DL-1 Gravimeter
date: label: date made
content: 1953
name: label: maker
content: LaCoste & Romberg
notes: label: Description
content: While studying physics with Arnold Romberg at the University of Texas in 1933, Lucien LaCoste designed a seismometer with a so-called "zero length spring." LaCoste and Romberg formed a partnership in 1939 and began making seismometers and then gravity meters incorporating springs of this sort.
label: Description
content: As gravity meters became ever more precise, LaCoste realized that they could be used to measure earth tides. H. Neal Clarkson, a machinist at LaCoste & Romberg, designed and built the first earth tide meter under LaCoste's direction, this work serving as Clarkson's dissertation project for a PhD in physics from the University of Texas.
label: Description
content: The DL-1 was an improved instrument that could detect variations in gravity of the order of one microgal, or one part in a billion. It was built by LaCoste & Romberg in 1953 and installed in the firm's workshop in Austin, Texas. The Institute of Geophysics at UCLA acquired the DL-1 for the worldwide survey of earth tides that it conducted during the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958. The Institute donated the instrument to the Smithsonian in 2000.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Texas, Austin
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Sputnik
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Measuring & Mapping
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2000.0194.01
label: catalog number
content: 2000.0194.01
label: accession number
content: 2000.0194
objectType: label: Object Name
content: gravimeter
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 37.3 cm x 42 cm x 26 cm; 14 11/16 in x 16 17/32 in x 10 1/4 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 14 3/4 in x 10 1/4 in x 12 3/4 in; 37.465 cm x 26.035 cm x 32.385 cm