beeper Model 1
Date: 1941-1946
Inventory Number: 1997-1-1145
Classification: Sound Transmitter
Dimensions:9.5 × 6.4 × 4.5 cm (3 3/4 × 2 1/2 × 1 3/4 in.)
DescriptionA sound transmitter, called a "Beeper," mounted on a torpedo and used to help locate and recover test torpedos from underwater environments. Designed to work with a receiver.
The is enclosed in a three-part metal case which is shaped like a cutaway half-tube. It is made of a portable, tunable amplifier arranged with an oscillator to produce an audible tone. The ability to vary the audible tone was useful for identifying weak signals in the presence of background noise.
At its base, the device has a thick flange with mounting screws. Inset into the flange and mounted on it with screws, is a center section containing a long spool with copper wire wound around it. The top and bottom of the spool have wooden, disk-shaped caps. Mounted on one end cap are a small pair of binding posts, which each have a copper wire running from them and passing through a pair of round openings in the cap to the spool below.
Above the center section is a third section, shaped like a rounded, half-tubular cap. The cap fits over the center section with some overlap, and it has openings in the sides near the top.
Signedunsigned
FunctionSound transmitter used to find military equipment underwater. For the recovery of sunk test torpedos.
Historical AttributesDeveloped at the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory.
Primary SourcesFrederick Vinton Hunt, Acoustics Research Laboratory, Harvard University, Acoustics Research Laboratory Final Report: 1946-1970 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1970). p.126.
ProvenanceFrom Professor Frederick V. Hunt, 30 April 1970.