Oct. 16, 1934.

F. R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCATOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727
8 Sheets-Sheet 2

Filed Aug. 7, 1930

INVENTOR

@?/V/f?l/WSE

WZMO NH

Oct. 16, 1934.

' F. R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCATOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727

Filed Aug. 7, 1930

8 Sheets-Sheet 5

A X n o O x

mm u." n u :QN m

n o%

as

m \mvk/iwx

ks Ra mm
0

M,

mp.W.

0 . a.

i.

_ Oct. 16, 1934.

F. R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCA'IOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727
8 Sheets-Sheet 4

Filed Aug. '7, 1930

.l/Ii!

wok
76

,l-iilk'j'mlw
77 '4
79
][

M
46

45

?m/v/r 5/2/0085
ATT%RNEYL

INVENTOR

Oct. 16, 1934.

F, R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCATOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727
8 Sheets-Sheet 5

Filed Aug. 7, 1930

275mg,

Oct. 16, 1934.

F. R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCATOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727
8 Sheet-Sheet a v '

Filed Aug. 7, 1930

I' N
Ill! lI.I

Du

Lm? .
INVENTQR

Qmw

BY?mN/r 5'. H0065

%TORNEY.

Oct- 16, 1934-

F. R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCATOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727
8 Sheets-Sheet 7

Filed Aug. 7, 1.930

5.] 1.1L?!
r-_.-______..

W |I!he? }.
I I

NF1
I .m

l
|
|

I
I
l

I
I

l@

F
I I

Oct. 16, 1934.

F. R. HOUSE
SOUND LOCA'IOR AND COMPUTER FOR AIRCRAFT

1,976,727 "
8 SheetsSheet 8

Filed Aug. ' '7, 1930

E ,14...

l
I

I
I .

l
I

l
|

75' ,' .57v

Am mo, %wcu

E, .

.lpefzeoled @cl. 369

lie
. moose?

SQEKJNEF; oooeeoc .Flllo Am'mric

a

co Scene 2e Elem-Fe, @yecocooe

Mcoo, llzcc.a N. m,

on. 32., o coral-omen cl lelecsr lZeaE:

go o

m. 533M115}

lovezalloo relates to

and eiz'ccef'l gun moy Ycc directed eheseou. Sec? emcee LY oropcoe to use e sound locoeiog device such cc o lemme} sound lcceizoc cool. to

for lccoemg meme coco-emcee loco lice corscciloo 01: com: i5 oircl'eii; oi. niche so me cook cote? which lo oeeleeoelyolccecl lo the oece oi
Elle eouoo lccoe . I

c is o oiclgeemmoclc view cl one oi the

Eeyore cc" coseeclloo oxalic Fig.
'

>

oz?

cherc?rom co eeerc'ollghl time loco, emcee, either ?ll-eerily or through. as

c is
correcelco

tic view o2 we gee

view of the elm cowecllcn _ I

comgsez'etoe, esfcee applying cereein coxcectiene.

Fig. e ls o

perceive the sound es ii it e from A, but se== A. C. _ ccivcs it as if il come from the point B, the d

gorooleoe of which this invention is o solution layer. my be Yceet emololmed by reference lo the ole Fig. l is o'veceicei eecllco a ' memory oiogrcm in Fig. i. this ?gure the pcrtloo of Fig. 5. sound lccetoi' is shown ec L, the eeeiclullght et 5 Fig- 858 521 secsioa 12-. end. the comotor ct G. The direction one portion oi Fig. 5. _ ' ground speed oitlae airplane is indicated by vec 1. I o is e fcce View of *1": v-- complete computer. tor P and the direction enolthe velocity of the > View 1' mm. 3 wind is indicated by vector W; 11 the point Anew _ . .. . correction device also. adapted resents the eositicn of the airplane at the time in cvetion as w as in azimuth. the sound was tted, which is heard at L, then Fig. 11 is o front elevation of the seorchlight an who 'lenewlllbeotpoint?bytlietlmethe with the so... utzh control unit shown sound reaches the sound lccotor end is heard by scctiou. the operator. ' angle a, therefore, represente whet be termed the sound leg le or cor-= ugh the comp : of c from ntrolllng the o .~.~ lecisioo. on account of the direction end velocity ace-Motel! of the d, however, the operotor est L does not
v : zizw~~~

