5 ms·

A Mechanical Neon Oscilloscope

adammunich 6y ago
You can make a modern one of these with the Russian NOS long neon indicator tubes.
- jcims 6y ago
  Would be cool as an analog visualization for a stereo (with tube amps of course).
userbinator 6y ago
Imagine taking a repetitive voltage measurement at a predetermined time interval and then graphing the results on a piece of paper. Such devices actually existed and were common in the late 19th century --- they were called oscillographs. The first few pages of this 1915 book have some details on these devices, including the one in the article: https://archive.org/details/wirelesstelegrap00zennrich https://archive.org/details/wirelesstelegrap00zennrich
- plafl 6y ago
  I don't know why but I was not expecting such an old book to be so richly illustrated and with such a nice typography. Explanations look very clear too.
kens 6y ago
IBM's 1402 card reader (1959) used something similar to diagnose timing issues. The "dynamic timer" consisted of a spinning neon bulb that could be connected to various signals in the card reader. When the signal was activated, the bulb would illuminate, at a particular rotational angle. By checking the position of the illuminated bulb against the angle scale, timings could be checked. For instance, it was critical that each row of punched holes in a card passed under the brushes at the right time for the computer to read the values. The dynamic timer would show 12 orange lines in a circle, indicating when each hole was being read. If these lines were in the wrong position, the brushes were adjusted until the timing was right. You can see it in action halfway down my page about the card reader: http://www.righto.com/2018/02/repairing-card-reader-for-1960s.html http://www.righto.com/2018/02/repairing-card-reader-for-1960...
- Animats 6y ago
  That rotary form of timing indicator was quite common. It showed up as an automobile spark timing indicator used in repair shops, and in fathometers for boats.
  - jhallenworld 6y ago
    The strobe scope version is still available: https://www.harborfreight.com/timing-light-with-advance-40963.html https://www.harborfreight.com/timing-light-with-advance-4096... And I remember seeing a few of the rotary fishfinders / depth sounders still in use in the 1980s: https://www.ebay.com/i/322412202248?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=322412202248&targetid=915850928613&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9002077&poi=&campaignid=9338046851&mkgroupid=94993845019&rlsatarget=pla-915850928613&abcId=1139336&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAjwltH3BRB6EiwAhj0IUF2l-GY9A9y79k8kF83-JvzOR-qew2I3mqtLDS-CtBlaU3eIEY26rBoC0moQAvD_BwE https://www.ebay.com/i/322412202248?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1...
  - spongeb00b 6y ago
    The Apple Disk ][ 5.25 floppy drive has a disk inside with 2 patterns. When spinning under a florescent light the pattern appears to not be spinning when the drive is at the right speed. The 2 different patterns are there for whether you have 50 or 60 Hz mains power.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
Daub 6y ago
This is not a million miles away from Kelvin's Mirror Galvanometer (yes, that Kelvin, after whom the Kelvin was named). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_galvanometer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_galvanometer
peter_d_sherman 6y ago
>"An oscilloscope is a time dependent voltmeter. It displays the change of voltage over a period of time." [...] >"The tube used is similar to the familiar neon lamp that many an indicator or night light was made from. The difference is the electrodes are in a line rather than parallel." [...] "If you were to connect this to an alternating current source, the appearance would be two glowing areas at each electrode. To the naked eye, this would appear constant. Just like your night light. Now if you could effectively increase your visual shutter speed so to speak, you could catch the increasing amount of glow…followed by the decrease…and then the increase upon the other electrode and so forth…..all within the 60Hz line frequency applied to it." In other words, something which is, in actuality, oscillating -- is appearing solid to the eye of the observer, because the eye lacks the frame rate to observe the oscillation unaided... I wonder, in how many other diverse areas of Physics, this same principle might also exist...
Luc 6y ago
This appears to be a sort of Magic Eye? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_eye_tube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_eye_tube

You can make a modern one of these with the Russian NOS long neon indicator tubes.

jcims 6y ago
Would be cool as an analog visualization for a stereo (with tube amps of course).

Imagine taking a repetitive voltage measurement at a predetermined time interval and then graphing the results on a piece of paper. Such devices actually existed and were common in the late 19th century --- they were called oscillographs. The first few pages of this 1915 book have some details on these devices, including the one in the article: https://archive.org/details/wirelesstelegrap00zennrich https://archive.org/details/wirelesstelegrap00zennrich

plafl 6y ago
I don't know why but I was not expecting such an old book to be so richly illustrated and with such a nice typography. Explanations look very clear too.

kens 6y ago

IBM's 1402 card reader (1959) used something similar to diagnose timing issues. The "dynamic timer" consisted of a spinning neon bulb that could be connected to various signals in the card reader. When the signal was activated, the bulb would illuminate, at a particular rotational angle. By checking the position of the illuminated bulb against the angle scale, timings could be checked. For instance, it was critical that each row of punched holes in a card passed under the brushes at the right time for the computer to read the values. The dynamic timer would show 12 orange lines in a circle, indicating when each hole was being read. If these lines were in the wrong position, the brushes were adjusted until the timing was right. You can see it in action halfway down my page about the card reader: http://www.righto.com/2018/02/repairing-card-reader-for-1960s.html http://www.righto.com/2018/02/repairing-card-reader-for-1960...

Animats 6y ago
That rotary form of timing indicator was quite common. It showed up as an automobile spark timing indicator used in repair shops, and in fathometers for boats.
- jhallenworld 6y ago
  The strobe scope version is still available: https://www.harborfreight.com/timing-light-with-advance-40963.html https://www.harborfreight.com/timing-light-with-advance-4096... And I remember seeing a few of the rotary fishfinders / depth sounders still in use in the 1980s: https://www.ebay.com/i/322412202248?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=322412202248&targetid=915850928613&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9002077&poi=&campaignid=9338046851&mkgroupid=94993845019&rlsatarget=pla-915850928613&abcId=1139336&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAjwltH3BRB6EiwAhj0IUF2l-GY9A9y79k8kF83-JvzOR-qew2I3mqtLDS-CtBlaU3eIEY26rBoC0moQAvD_BwE https://www.ebay.com/i/322412202248?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1...
- spongeb00b 6y ago
  The Apple Disk ][ 5.25 floppy drive has a disk inside with 2 patterns. When spinning under a florescent light the pattern appears to not be spinning when the drive is at the right speed. The 2 different patterns are there for whether you have 50 or 60 Hz mains power.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

Daub 6y ago

This is not a million miles away from Kelvin's Mirror Galvanometer (yes, that Kelvin, after whom the Kelvin was named). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_galvanometer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_galvanometer

peter_d_sherman 6y ago

>"An oscilloscope is a time dependent voltmeter. It displays the change of voltage over a period of time." [...] >"The tube used is similar to the familiar neon lamp that many an indicator or night light was made from. The difference is the electrodes are in a line rather than parallel." [...] "If you were to connect this to an alternating current source, the appearance would be two glowing areas at each electrode. To the naked eye, this would appear constant. Just like your night light. Now if you could effectively increase your visual shutter speed so to speak, you could catch the increasing amount of glow…followed by the decrease…and then the increase upon the other electrode and so forth…..all within the 60Hz line frequency applied to it." In other words, something which is, in actuality, oscillating -- is appearing solid to the eye of the observer, because the eye lacks the frame rate to observe the oscillation unaided... I wonder, in how many other diverse areas of Physics, this same principle might also exist...

Luc 6y ago

This appears to be a sort of Magic Eye? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_eye_tube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_eye_tube