|
William Sansome Tucker
Major (United Kingdom), Major William Sansome Tucker (1877 Kidderminster, Worcestershire - 1955 Guelph, Ontario, Canada) was an England, English pioneer in acoustical research and inventor of the acoustic mirror Early life Tucker was born in Kidderminster, the son of William Tucker, an artist painter, and his wife Anna. Tucker married in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Lancashire, in 1906. Career Tucker lectured on physics in London. Following the outbreak of World War I, Tucker joined the British Army as a private soldier. He was posted to the Experimental Sound Ranging Station at Kemmel Hill in Belgium which was under the command of Lawrence Bragg. As part of the London Electrical Engineers, Territorial Force, Tucker was granted a commission, being promoted from lance corporal to temporary second lieutenant, General List in April 1916. At Kemmel Hill, Tucker undertook research into 'sound ranging': the process of using microphones and mathematics to determine the position of enemy artill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major (United Kingdom)
Major (Maj) is a military rank which is used by both the British Army and Royal Marines. The rank is superior to captain and subordinate to lieutenant colonel. The insignia for a major is a crown. The equivalent rank in the Royal Navy is lieutenant commander, and squadron leader in the Royal Air Force. History By the time of the Napoleonic wars, an infantry battalion usually had two majors, designated the "senior major" and the "junior major". The senior major effectively acted as second-in-command and the majors often commanded detachments of two or more companies split from the main body. The second-in-command of a battalion or regiment is still a major. File:British-Army-Maj(1856-1867)-Collar Insignia.svg, 1856 to 1867 major's collar rank insignia File:British-Army-Maj(1867-1880)-Collar Insignia.svg, 1867 to 1880 major's collar rank insignia File:British&Empire-Army-Maj(1881-1902).svg, 1881 to 1902 major's shoulder rank insignia During World War I, majors wore the follo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1986. In the colonial forces, which closely followed the practices of the British military, the rank of second lieutenant began to replace ranks such as ensign and cornet from 1871. New appointments to the rank of second lieutenant ceased in the regular army in 1986. Immediately prior to this change, the rank had been effectively reserved for new graduates from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea which closed in 1985. (Graduates of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Royal Military College, Duntroon (RMC-D) are commissioned as lieutenants.). The rank of second lieutenant is only appointed to officers in special appointments such as training institutions, university regiments and while under probation during training. Trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lydd-on-Sea
Lydd-on-Sea is a modern village, mostly built after World War II, which consists mainly of bungalows built along the Dungeness coastal road south of Greatstone, Kent, England. The Southern Railway opened a railway station here in 1937 but was closed in 1967. Lydd-on-Sea is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Lydd, now several miles distant, which once had access to the sea. It now forms part of the civil parish of Lydd. An island in a lake (created by gravel extraction) slightly to the northwest of Lydd-on-Sea is the site of a collection of sound mirrors designed by Dr William Sansome Tucker, to detect the approach of enemy aircraft, in the years before radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ... had been developed. References External links {{authority contr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RAF Denge
Denge is a former Royal Air Force site near Dungeness, in Kent, England. It is best known for the early experimental acoustic mirrors which remain there. The acoustic mirrors, known colloquially as 'listening ears', at Denge are located between Greatstone-on-Sea and Lydd airfield, on the banks of a now disused gravel pit. The mirrors were built in the late 1920s and early 1930s as an experimental early warning system for incoming aircraft, developed by William Sansome Tucker. Several were built along the south and east coasts, but the complex at Denge is the best preserved, and are protected as scheduled monuments. Denge complex There are three acoustic mirrors in the complex, each consisting of a single concrete hemispherical reflector. *The 200 foot mirror is a near vertical, curved wall, 200 feet (60m) long. It is one of only two similar acoustic mirrors in the world, the other being in Magħtab, Malta. *The 30 foot mirror is a circular dish, similar to a deeply curved sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Mirrors
An acoustic mirror is a passive device used to reflect and focus (concentrate) sound waves. Parabolic acoustic mirrors are widely used in parabolic microphones to pick up sound from great distances, employed in surveillance and reporting of outdoor sporting events. Pairs of large parabolic acoustic mirrors which function as "whisper galleries" are displayed in science museums to demonstrate sound focusing. Between the World Wars, before the invention of radar, parabolic sound mirrors were used experimentally as early-warning devices by military air defence forces to detect incoming enemy aircraft by listening for the sound of their engines. During World War II on the coast of southern England, a network of large concrete acoustic mirrors was in the process of being built when the project was cancelled owing to the development of the Chain Home radar system. Some of these mirrors are still standing today. Acoustic aircraft detection Before World War II and the inventio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biggin Hill