75

liovlng carried the sound cloves to e left due olet'cly cell ins the time of tx'onsmiseion from A to L. The the 88%? :92;
angle e, therefore, represents what may be *1. .- o. the wind error ox" wind correction eagle. If the

in

Fig. 15 15 5e 213ml: view of e. coo. C. and

The D. sound C. locelor pub-coco is soc for w: ck gen . :1: mtcmat L in. ' seercblight, therefore, were located ct L, ll ehoulo he pointed clone the line M3 or SD, which is Figs. 1 one] 2 end pref cc of a of parallel to LB. It will be seen, however, that if he A and E .. m eport ln uth and. the eeerchlight is poinled alone SD ac 'W?l nee euother of homo C and D spaced apart in rotor for each pair of go separating strike the target the seerchlight on account end of the sound distance locetoz. elevation. There is one
home, " l: uth operator lis ~ : . - w 1: through the

comely, the angle c which is moon es the per ellex correction. It will he understood that all of these errors are shown in med 201m in the dlegrom and also the diagram ehows'uth errors only end in the simplest form where F
and W and 1e are parallel. There me also sim ilar errors in elevation but since such errors are 45 relatively small and are based on line come prin ' clple, me explanation regarding the some neeel

Therefore, there is another correction introduced, eerpicces in the helmet E and the elevation oper
etor ' - w. * 1-; vugh the ear pieces in thehelmet

F. All the home tum together but the azimuth coercion t them in math through handle

G, and the elevotiozl operator similarly controls

the horns in elevation through the handle H. The exect tions of the horns ln uth end eleva lion ere not tttecl, however, but, the correc~ clone, heretofore exclaimed in connection with Fig. l, ere t introduced ugh the di?erentlels 6 in m. nth end 7 in elevotion, the computing, h be low in the hose 13 of the sound locobor.
Refe now to
Ii.

not be repeated nor need all of them be taken into consideration in the preferred to of my
50

epporotus. Referring now to the detailed dreams in eel

'

dicion to Fig. l,

. 3 showing the computer ice

in clear 1i

Fig. 2 represents the some three elements, sound shell 8 connected tome sound lccotor is shown as locetor, comperetor, end seerchlight, as shown entering the. computer at the lower left hand
55

etlc. developed form, the azimuth

in Fig. l on e. somewhat leifgez scale.

3 is a, (119,

corner of the , end the shell: 2 connected to .~ It, 11318 view showing one elce llle sound locotor io elevetion is shown es

uc

Loveys-z
angle is approximately the some at. Le sine, this
of

Taking ?rst the oesection end as just above the shaft 8. The shaft 8 is shown as driving through suitable gearing so a gear 36 suming for small angles that it .. agent of the
loose on the shaft 36 but which isnormeHy cou pled to shaft 36 through a. gear 36' ?xed to said _; shaft and a. pinion 71 which meshes normally" with both gears 38 and 36" and is mounted on e, slideble shaft 64. Shaft 36 extends entirely through two sleeves, inner sleeve 37 and outer sleeve 38, and carries at its right hand end at

correction may be shown to be eppsoxtmetely

expressed by the iollowing equotlon:

sin-1x =

Esin0ainA_Bein5
A cos A It cos A}.

Where s equals the parallax correction e. equals the mtitude of the terget B the baseline his the compass or azimuth angle of the sound locutoi'. i? equals the azimuth deviation single Similarly the elevation angle is shown on dial 35 A equals the elevstion angle on shaft 35 which is geared to shaft 2 through

poin'l'er 50, which shows, therefore, continuously

(A?is:

gee-ring T2.

The sleeve 37 is shown as driven Zr "3.

euuols the slant

the

-'

carries at its righthend end i; a"; the gear a? dial 29, which shows the compass wind deviation angle 01 wind direction with respect to north, while the outer sleeve 38 is shown as driven from the gear 38 end casries through the 28 tion by
" I eonoen'mo ennulor dial 28 shows the some

fonts is

pass baseline deviation angle or the angle that the _1_ ' w: A _ baseline LS makes with north. In connection with provided these an aforesaid outer ?xed dials died and 14pointers, having compass there is 35 put which intois the shown equation as driven by com. irom salon the the shaft 8
mos-kings '

