Back to results

Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute

Design and construction of a mechanical oscilloscope

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

A complete analysis of many of the complex problems which harass the brains and tax the ingenuity of engineers and scientists of this machine age would be almost possible if not very difficult without a method of dissecting the phenomena which take place. Most or nearly all physical phenomena may be resolved into two elements or directions, one of these being proportional to elapsed time and the other proportional to the amplitude of the change under observation with respect to an arbitrary line taken as zero. When these two changes are combined into one the result is usually what may be aptly compared to the cross section of an ocean wave. The height of the wave being comparable to the amplitude and the distance from crest to crest being comparable to the wave length. The oscillograph and the oscilloscope are assuming more and more this burden of analysing transient and recurrent actions. The oscillograph leaves a permanent record of the changes taking place while the oscilloscope enables the phenomenon to be observed directly. Oscillo is derived from the Latin meaning to swing back and forth and graph and scope freely translated mean write and see. The difficulty of showing this action in a portable device which needed little or no adjusting was the incentive for undertaking the building a mechanical oscilloscope. The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation of the aid and assistance Given by the members of the teaching staff in the Department of Physics. Their helpful criticism has aided greatly in shaping this work.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Electrical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Electrical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute
Year dc:date.issued
1936

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Daily, Hampton Jennings

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en_US

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/53437
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/53437

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Daily, Hampton Jennings. Design and construction of a mechanical oscilloscope. masters thesis, Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute, 1936. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/53437