Band chronograph

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Band chronograph ( Rudolf Fuess )

The tape chronograph or writing chronograph is a traditional astronomical device for precise time registration in observatories and for precise length determination . Occasionally it is also referred to as a time recorder or interval recorder .

The eponymous, approximately one centimeter wide paper tape is driven by a very even drive and moves at a few cm / s past two pens that set time marks through electrical contacts . One of the pens records the second contacts of an astronomical clock, a marine chronometer or a time signal transmitter , the other is operated by the observer on the telescope or by a semi-automatic recording micrometer . By measuring the distances with a special glass scale , each registered time can be determined with an accuracy of 0.01 seconds.

The invention of the device goes back to the watchmaker Matthäus Hipp (1813–1893), who developed it in 1866 together with Frédéric-William Dubois (1811–1869) for astronomical time measurements. The Hipp'sche writing chronograph had a spring drive with siren escapement , was operated with ink and was distributed worldwide. Several rolls of paper were required per hour of measurement.

Since the ink can dry out after longer breaks, devices have also been developed where steel points punch thin holes in the paper. In the middle of the 20th century, strips of wax paper were used , in which the time stamps were scratched . Such devices were manufactured by the companies FAVAG and Wetzer until around 1970 , but were then replaced by pressure chronographs , where the tedious measurement of the stripes was superfluous. However, digital time registration has predominated since the 1980s .

literature

  • Karl Ramsayer : Geodetic Astronomy . Handbook of Surveying, Volume IIa, Section 36 (time registration). JBMetzler, Stuttgart 1970
  • Helmut Müller: Astronomical Position, Time and Azimuth Determinations with the Kern DKM3-A . Kern & Co AG, Aarau 1973