For the purpose of initially setting, and ;,~ a

through the train oi

shown in dotted lines

mechanism by the rod S" (Fig. 3} which is shown moving the slide 33 laterally irom the smut range mechenism in lever B. In Flgs?e and 5, however, the slant rouge is introduced by the rotation of the shaft S which turns the grooved eccentric vs, thereby moving the slide E3 later action of the pivoted clutch members 6263,the ally by the engagement of the pin '25 on the slide shaft 64 is moved in the reverse directi n throwing with the slot in the eccentric 74. The movement h gear 38, or the cam 43 moves up and down pin 75 on rod me: the pinion Soto the left out of mesh when the parts are in this position the knob 48 is 76 which pin takes in a'slide-way 71' which is turned until the dial 28 on the upper sleeve is set positioned at an adjustable angle on her 78 for the baseline deviation angle. When the knob (Figs. 5 and 8). The angle of the slide 77 is is in the position shown in the drawings, i. e., determined by an arm 79 carrying a roller 80 " 1 position 2, the parts areiin their normal operating at its end, which in turn engages in a, horizontal ' position so that the proper correction date is slide-way 81 on the rod 82, which is moved from continuously generated with the shaft as con= 'tlnwusly driven from the shaft 8 through the the cam eel. Slide '33 is, therefore, given e lateral
" M is. when the hnobis moved into the

ehronlzing the device I provide a. setting-mob so which is shown as having four: positions. when the mob is pushed to its extreme right position, which may be termed-the ?rst position, the pinion so on the shaft 61 thereof is brought into mesh with the gear 38'. At the some time, due to the

et Z2. . The slant range is introduwd into the

movement dependent not only upon the position

1 udjustment oi the knob 48 sets the middle sleeve 26, the angle being determined by the position

with gear so. In this position, thereiore, the justable slide-way 84 pivoted on the cross bar

of the (i. e.com sin 6to end but ens. else n). the position of the ' on, that is, is pushed one notch to the es g. 3, seer 66 is engaged-with goes 3'? l This movement of slide is tum inp is thrown out of mesh the seer pei'ted to move up end down the cross bar caving, the pinion 71 in mesh with both This is accomplished by the pin secured to ' and 365i and pinion 65 remaining in mesh the slide 2e which engages in an singularly adv

or the dial 29 for the wind deviation angle. In the fourth or synchronizing position, gear 68 remains in mesh with gear 37' and the extra. gear 6'7 secured to the gear 67 is brought into mesh with the gear. 3'7, and gear '71 is disengaged from loose gear 36" with which 40 meshes. If desired, an indicator 49 may be operated from knob 48 showing which of the four positions. the knob is in 66 (see Fig. 9). when knob 48 is turned, therefore, pointer 50 may be turned to show the angle the
sound locator makes to north. _

of the bar 73 (B) through the engagement of

roller 85 on an arm 86 secured to said slide-way

84. The output of the device, namely, the up and down movement of the bar 26v is taken out through the lever 87 (Fig. 3) where it is com~ bined with the output of the wind correction layer output 27 and is transmitted to the ?nal dial 20 showing the combined wind and parallax
azimuth correction. .

135

n?mnted on the sleeve 38 (showing the baseline angle) a cam 43 which introduces a function of

Vain i rection, parallax correction and the sound lag ' KcocA correction. For this purpose there is shown Where y is the wind drift angle

I take 0*: from the several sleeves and shafts 38, 37 and 36 data for computing the wind cor

The wind correction layer is very similar in principle and solves the following equation
140

the angle of azimuth deviation, that is, though an; the angle between the. target and the
between the line 13 connecting the sound locator
and Searchlight and the line connecting the sound - A as before is the elevation angle. locator and apparent target ( l 0 Fig. 1) . Simi The sin is introduced by the cam 45 and larly the cam 45 is mounted on the sleeve 37 1'01 1 introducing a function of the angle between the 009A 75 wind and the target bearing line (1 4 Fig. 1).

