Radiosonde
notes: label: Description
content: In 1936, the U.S. Navy asked the National Bureau of Standards to develop a radiosonde for the Navy to use. The NBS gave the project to Harry Diamond (1900-1948), who had previously worked on radio navigation and invented a blind landing system for airplanes. In 1937, Diamond, along with Francis Dunmore and Wilbur Hinmann, Jr., created a radiosonde that employed audio-frequency subcarrier modulation with the help of a resistance-capacity relaxation oscillator. This radiosonde could measure temperature and humidity at higher altitudes than conventional radiosondes at the time due to the use of electric sensors.
label: Description
content: An inscription on one end of the cardboard box for this example reads “DIAMOND-HINMAN / Ray Sonde / REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. / U.S.W.B. 1943 / U.S. PAT. NOS. / 1,507,016 1,507,017 / 2,027,367 2,279,854 / OTHER U.S. AND FOREIGN / PATENTS APPLIED FOR.”
label: Description
content: Ref: Lee DeForest, “Wireless Telegraph and Telephone System,” U.S. Patent 1,507,016 (Sept. 2, 1924), assigned to the Radio Telegraph and Telephone Co.
label: Description
content: Lee DeForest, “Wireless Telegraph and Telephone System,” U.S. Patent 1,507,017 (Sept. 2, 1924), assigned to the Radio Telegraph and Telephone Co.
label: Description
content: William R. Blair, “System of Determining Meteorological Conditions by Radio,” U.S. Patent 2,027,367 (Jan. 14, 1936).
label: Description
content: Kenneth E. Whitney, “Apparatus for Making Aneroids,” U.S. Patent 2,279,854 (April 14, 1942), assigned to Bendix Aviation Corp.
label: Description
content: Harry Diamond, W. S. Hinman, Jr., F. W. Dunmore, and E. G. Lapham, “An Improved Radio-Sonde and Its Performance,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 21 (1940): 325-326.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.322314
label: catalog number
content: 322314
label: accession number
content: 247582
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Radiosonde
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 5/8 in x 4 3/8 in x 8 in; 21.9075 cm x 11.1125 cm x 20.32 cm