Works
- ID Number
- PH.323669
- catalog number
- 323669
- accession number
- 251332
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- Description
- Working at the Lamont Geological Observatory, a Columbia University facility in Palisades, N.Y., Frank Press and his mentor, Maurice Ewing, developed seismometers that responded to surface waves of long-period and small-amplitude, whether caused by explosions or by earthquakes. The first long-period vertical seismometer at Lamont came to public attention in early 1953 with news that it had recorded waves from a large earthquake that had recently occurred at Kamchatka, in the Soviet Union. A painting of a subsequent but similar Lamont instrument appeared on the cover of Scientific American in March 1959.
- This example was made for the World Wide Standard Seismological Network. Established in 1961, the WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. The WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Each of the 120 WWSSN stations had an instrument of this sort. This example was used in Junction City, Tex. It would have been linked to a matched galvanometer (such as 1999.0275.09) and a photographic drum recorder (such as 1999.0275.10). The “Sprengnether Instrument Co.” signature refers to a small shop in St. Louis, Mo., that specialized in seismological apparatus.
- Like other long-period vertical seismometers developed at Lamont, this one was built around a “zero-length spring” of the sort that had been proposed in 1934 by Lucien LaCoste, a graduate student in physics at the University of Texas, and later incorporated into the gravity meters manufactured by LaCoste & Romberg.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962)
- Ta-Liang Teng, “Seismic Instrumentation,” in Methods of Experimental Physics, vol. 24 part B, Geophysics (1987), pp. 56-58.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- W. F. Sprengnether Instrument Co.
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.03
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.03
- accession number
- 1999.0275
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- Description
- Arthur J. Weed was a skilled mechanic who, as chief instrument maker of the U.S. Weather Bureau, built and maintained the seismograph that Charles Marvin had designed in 1895. Moving in 1920 to the Rouss Physical Laboratory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Weed gained access to resources that allowed him to go further in this field. With the aid of engineering students, Weed built a inverted pendulum seismograph with a 750-pound weight. Photographs of Weed with this massive instrument ran as an A.P. story in several newspapers. One headline read: “Trapping earthquakes has become a popular business at the University of Virginia, where one of the most unique and sensitive seismographs in the country keeps a twenty-four hour watch for tremors.”
- Weed also designed a smaller inverted pendulum seismograph that could “be used in many places where a more elaborate installation is out of the question.” One account described a cylindrical steady mass of about six pounds resting on three wires placed in the form of an equilateral triangle to which an oil damping device is attached.” This is an instrument of that sort. It came to the Smithsonian in 1963.
- When Weed died in 1936, the chief seismologist of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey noted that “the science of seismology has lost one who has given much thought to instrumental problems, an active worker and a true friend.” The American Geophysical Union noted the loss of “a member who has long been active in the field of instrumental seismology.”
- Ref: “Seismograph is Homemade,” Washington Post (July 10, 1927), p. 12, and Salt Lake Tribune (July 10, 1927), p. 10.
- “Something New In Seismographs,” The Telegraph (May 4, 1932).
- N. H. Heck, “Arthur J. Weed,” Science 83 (1936): 404.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930
- ID Number
- PH.323393
- catalog number
- 323393
- accession number
- 251562
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- Description
- Of the several seismographs that he designed while teaching physics and engineering in Meiji Japan, James Alfred Ewing was particularly excited about the horizontal pendulum form, describing it as “novel” and “certainly far superior to the long pendulum seismograph in simplicity and cheapness of construction, ease of use, and accuracy of results.” In 1886, after his return to Scotland, Ewing boasted that his “seismographs have been in regular use at the University of Tokio since they were invented” and were “used for systematic observations by the Japanese Meteorological Bureau.” He also boasted that seismographs based on his designs were “sent by the Japanese Government to the Inventions Exhibition in London” and “awarded the highest diploma among Government exhibits.”
- The Imperial Japanese Commission to the World’s Columbian Exposition sent an example to Chicago in 1893 and gave it to Smithsonian the following year. Only one of the two horizontal elements survives. This is a brass weight in the form of a truncated cone that is suspended over a flat triangular base, 8-inches on a side. It would have been attached to a pointer that would record the earth’s movements on a smoked glass plate.
- Ref: James A. Ewing, “On a New Seismograph,” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 31 (1881): 440-446, illus. on 441.
- James A. Ewing, “Seismometry in Japan,” Nature 35 (1886-87): 75-76.
- Catalogue of Objects Exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U.S.A., 1893 by the Department of Education, Japan (Tokyo, 1893), pp. 55-57.