V the velocity of the wind K the velocity of sound

wind,

145

150

coroner
is introduced

3 .

the com 46. in this case the tive or negative pressure according to their direc '. looting the vertical rods 7d" and tion of rotation so that the bellows either expand ueted from time cams may be the some es or contract according to the direction of rotation

before. Tee slant however, is not brought of the pumps, the extent of movement being pro into this equation but instead the velocity of portionel to the pumps speed, due to e constant
leek in each pump. On the short 106 is secured the indicating dim. 19 which is, therefore, the ec rectilineerly through pimon 91 and rack teeth sound leg indicating azimuth dial (1. e., angular
of dial 1? (Figs. 3 end 6) which moves rod

and

are brought in through the set

This positions the vertical slide-way 85' to rate multiplied by time equals angular distance), very the angular position of the slide-way 84 and to the shaft ice" is secured the dial 1% which oily sinftobie leer '73 and thus the ber is, therefore, the sound lug indicator dial in ele~ o down on amount p::oportion-= retlon. With the spring 33 positioned in line . to the . d devi tion angle. As shown the sheft lilo end roe", the bellows 22 and 3, nowevei are three w? will obviously turn the clinic it and 3.; through
e.

ound wind role

linurn eagle becausev the rotation of the -~ .u is unopposed by spring 35. in this poe

.: wage wind

sltioo. tire dials will indicete the sound leg angle. As, however, the spring 33 is rotated about pivot 25o. on increasing force is opposed
to tire expansion or the bellows end in that men-1
nor the dlels indicate the rote in degrees per se a,

marked 5.

equals
it

ond, multiplied by the two in seconds, which is.

of course, proportional to the slant range. shown (Figs. 3 and 9) the indicators 2.9 'iiloereiore i may use corn Kl? on sold sl'reit 35 end?o are placed side by side so that the mark putting in e, iiuiction of A and altitude is on 2o (pernllezr plus wind corrections) ere tire device by the oi time lznoo 12 on reed with respect to on index 19' on 19 so that

loll

'51:

and pinion the res-dings of the two dials are thus olgebrelcel iy added. The ?nal reading, therefore, gives A not spring co may be provided between the the total correction for wind, parallax and sound as end the bar 3% (Fig. 1l) so that the moon? leg. Slmilerlytiiere is mounted adjacent the dial
moves lie slide up and down (Figs. 3 and e).

which through reel;

to

enisrn will not be damaged in case the maximum sleet range for which the apparatus is designed is exceeded. The up and down movement of the (in $92 bar 34 turns the bell crank lever 93 about its pivot 99 on the pivoted arm ice. Said per 98 is also provided with o. track-way in which the roller 95 on rod 9d engages. Therefore, it will be seen that the arm we is rocked about its pivot 101 on
slant range (R). 1.1 e output of this layer (it)

it a second dial 21 for introducing the known error in elevation which is set in by means oi the knob 21' which mey put in the spotting correc tions. The total azimuth error is then introduced into

the system eutometicolly or by hand through the setting handle 10, the operetor rotating this mn
dle until the coerce rend ?ne dials 31, 31' read

amount proportionel to the combined functions the some as the reeg of 19-20. Through of the elevation engle (A) end altitude, i. e., the di?erentioi er, this totel correction is olge~
brolcelly edded to the enimuth engle oi the sound ' through is alsothe import locetor which is brought in through shaft 8 and the ?nal corrected angle transmitted through oleout its pivot zso the shaft 111 to transmitter 6. Similarly the ole

3%

druing the time interval, is computed and fine dials 32, 32 correspond to the readings in layer 15 (Fig. 3). In however, tnetwo of sold first mentioned dials. This correction is leyers 5 and e eresiiown super-imposed. This then algebraically added to the elevation angle E25 is accomplished by moons of a. smell gear sector through the di?erential i2 and the ?nal result we secured to the e we which meshes with transmitted to the transmitter 7. There may another gear sector 1G3 secured to the spring arm also be another slight correction in elevation due 33. - This leer spring, therefore, is positioned to the constructional mounting of the sound 10 in. accordance with the slant range (R). Sold cetor gears. and thismay be corrected for by dif= arm carries at each end rollers ice-roe which ferentlel 30, one side of which is driven from the 1.39 engage angular-1y adjustable track-ways 105-106. shaft 2 and the other side from the shaft 8 Said tregk-wgys are secured to shafts 106'106 through the gearing 112, the outputof the dif which. give turned respectively from the azimuth ferential driving the sleeve 113 which drives one 60 sounding actuated ?exible bellows 23 end the side of the di?erential 42 through gearing 114. 1.35 elevation sound leg actuated ?exible bellows 22. The ?nal output of the transmitters _6 and 'l The former is shown as actuated from T9. reversi is led as shown in Fig. 2 ?rst'to what is known
ble suction or pressure pump 8' driven from the

teeth imparted are shown to the in ed to rotate spring r the purpose of entering into ti e compu ration correction indicated on dials 1s and 21 tetion or the movement of the target are put in through handle ll so that the course

rec

as a comparator from which the Searchlight is

shaft 8' and, therefore, rotated in accordance with the rate of azimuth angular travel of the sound looator. The latter bellows 22 is similarly actuated from a pump 9, driven from the eleva tion shaft 2 through the large gear 90 and pinion

