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What is Fathometer used for?
Fathometer – Used to measure the depth of the ocean.
What does Fathometer mean?
depth
Fathometer. / (fəˈðɒmɪtə) / noun. trademark a type of echo sounder used for measuring the depth of water.
How does the Fathometer work?
Fathometer, underwater device used on ships to measure the depth of water. As the speed of sound in water is known, the fathometer works by sending a sound down through the water, to be returned by echo. The fathometer dispatches sound through a submarine oscillator and receives it through a hydrophone echo receiver.
Why was the Fathometer invented?
In 1925, the Submarine Signal Company of Boston developed the first fathometer, known as the 312 fathometer, to chart the depth of water while a ship was moving. The fathometer proved more precise and easier to use than previous sounding methods, making it a vital tool for surveying the oceans.
Who invented the Fathometer?
Herbert Grove Dorsey
Herbert Grove Dorsey invented the fathometer. Dorsey came to work as the chief physicist of the Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) in 1926.
When was the first Fathometer made?
1923
Fathometer. Dorsey invented the practical fathometer in 1923, which is also referred to as the Dorsey Fathometer by the director of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1934. It worked by sending a high pitched sound through the water.
What is the difference between echo sounder and Fathometer?
Echo sounding is effectively a special purpose application of sonar used to locate the bottom. Since a traditional pre-SI unit of water depth was the fathom, an instrument used for determining water depth is sometimes called a fathometer.
Who invented Fathometer?
How is Fathometer useful to a sailors?
The Fathometer, first offered for sale in 1923, uses sound waves to quickly and accurately determine water depth and detect underwater objects, like submarines. Before echo sounders, sailors dropped and retrieved weighted hand-held lines (lead lines) to estimate water depth.
Which is the best dictionary definition of fathometer?
Define fathometer. fathometer synonyms, fathometer pronunciation, fathometer translation, English dictionary definition of fathometer. n trademark a type of echo sounder used for measuring the depth of water Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 ©… Fathometer – definition of fathometer by The Free Dictionary
How is the 312 fathometer used to read depths?
An operator read depths by monitoring the position of the light at the moment that he heard an echo in his headphones. Unlike previous systems, the 312 Fathometer could be operated while the vessel was moving. Soon, this technique would be replaced by a red-light method.
What was the range of the Dorsey Fathometer?
1933 marked a further advance in this technology with the development of the Dorsey fathometer. What made the Dorsey fundamental for hydrographic work was its incorporation of a transmitter and a receiver into a single mounted unit called a transceiver. It had an operating range of 3 to 900 feet.
When did the accuracy of a fathometer increase?
Fathometer. Accuracy increased in the 1970s with the creation of single-beam frequency systems, which, by the 1980s, were bolstered by the deployment of dual frequency beams. They combined a narrow high-frequency beam for precision and a wider low-frequency beam to sample the surrounding area.