- George Browne Goode, The Smithsonian Institution 1846-1896. The History of Its First Half Century (Washington, D.C., 1897), vol. 3, pp. 547-548.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1892
- ID Number
- PH.315165
- catalog number
- 315165
- accession number
- 219145
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- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network had three short-period galvanometers, one for each of its three short-period Benioff seismometers (such as 1999.0275.01 and 1999.0275.02). This example is marked “Geotechnical Corp. / Garland, Texas Stand / Model 8480 / 9799.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
- Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Incorporated in 1936, the Geotechnical Corporation conducted research in and produced instruments for the earth sciences. The firm got into defense work after World War II, went public in 1962, and was bought by Teledyne in 1965.
- Ref: Hugo Benioff, “Electrical Recording Seismograph,” U.S. Patent 1,784,415 (1930).
- Hugo Benioff, “Earthquake Seismographs and Associated Instruments,” in H. E. Landsberg, ed., Advances in Geophysics (New York, 1955), vol. 2, p. 234.
- United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.08
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.08
- accession number
- 1999.0275
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- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network used an instrument of this sort to test the sensitivity of its galvanometers. This one is marked “Geotech / Model 8431 / Galvo Test Set / Microamperes / Mfd by General Electric Co.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
- Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- General Electric Company
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.11
- accession number
- 1999.0275
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.11
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- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network had three long-period control units for use with its three long-period galvanometers (such as 1999.0275.09). This one is marked “Galvanometer Control / Geotechnical Corp. / Garland, Texas / Model 12591 / Serial 17.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
- Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed first by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Incorporated in 1936, the Geotechnical Corporation conducted research in and produced instruments for the earth sciences. It got into defense work after World War II, went public in 1962, and was bought by Teledyne in 1965.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.06
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.06
- accession number
- 1999.0275
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- Description
- Francis Anthony Tondorf, S.J., director of the newly established seismological laboratory at Georgetown University, ordered several new seismographs in 1911. This one, which was advertised as “Dr. Mainka’s Small size Conic Pendulum,” was the first of its kind in the United States. It was designed by Carl Mainka, manager of the instrument department of the Imperial Station for earthquake investigations in Strasbourg, and manufactured by J. & A. Bosch, a firm that specialized in instruments for seismology and meteorology.
- This seismograph stands 1.6 meters high and has two 130-kilogram masses, one for each horizontal motion. Registration occurs on a smoked paper mounted on a rotating aluminum cylinder. It came to the Smithsonian in 1961.
- Ref: J. & A. Bosch, Seismographen (Strassburg, 1910), pp. 6-7.
- C. Mainka, “Das bifilare Kegelpendel,” Mitteikugen der Philomathischen Gessellschaft in Elsasz-Lothringen 4 (1912): 633-667. This was reprinted as C. Mainka, Das bifilare Kegelpendel: (Instrumente für die Aufzeitnung von Erdbeben (Strasburg, 1913).
- “G.U.’s Observatory Finest,” Washington Post (Feb. 27, 1911), p. 2.
- date made
- ca 1911
- maker
- J. & A. Bosch
- ID Number
- PH.319816
- accession number
- 240152
- catalog number
- 319816
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- Description
- Finding traces of an 1889 Tokyo earthquake on his seismograph in Karlsruhe, Germany, the physicist Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz realized that instruments had become sufficiently powerful that seismologists need no longer confine their work to regions where the earth shook beneath them. Rebeur-Paschwitz then proposed the establishment of a worldwide seismic network. The International Seismology Association was formed in 1904 and, in 1906, offered a prize for the best inexpensive seismograph. It was in this context that Spindler & Hoyer, an instrument firm in Göttingen, introduced smaller and less costly versions of the horizontal and vertical seismographs designed Emil Wiechert, professor of geophysics at the University of Göttingen.
- Frederick Oldenbach, S.J., a professor at Saint Ignatius College in Cleveland, O., had long been interested in meteorology and seismology. In 1909 he circulated a proposal for a network of Jesuit seismological stations that, in the words of one historian, would obtain “widespread publicity and general acclaim in a culture that celebrated science.” Each of these stations—15 in the United States and one in Canada—would have a pair of 80-kilogram Wiechert seismographs made by Spindler & Hoyer. Georgetown University, the oldest and most renowned Jesuit college in the country, got its first seismographs later that year and put them in the hands of Francis Anthony Tondorf, S.J., a physicist who had received some graduate training at The Johns Hopkins University.
- Father Tondorf was wonderfully energetic and charismatic and, over the course of the next 18 years, convinced wealthy alumni to provide funds for several more instruments. Among these was a second Wiechert-type horizontal seismograph made by Spindler & Hoyer that, with a 200-kilogram weight, was substantially larger and more stable than the earlier one. As before, however, registration occurred on a smoked paper mounted on a rotating aluminum cylinder. This is that instrument. It was at Georgetown by 1915 and it came to the Smithsonian in 1965.