91, pump_9 being driven in proportion to the

rate of angular elevation of the sound locator. For a fuller description of this particular portion of the apparatus, reference 15 had to applicants copending application No. 372,777, ?led June 21, 1929 for Means for indicating rate and direction of movement. The pumps generate either posi

its

operated, and which compares or matches the train of the sound locator and Searchlight. The 140 comparator is preferably located at a distance from the sound locator andsearchllght and has therein a repeater motor 114 actuated from the transmitter 6 and repeater motor 115 actuated from the transnntter 7 (see also Fig. 12). Each repeater motor operates an indicator 116--117 which shows respectively the position of they sound locator in azimuth and in elevation. A second pair of indicators 118-119 may be pro vided for showing the azimuth and elevation of 150

. 1,978,727

the searehlight so that the operators. by match muth repeater motors 1425' 146. in the search ing the indexes on the two pairs of indicators. light, the latter shifting the brushes of the power may keep the searchlight pointed in the proper motors M-M' as before. In order to gain ac ' position to illuminate the target. To this end curacy, however, in the Searchlight control the there is provided handwheels 141, 141' for tum transmitters 121' and 122' are not connected "one ing the dials 113-119 respectively and for also to one" to the sending instrument but are-geared operating the connected transmitters 121-122 up thereto as indicated by the gearing 148-448 which control the Searchlight from a distance in which, of courm, destroys self-wnchronism.
azimuth and in elevation.

Therefore it is desirable to have a synchronous

The azimuth control is shown both in Fig. 2 and in Fig. 11, the latter being on a larger scale and showing also a slightly modi?ed 'form of the invention. In this ?gure the repeater mo tor 145 (see also Fig. 12) is controlled from

repeat back system from the Searchlight to the comparator and this is provided by the coarse or
one-to-one transmitters ice-15c on the search light which actuate the coarse repeater motors

151-151 at the comparator, which thus replace

' transmitter 121 and in turn controls the torque the answer-heck lights. and direction of a power motor M. My preferred 15 is identical in principle with Fig. 13 method of control is by shifting the relative po except that in place of using ?ne Selsyn trans sition of the brushes 125 of the motor with re mittens and motors irom the comparator to the

speettothe ?eldpolesandthisisshownasac

searchlight I employ the stepi-hyqtep transmit

complished by turning a gear 126 irom the motor hers 1:21 and i223 as in i2 and the step 145'. said gear forming one arm of the diner step repeater motors and M5. ti"
ential gear T. Tihe other arm comprises a iore, comhincs the eeliwsynehroncne i gear 12'? whichis on the same hnh as the interest gear 3.28 and driven from shaft 129 of the mom tow comparator, light , which to the is companies used an 7er~heclr with the sound fromst why-s

tor hf. pinions l35-13l. The planetary arm of said geartrcin comprises the ironic F system need the control c on which are mouriwd the brushes 125 and on painter to the Searchlight. This system 1,5,1. which also mounted the inter-meshing pin tain advantages since material torque is required
to the brushes oi the motor for which the gear 127 and the other with the gear 125 and step-hy-step motors are better adantedthan . which also mesh with each other. The position Selsyn motors. of the brush , therefore, is Jointly controlled by A completely self-synchronous system is shown. the repeater motor 145' and the power motor in Fig. 14. In this ?gure there is employed at M so that the power motor causes the eearchlight the sound loeator coarse and ?ne azimuth trans to follow the movements of the repeater motor, mitters 206-206' and coarse and ?ne elevation H0 and relieves the repeater motor of all load. The transmitters 207 and 207'. Since the system is power motor is shown as driving the searchlight completely self-synchronous the angles trans. through worm 131' on the shaft thereof driving mitted may be led directly to the searchlight the worm wheel 132 and pinion 133 which turns without going: through a comparator. There~ the large gear 134 on the base of the search fore, when the double-throw switch 160 is thrown H5 light. _ to the left, in Fig. 14, the aforesaid coarse and It will be understood that the searchlight is fine transmitters are connected respectively to controlled in elevation by a similar mechanism the coarse azimuth repeater motor 245 and coarse through pinion 160 on the shaft motor M which elevation-repeater motor 246 on the searchlight, ~ a segmental gear 161 on the trunnion while the fine transmitters 206' and 20'!" are con he searchlight (1'18. 2) nected respectively to the fine azimuth repeater simplest form of the apparatus shown motor 145' and ?ne elevation repeater motor 247 in 12 where direct current step-by-step on the seanel'iliglit.v In accordance with the sys meters are employed it is necessary to have some tern disclosed in my prior Patent No. 1,862,017 means ior synchronizing the apparatus and to for Distant control mechanisms dated June 7.
ione 139 and 13d . one oil which meshes with the

