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Most of this work related to military research done on measuring muzzle velocities of artillery, and fire control.
The army had no direct way of measuring cannon muzzle velocities so they contracted RCA to develop high-speed timing equipment.
Coils through which projectiles would be fired would produce start and stop signals, while a counter counted cycles of an
oscillator.
Work on digital computing was accelerated during the war, but it became clear that analog computers were going to produce
something that the Army could use sooner. That was project Typhoon. George Morton also participated in the digital
computing work as evidenced by his name appearing with Mr. Flory on several patents. One landmark patent of this era
is number 2,445,215 for Electronic Computers which describes the shift register.
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| Cannon and towers with pickup coils. |
World War II Night Vision
Grandpa worked on both the basic image tube and the associated circuitry for devices that were deployed by the Navy for
secure signalling by near infrared(US/C-3 also known as RCA MI-2558), and by the Army for night-time reconnaisance(Snooperscope)
and targeting(Sniperscope). Patent number 2,506,018 with Jack Ruedy and George Morton(again) describes the tube known
as the 1P25. This tube used a photocathode sensitive to infrared radiation to form an electron image that is focused
on a flourescent screen. This must have been more secret than the computing work because the patent was not applied
for until October 1946, though devices were in the field in 1945. The computing work was allowed to go to the patent
office in 1943.
A 1P25 tube is among the collection of tubes that I inherited from Grandpa, and I have since acquired 3 of the Navy Signalling
Telescopes model US/C-3, 2 of them battery-powered, and one AC-powered. I have used the AC-powered one to do demonstrations
at the Military Radio Collectors Association and at home to friends.
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| Post-war ad showing a detective keeping an eye on the "Bad Guys" |
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| Sniperscope mounted on a carbine |
Rob Flory
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