US667136A - Method of signaling. - Google Patents

Description

No. amiss.

A. J. MUNDY. METHOD 0F SIGNALING.

(Application led May 25, 1900.)

Patented Jan. 29, |9I.

(No Model.)

-NiTsn STATES ARTHUR J. MUNDY, OF BOSTON, MASS YTELEPHONE COMPANY OF VVATERVILLE,

TENT Ormes.

ACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAY' MAINE,` OF SAME PLACE.

METHOD OF'SIGNALING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 667,136, dated January 29, 1901. Application iiled May Z5, 190.0- Serial No.18,()16. @lo model.)

To @ZZ whom tan/ay concern: Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. MUNDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have in vented a new and usefulImprovenient in Methods of Signaling, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part oi the speciro cation, in explaining its nature.

The invention relates to the method of signaling herein described. The method is applicable for use in any medium. I-shall describe it, however, as applicable to submarine signaling. Vhere so applied it is practiced by subm erging'. three fixed signaling-points at known distances from each other in a triangular relation to each other and actuating them in any convenient or desirable way, but

zo preferably from a single actuating-station more or less remote from the signals. Any suitable signals may be used, and l will mention among ihem the apparatus described in the patent to Elisha Gray and myself, No.

686,519, dated November 7, 1899. I would be understood, however, as not confining myself to any particular signals or means of actuating them. The signals may be sounded simultaneously or they may be sounded succes- 3o sively, and they may be dilerentiated from each other in any desired way-that is, one signal may be indicated by a single sound impulse, the second by two sound impulses, and the third by three sound impulses, or the first may have a tone of a certain pitch, the second a tone of another pitch, and the third a tone of a third pitch. It is desirable when three signalstations.triangular-ly arranged are used in practicing the method that the 4o distance between the signaling devices be known and that the diierence in time of their operation where they are operated successively be also known. With these determinate factors and with the knowledge of the number of feet per second sound travels it is then possible for an observer within the area in which said sounds are audible to locate his exact position in respect of the fixed signaling-points, for it then becomes a mat- 5o ter of computation based upon the distances soumis travel, and the intervals between the times when the sounds reach the observer. Sound travels in water at the rate of four thousand seven hundred and twelve feet per 55 second and in the air at the rate of elevenhundred feet per second. The sounds from each signal radiate in all directions and travel with equal speed, and this fact enables the method to be carried into elect and applied by means 6o of the chart represented in the drawing, which forms a part of the specication.

Referring tothedrawing, A represents one signal-point, B the second signal-point, and C-the third signal-point. sented as disposed with respect to each other to form the points or apexes of an equilateral triangle and are assumed to be separated from each other by a distance of four miles. It the observer were to be located in the centery 7o of the triagle and the three signals A, B, and C were to be simultaneously actuated, he would hear the three signals at exactly the same instant. lf now the position of the ob- .server were shifted so as to move along a line 7 5 drawn between the center ofthe triangle and one of the signalinglpoints and the three signals were again sounded simultaneously, the observer would hear the nearest signal before he heard the two others, which would 8o then immediately sound simultaneously, the latter still being equally distant from the new position of observation If the observer again change his positionby moving either to the right or to the left of the said line, so that all three signals are at different distances from him, and again the three signals are sounded sim nltaueously, he will then hear them successively at intervals which bear a direct relation to the distances separating him from 9o each of them. If the signals are sounded in successive order, then the time between the intervals of their sounding becomes an element for. consideration, and the drawing represents a chart or diagram for an arrange- 'ment in which the signals are sounded successively at regular intervals of ten seconds 'between each, the three signals sounding in a cycle of thirty seconds. The time at which the signals t predetermined distances from the signal are between the signals, the rate at which the indic ated upon the chart by the straight lines They are repre- 65 hns sounded will reach 'certain loo a, b, and c, which intersect at the exact cennals the observer is enabled to ascertain upon the chart hisexact position with regard to the signaling-stations, each of the lines having at its end or otherwise located upon it a number which indicates its value in making this determination. y For instance, suppose the observer should ascertain that the interval offtime between the rst andsecond signals A and B that he should hear should be eight and one-halfseconds,theinterval of tim e between the second and third signals B and .C should beten and one-half seconds, and the interval of time between the third and first signal' again. sounded (C and A) should be eleven seconds. He would then with his chart find the intersecting-point of the lines numbered l-2L, 10%, and 1l, and folilowing them to their point of intersection, as indicated bya circle on the diagram, he would discover his relation both as to distances and as to angles of direction to the three signaling-points.

When .the three signals are actuated s uccessively at intervals of ten seconds, the sum of the intervals thus .taken by the observer should always be thirtythat is,upon the supposition that he accurately notes the time between the soundngs of the signals as they reach him. When only two of the signals are audible, they will guide the observer to the nearest point, where the third signal can be also heard.

I do not conine the invention to a method employing three signals, asin some instances two may beused or even more than three.

l have described and claimed in a separate application the chart or means for carrying the method into effect.

Having thus fully described myinvention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- 2. The method of submarine signaling cousisting in disposing a number of sou 11d-producing devices of diering identities in known positions and sound/ing the said submerged devices either simultaneously or successively at known intervals of time and whereby the sound impulses are either simultaneously or successively received and transmitted by the water in which they are submerged thereby affording means wherebyan observer may estimate from said signals so sounded his relative position to the signals.

3. rThe method herein described consisting in disposing three sound-producing devices of diiering identities in triangular relation to each other, and sounding` said devices either simultaneously or successively atl known intervals of ltime thereby adording means whereby an observer may estimate from said signals so sounded his relative 'position tothe signals and the 'angles which he may occupy in relation to them.

4. The method of submarine signaling consisting in disposing three sound-producing devices of differing identities in a triangular relation to each other and sounding said sub- `merged devices either simultaneously or successively at known intervals of time whereby the sound impulses are either simultaneouslyor successively received and transmitted by the water in which they are submerged thereby aiording means by which an observer may estimate from said signals so arranged and sounded his relative vposition to the signals and the angles which he may occupy in relation to them.

ARTHUR J. MUNDY.

Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d. J. M. DoLAN.

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