end I have shown signal lights 140-140 at 1232,'the sear'chlight is normally controlled from
the sound locator and 141-141 at the computer. the ?ne motors M5 and 24? which turn the The ?rst mentioned pair ofllghts are controlled brushes of the power motors M as heretofore

respectively by switches 142-442 governed by outlined. The azimuth coarse motor on the
cams 143 on the shafts of the repeater motors 114-115. These switches are designed to be closed by the cams when the indicators read zero so that the operators crank the transmitters
other hand is mounted on the base of the search 130 light and the armature thereof carries a trolley 182 (Fig. 11) which normally contacts with the insulated segment 163 between two live segments

around until the lights light and then by han 164165, the ring carrying said segments being dles G and H they turn the sound locator to stationary on shaft 211. Said live segments are 135 point north and horizontal. Similarly the com in circuit with the reversible power motor 166 parator operators turn the cranks 1720-421 until so that if the Searchlight should get out of syn

the lamps 141-441 are lighted when it is known chronism with the sound locator to such an ex that the sound locatnr, comparator and search tent that the angle exceeds the angle subtended
light are all pointing in the same direction and by the sector 163, the power motor 186 is brought 140 _ into operation to overcome the Selsyn motor 145' If desired a more or less self-synchronous sys and restore the Searchlight within the limits of ' tem may be employed instead of the system shown synchronism oi the fine motor. The elevation in Fig. 12. Fig. 13 shows the use of alternating control is identical through motor M, etc. The current Selsyn transmitters and motors, which azimuth control is indicated in Fig. 11, it being 145 system is partially self-synchronous. According understood that coarse motor 246 and its con to this system the Selsyn transmitter 6 in azi tacts are idle when the searchlight is employed muth and 'l' in elevation actuate as heiore, the in connection with the form of transmission repeater motors 114 and 115 and the transmit shown. in the preceding ?gures. tors 121' 12$ actuate the elevation and azi~= ' As soon as the sesrchiight has been brought 356
synchronized.

1,916,721

near the time a the soundlocatorit may be ' found that an-aircraft canbe pickedv up very desirable to switch the control to the comparator quickly when the ?eld of search is so limited. or other manual device so as to follow the target . The operationof my device is as fo1lows:_ In

' trolled from the auxiliary coarse and ?ne azimuth bringing all dials to. zero as explained above. Then. and elevation transmitters 170170'-171-,171, the dials of the computer are set as follows: "

by sight; This may be e?ected easily by throw setting upthe computer for operation the device ing the multiple-pole switch 160 into the position is synchronized by bringing the sound locator and so shown in'll'ig. 14' when the searchlight is con searchlight to point north and horizontal while
(l) Dial 28 is set for the direction with respect to north of'the baseline LS between the sound 10- 8
cator and searchlight. 4 , _

which it will be understood are turned by cranks

12o and121. 1 v , .

I.

