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Steampunk Radar

November 29, 2011, 11:05 am

I thought this was an interesting, pre-radar technology that has a lot of visual appeal.  These are Japanese devices for detecting aircraft approach by listening for their motor

Category: Technology

3 Comments

  1. Dan:

    Done all over the world - not just the Japanese

    http://www.ailesquebecoises.com/viewtopic.php?p=172689

    There are about a dozen different images of this idea shown on the post I googled. Bet you could find others.

    BTW - this is an example for me of how crazy the patent system can be. One overly broad patent would nuke all these devices today. The patent filing would be a diagram of a dude in a field with his ear cupped.

    November 29, 2011, 3:40 pm

  2. Ian Random:

    They still look like musical instruments. Anyway, the acoustic mirrors in England look just plain weird.

    http://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/soundmirrors/

    November 29, 2011, 10:47 pm

  3. Corky Boyd:

    In the early stages of WW2 there was an emplacement in Washington DC near American University, that used similar technology. It had three large parabolic cups to listen for incoming bombers. I doubt they were very effective either for us or the Japanese.

    At a time we had few victories and something that looked so strange and impressive was a morale builder.

    November 30, 2011, 1:26 pm