Computers & Business Machines

Long-Period Horizontal Seismometer (WWSSN)

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

Data Source

National Museum of American History

IBM X24-5884-5 Auto-translator and Flowcharting Template

Description

This clear plastic instrument is colored white around the edges, with a grid of black lines and twenty-eight cutout regions. Across the top is a scale of alphabetic interpreter type spacing. Across the bottom is a scale of card columns and mark sensing. On the right is a scale of card volume. On the left is a scale relating to end printing. A mark on the object reads: IBM DIAGRAMMING TEMPLATE (/) X24-5884-5.

The flowcharting template fits in a yellow paper envelope, which has explanations for the symbols. It refers to IBM document C20-8008.

Also received in this envelope is a red and white plastic chart labeled: AUTO-TRANSLATOR Programmer's Aid for Translating Between (/) Machine Code And Actual Addresses For IBM 1401/1440/1460 Computers. Another mark on the chart reads: Copyright 1964. A third mark on it reads: ARCHER INDUSTRIES

Reference:

IBM, Reference Manual. Flow Charting and Block Diagramming Techniques, White Plains, IBM, 1959, esp. p. 4. This is IBM document C20-8008, dated September, 1959.

Location

Currently not on view

date made

1959, 1964

maker

IBM

ID Number

1996.3015.05

catalog number

1996.3015.05

nonaccession number

1996.3015

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Wave guide with ruby crystal

Description

This is an experimental device made by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Aircraft in late 1959 or early 1960 as part of the series of experiments leading up to the demonstration of the first laser in May 1960. This object features a cube-shaped ruby crystal mounted at one end of a microwave wave-guide. Maiman sought to test the response of the synthetic ruby crystal to microwave stimulation. Other researchers claimed that ruby would be a poor material to use in a laser. Maiman thought otherwise.

After Charles Townes invented the microwave-emitting maser in 1954, researchers began trying to move to the higher energy levels of infrared and visible light. They referred to such devices as "optical masers," and only later did people adopt Gordon Gould's term, "laser." This experimental piece clearly shows the influence of microwave technology. The metal tube is not a stand but rather a hollow guide that channels microwaves to the ruby crystal. The results of this and other experiments led Maiman to ultimately choose a cylinder of ruby rather than a cube for his laser.

Location

Currently not on view

date made

1959

associated date

1960

associated user

unknown

associated institution

Hughes Research Laboratories

maker

Maiman, Theodore H.

Hughes Aircraft Company

ID Number

EM.330052

accession number

288813

catalog number

330052

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Pamphlet, Solution of Right Angled Triangles

Description

This small pamphlet consist of fifteen rectangular sheets of paper cut from a blueprint and stapled together on the left side. It has drawings and formula for the solution of right angled triangles, as well as tabulated values of openings required for plugs of differing sizes and different angles of opening. The pamphlet was owned by machinist and museum specialist George A. Norton. It may date from the time he worked as a machinist in the Washington Naval Gun Factory.

Location

Currently not on view

date made

ca 1960

ca 1955

ID Number

1986.3078.04

nonaccession number

1986.3078

catalog number

1986.3078.04

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Long-Period Vertical Seismometer (WWSSN)

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

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Pamphlet, How to Use Log Log Slide Rules

Description

Maurice Hartung of the University of Chicago wrote this sixty-four page booklet to explain the use of Pickett slide rules with model numbers N3ES, N803ES, and N800ES.It was published by Pickett, Inc., in Santa Barbara, California, in 1953.

For related transactions, see 1978.2239 and 1978.3551.

Location

Currently not on view

date made

1953

after 1964, 1953

maker

Hartung, Maurice L.

ID Number

1995.3023.02

nonaccession number

1995.3023

catalog number

1995.3023.02

Data Source

National Museum of American History

Leaflet, UNIVAC 60 Computer Simplifies Order Filling and Accounting for Wholesale Drug Firm

Description

This leaflet presents an account of the installation of a Univac 60 computer at the Walker Drug Company, a wholesaler in Birmingham, Alabama. The document has Remington Rand Univac form number U3212.

Location

Currently not on view

date made

ca 1960

ca 1957

author

Remington Rand Univac. Division of Sperry Rand

ID Number

1997.3012.04.24

catalog number

1997.3012.04.24

nonaccession number

1997.3012

Data Source

National Museum of American History