.As above stated the computer shown in Fig.8.

does-not attemptjto compute wind error in eleva- - (2) The dial 29 is set for the direction of the tion or parallax error in elevation, since these wind (o). > ' quantitiesare so small as to be negligible within .(3) The dials l5 and 18 are set for the ground

'the limits of error of the remai'nderof the ap

velocity of the wind and the elevation velocity- . paratus. For very accurate work, however, it. of the wind respectively (V). _ a ' may be desirable to'includethese corrections. and , (4) The dial-12 is set for the estimated altl: in Fig. 10 I have shown diagrammatically how 'tude of the-plane '(A). all corrections may be introduced automatically. - The direction andvelocity of the wind are In this ?gure, layers 8, 4, band 6 perform the altitude by of the the meteorological plane is estimated stationsby and taking the same functions in the same manner as the cor given

responding layers in Fig. 8, namely, they intro into account the atmospheric ceiling. type of duce respectively the wind correction in azimuth. plane, and the angular. elevation when ?rst parallax correction in azimuth, and sound lag heard. The .formula for determining the. cor- -' correction in azimuth and in elevation and ?nal rections is such that errors in the making 016100 Lv comput the total errors in azimuth and eleva estimation for valtitude are relatively unim ' tion. In Fig. 10, however, I have two other portant, the most important factor in the cor layers, layer 1 which computes the wind correcf. , rection being the angular velocity of the target. tion .in elevation and layer 2 which computes the The sound locator is then brought to bear upon parallax correction in elevation. The latter is the sounds coming from the target and is kept-m5 computed in accordance with the equation. v ' on such target by the listeners at E and F.~. The angular velocity in azimuth and elevation is hwy-B coslvzsin A determined automatically from the rate at which

where the symbolslrepresent the same angles-as the sound locator is moved in following the at . before. This computation is effected inv layer-12 tacking vaircraft. This rate, combined with the from the cams 43' and 44',layer 2 being com-, four settings mentioned above, automatically binedwithlayerosothatthereisalsocomputed generates the necessary corrections, the total
of which is automatically indicated and con

1,110

herein the slant range R. Similarly the wind tinuously applied to the angle which the sound correction is computed in layer 1 from-the cams locator transmits to. the comparator at the con- "5 as audio inaccordance withtheequation
'

sirr'y' -

Vcosdoind

' trol station. The true position of the attack _ ing aircraft .is thus designated at the compara tor and the aearchlight is brought to bear upon, -

~ where the symbols have-the samemeanmg as in the target. The errors are such that it is only

elevation correction from layers 1 and 2 is trans.

vation to pick up the. target, and this sweeping mittedtothedialZiiandthesummationofthe operation can be accomplished-within a few sec

the previous equations. The summation of the necessary. through an for area a searchlight of every few operator" degrees to.in sweep ele azimuth correction from layers-3 and 4 is trans
onds. -As soon as the target is picked up the searchlight may, of course; be controlled direct ly vfrom the handles 141 and 141' without refer ence to the sound locator position. In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention. together with the no apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed 135 to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of. these may be altered-and others omitted without interfering with the more general results out lined, and the invention extends to such use. . 140 and Having desire described to secure my by Letters invention, Patent what is: I 1. A system for locating aircraft at night com prising a sound locator, a Searchlight, means for 145 positioning the searchlight in accordance with the position of the sound locator. an automatic correetion device actuated primarily from said

mltted to the dial- 21. layer 6 remains as before except that the dial 21 is set automatically from the elevation correction instead of through the Mob 21. There is also shown in this ?gure a simpli?ed 55 methodof initially setting the cam shafts 36-37 and 38. In this instance the innermost shaft 38 is set by means of the dial 50', the inner sleeve 37 by the pointer 29' and the outer sleeve 38 by the pointer 28', all of which are locked in posi tion by set screws (not shown) after being set. The remainder of the apparatusv functions sub stantially as described in Fig. 3 and the descrip tion need not be repeated, the parts being given
corresponding numbers throughout. i There are, however, numerous sources of error

in elevation which cannot be calculated, such as the wind refraction error and the temperature
refraction error so that the errors in elevation, even if computed for wind drift and parallax, are

70 usually larger than those in azimuth. For this reason I prefer not to attempt to compute the elevation errors except the sound lag. error but to compute accurately the azimuth errors, there

by limiting the field of searth of the searchlight sound locator for continuously computing the to a substantially vertical plane or line. It is sound lag error, and means for introducing said 150

6
means. .

