A New Instrument for Recording Transient Phenomena

In many cases it is of great importance to study phenomena which do not occur periodically. Such phenomena, called transients, arise, for example, at the time a short circuit appears in a power line, during the discharge of the condenser of a spot- welding machine, during the starting of electric machinery, and on very many other occasions. Most of the instruments available thus far for investigation of transients employ the method of film recording, which has the disadvantage of requiring a developing process. A new transient recorder has been developed, employing magnetic-tape recording as a means of preserving the record of a transient and steadily repeating this record on the screen of an oscilloscope. This method has the advantage that is requires no processing and that the same magnetic carrier can be used continuously without loss of material.