Biggin Hill is a settlement on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Kent, prior to 1965 it was also in the administrative county of Kent. It is situated beyond London's urban sprawl, south-southeast of Charing Cross, with Keston to the north, New Addington to the north-west and Tatsfield, in the neighbouring county of Surrey, to the south. At the 2011 Census, Biggin Hill had a population of 9,951. Biggin Hill is one of the highest points of Greater London, rising to over above sea level. Biggin Hill Airport occupies land formerly used by RAF Biggin Hill, one of the principal fighter bases protecting London from German bombers during the Battle of Britain. History Historically, the settlement was known as Aperfield and formed part of the parish of Cudham. Biggin Hill was an ancient parish in the county of Kent, in the Diocese of Rochester, and under the Local Government ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Military Camouflage
Military camouflage is the use of camouflage by an armed force to protect personnel and equipment from observation by enemy forces. In practice, this means applying colour and materials to military equipment of all kinds, including vehicles, ships, aircraft, gun positions and battledress, either to conceal it from observation ( crypsis), or to make it appear as something else (mimicry). The French slang word ''camouflage'' came into common English usage during World War I when the concept of visual deception developed into an essential part of modern military tactics. In that war, long-range artillery and observation from the air combined to expand the field of fire, and camouflage was widely used to decrease the danger of being targeted or to enable surprise. As such, military camouflage is a form of military deception. Camouflage was first practiced in simple form in the mid 18th century by rifle units. Their tasks required them to be inconspicuous, and they were issued gree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cine Film
Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer to professional formats such as 35 mm or 70 mm film, and is incorrect if applied to any video format. In the US, "movie film" is the common informal term for all formats and "motion picture film" the formal one. ''Cine film'' literally means "moving" film, deriving from the Greek "kine" for motion; it also has roots in the Anglo-French word ''cinematograph'', meaning ''moving picture''. Although there had been earlier attempts, typically employing larger formats, the introduction of the 9.5 mm and 16 mm formats in the early 1920s finally succeeded in introducing the practice of showing rented "play-at-home" copies of professionally made films, which, in the case of feature-length films, were usually much shortened from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galvanometer
A galvanometer is an electromechanical measuring instrument for electric current. Early galvanometers were uncalibrated, but improved versions, called ammeters, were calibrated and could measure the flow of current more precisely. A galvanometer works by deflecting a pointer in response to an electric current flowing through a coil in a constant magnetic field. Galvanometers can be thought of as a kind of actuator. Galvanometers came from the observation, first noted by Hans Christian Ørsted in 1820, that a magnetic compass's needle deflects when near a wire having electric current. They were the first instruments used to detect and measure small amounts of current. André-Marie Ampère, who gave mathematical expression to Ørsted's discovery, named the instrument after the Italian electricity researcher Luigi Galvani, who in 1791 discovered the principle of the frog galvanoscope – that electric current would make the legs of a dead frog jerk. Galvanometers have bee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheatstone Bridge
A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the unknown component. The primary benefit of the circuit is its ability to provide extremely accurate measurements (in contrast with something like a simple voltage divider). Its operation is similar to the original potentiometer. The Wheatstone bridge was invented by Samuel Hunter Christie (sometimes spelled "Christy") in 1833 and improved and popularized by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1843. One of the Wheatstone bridge's initial uses was for soil analysis and comparison."The Genesis of the Wheatstone Bridge" by Stig Ekelof discusses Christie's and Wheatstone's contributions, and why the bridge carries Wheatstone's name. Published in "Engineering Science and Education Journal", volume 10, no 1, February 2001, pages 37–40. Operation In the figure, is the fixed, yet unknown, resistance to be measured. and are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helmholtz Resonance
Helmholtz resonance or wind throb is the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity, such as when one blows across the top of an empty bottle. The name comes from a device created in the 1850s by Hermann von Helmholtz, the ''Helmholtz resonator'', which he used to identify the various frequencies or musical pitches present in music and other complex sounds.Helmholtz, Hermann von (1885), ''On the sensations of tone as a physiological basis for the theory of music'' Second English Edition, translated by Alexander J. Ellis. London: Longma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acoustic Resonance
Acoustic resonance is a phenomenon in which an acoustic system amplifies sound waves whose frequency matches one of its own natural frequencies of vibration (its ''resonance frequencies''). The term "acoustic resonance" is sometimes used to narrow mechanical resonance to the frequency range of human hearing, but since acoustics is defined in general terms concerning vibrational waves in matter, acoustic resonance can occur at frequencies outside the range of human hearing. An acoustically resonant object usually has more than one resonance frequency, especially at harmonics of the strongest resonance. It will easily vibrate at those frequencies, and vibrate less strongly at other frequencies. It will "pick out" its resonance frequency from a complex excitation, such as an impulse or a wideband noise excitation. In effect, it is filtering out all frequencies other than its resonance. Acoustic resonance is an important consideration for instrument builders, as most acoustic i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> RAF Denge")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Cine Film")