- Ref: Communications Concerning a New Horizontal and Vertical Seismograph after Prof. Dr. Wiechert (Gottingen: Spindler & Hoyer, 1908); this includes German and French editions of the text.
- “Seismographs of Washington,” Modern Mechanics (1915): 297-299.
- Johannes Schweitzer, “Early German Contributions to Modern Seismology.” http://www.dgg-online.de/geschichte/johannes/CH 79-24CDpartA.pdf
- Carl-Henry Geschwind, “Embracing Science and Research: Early Twentieth-Century Jesuits and Seismology in the United States,” Isis 89 (1998): 27-49.
- Location
- Currently not on view (charts stored MAH, 5120, S-67-C)
- date made
- 1915
- maker
- Spindler & Hoyer
- ID Number
- PH.326987
- accession number
- 265135
- catalog number
- 326987
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- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network had a transformer of this sort. This one is marked “Geotechnical Corporation / Garland, Texas / Model 12968 / Serial 19.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
- Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Incorporated in 1936, the Geotechnical Corporation conducted research in and produced instruments for the field of earth sciences. It got into defense work after World War II, went public in 1962, and was bought by Teledyne in 1965.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.12
- accession number
- 1999.0275
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.12
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- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network had several drum recorders that, covered with photographic paper, recorded the three components (one vertical and two horizontal) of seismic phenomena. This three-channel recorder would have been used with the three long-period seismometers. It is marked “United Electro Dynamics Inc. / United GeoMeasurements Division / Pasadena California / Recorder, Photographic / Model No. DR 275 / Part No. 217205 / Serial No. 11.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
- Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- As the chief engineer of the Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, Francis Lehner helped the scientists in that Pasadena institution design and make their instruments. Working with his nephew, Bob Griffith, he made seismological apparatus for other organizations. In 1960 after receiving a substantial contract to produce equipment for VELA Uniform, Lehner & Griffith became the core part of the United GeoMeasurements Division of United ElectroDynamics, a much larger defense contractor that was also located in Pasadena. In 1964 when United ElectroDynamics was sold to Teledyne, the seismological operations were merged with those of the Geotechnical Corporation. The seismic instrument designers and makers of United ElectroDynamics who refused to move to Texas then formed Kinemetrics.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- United ElectroDynamics
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.10
- accession number
- 1999.0275
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.10
-
- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the WWSSN had a time and power console. This example is marked “Geotech / World Wide Seismograph System / Time and Power Console / Model 8682 / The Geotechnical Corp. / Dallas, Tex.” It was used in Junction City, Tex.
- Established in the early 1960s, the World Wide Standard Seismological Network was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Incorporated in 1936, the Geotechnical Corporation conducted research in and produced instruments for the earth sciences. It got into defense work after World War II, went public in 1962, and was bought by Teledyne in 1965.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.07
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.07
- accession number
- 1999.0275
-
- Description
- This is a variable reluctance, short-period vertical seismometer based on the design of Hugo Benioff, a scientist on the staff of the Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. It was made by The Geotechnical Corporation in Dallas, Texas, in the early 1960s, for use in VELA-Uniform, a government-sponsored project designed to detect and map earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions. One part of VELA-Uniform was a World Wide Standardized Seismograph Network.
- This example marked "Model No. 1051 / Serial No. 210" was used at the WWSSN station at Junction City, Texas.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.02
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.02
- accession number
- 1999.0275
-
- Description
- This variable reluctance, short-period horizontal seismometer is based on the design of Hugo Benioff, a scientist on the staff of the Seismological Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. It was made by the Geotechnical Corporation in Dallas, Texas, in the early 1960s, for use in VELA-Uniform, a government-sponsored project designed to detect and map earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions. One part of VELA-Uniform was a World Wide Standardized Seismograph Network.
- This example is marked "Model No. 1101 / Serial No. 4201." It was used at the WWSSN station at Junction City, Texas.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.01
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.01
- accession number
- 1999.0275
-
- Description
- Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network had three short-period galvanometer control units for use with its three short-period galvanometers (such as 1999.0275.08). This example is marked “Galvanometer Control / Geotechnical Corp. / Dallas, Texas / Model 8438 / Serial 357.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
- Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
- Incorporated in 1936, the Geotechnical Corporation conducted research in and produced instruments for the earth sciences. It got into defense work after World War II, went public in 1962, and was bought by Teledyne in 1965.
- Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700 (Washington, D.C., 1962).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1961-1962
- maker
- Geotechnical Corporation
- ID Number
- 1999.0275.05
- catalog number
- 1999.0275.05
- accession number
- 1999.0275