1,970,727
light, means for computing the slant range from the altitude of the target and a function of the angle of elevation of the sound locator, and
means for introducing said slant range as a

correction into said searchlight podtioning the spacing of the sound locator and search
2. A system for locating aircraft at night com prisinga sound locator, a searchlight, means for positioning. the searchlight in accordance with the position of the sound locator, an automatic correction device actuated primarily from said sound locator for continuously computing the

measure of time in at least the azimuth sound lag mechanisms to give the component sound lag errors and as a function in the azimuth parallax

.- sound lag error, the parallax error and the wind correction means. '1. Means for computing corrections for posi 10 error, and means for introducing all of said

corrections into said searohlisht positioning tioning searchlights from sound locator units in
3. A system for locating aircraft at night com

means.

cluding the combination with the sound locator

prising a sound locator. a searchlight, means for

is

computing the parallax error in azimuth, means for computing the wind in azimuth, means for

computing thegound lag error in azimuth and in

elevation, all of said means being primarily ac tuated from said sound locator, and means for correction to compensate for the spacing of the 20 continuously transmitting corrected sound locator sound locator and searchlight, means for com azimuth and elevation angles including means puting the slant range from the altitude of the target and a function of the angle of elevation for introducing the aforesaid computed errors. 4. Means for computing corrections for posi of the sound locator, and means for introduc
tioning searchlights _ from sound locator units

and means for positioning the same in azimuth and elevation, means actuated by the angular movements of the sound locator for generating the angular rates of movement thereof in azi-' muth, means actuated by the uth position of the sound locator for compu ing the parallax

95

ing said slant range as a measure of time in

including the combination with the sound loca

tor and means for positioning the same in azi

the azimuth rate mechanism to give the com 100 ponent sound lag error and as a function in

muth and elevation, computing mechanism actu~ the azimuth parallax correction means whereby ated by the angular movements of the sound the field of search is limited to a line instead locator for computing the sound lag error in both of a three dimensional search. 8. In a sound locator, means for computing 30 azimuth and elevation, means for computing the angular correction for sound lag compris 105 the azimuth parallax correction to compensate ing means for computing the slant range, means for the spacing of the sound locator and search light, means for computing the slant range from for generating the angular rate of movement
and means of combining a function of said range 35 angle of elevation of the sound locator, and and the azimuth and elevation rate to give the 110 means for introducing said slant range as a, measure of time in both the azimuth and eleva angular correction in azimuth and elevation. 9. In an aircraft sound locator movable in tion sound lag mechanisms to give the com azimuth and elevation, means for computing the

the altitude of the target and a function of the of the sound locator in azimuth and in elevation,

cludingthe combination with the sound locator generating the angular rate of movement of the sound locator in azimuth and elevation, and and means for positioning the same in azimuth means for combining a function of said range and elevation, means actuated by the angular 45 with each of said rates to give both components movements of the sound locator for generating of the angular correction. the angular rates of movement thereof in azi 10. In a system for ?ashing a searchlight on muth and elevation, means actuated by the azi aircraft at night, the combination with a sound muth position of the sound locator for comput locator and remotely positioned searchlight and 50 ing the parallax correction to compensate for the means for turning each in azimuth and elevation, 125 spacing of the sound locator and searchlight, angle transmitting means actuated by the tum means for. computing the slant range from the ing of the sound locator to direct the search altitude of the target and a function of the angle light, and correction mechanism for correcting of elevation of the sound locator, and means for the transmitted angles including means position
55 introducing said slant range as a measure of

ponent sound lag errors and as a function in the angular corrections for sound lag comprising 115 azimuth parallax correction means. meansv for combining the elevation angle and 5. Means for computing corrections for posi tioning searchlights from sound locator units in altitude of the craft for slant range, means for

time in both the azimuth and elevation rate

mechanisms to give the component sound lag

errors and as a function in the azimuth parallax correction means.
60

6. Means for computing corrections for posi tioning searchlights from sound locator imits in cluding the combination with the sound locator
and means for positioning the same in azimuth

and elevation, computing mechanism actuated

65 by the angular movements of the sound locator

for computing the sound lag error in both azi muth and elevation, means for computing the

azimuth parallax correction to compensate for

70

130 able in accordance with a function of the angle between the sound locator and the baseline be tween the searchlight and sound locator, means positionable in accordance with a function of the angle between the wind and said base, means 135 positionable in accordance with a function of the elevation angle of said sound locator, means positionable in accordance with the altitude, a plurality of mechanical means actuated thereby for computing the sound lag angle at least in 140 azimuth, the parallax angle and the wind cor rection angle, and means for introducing said correction into the transmitted angles. FRANK R. HOUSE.

145

75

150