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Dear Jared,

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004, Jared Sherman wrote:

> If  a dip meter is a useful instrument,
> why were they never popular and now
> extinct?

The short answer is "I don't know". And I am not sure
"they were never popular". The more expanded ans is:

1. From the Russian manual I read in the late 60-s
I conclude that one of these devices WAS common in
Soviet Union in 1960-s. The author of the book referred to it as
something well-known and available, and even did not care
to describe it, just strongly recommended to
use it instead of the tables. This was a short manual for
a practical navigator,
not a scientific book.

2. From the messages of Fred and George I know that in the
West they experimented with these devices.
However, 3 different models of Western dipmeters
were mentioned in these messages: the Zeiss, Blith and Gavrishev.
It is not clear to me whether these were unique experimental
devices or serial production.
Maybe the paper describing these experiments,
which Fred promised to send me can shed some light on
your question.

3. One explanation offered on this list was that in the
open sea there is simply no need in very precise Cel Nav.
It was noticed that such need happens in certain special
tasks like cable laying operations, but who knows, maybe
those people indeed used dipmeters.

4. Whether it is typical or exceptional that the dip is
different in various directions, I don't know.
If this is common, then dipmeter is useless, of course.

5. I wonder what precision can an advanced bubble attachemet
give. Does anyone on this list have experience with
Cassens-Plath bubble horizon, for example?
Could it be that mariners found it superior to
any dipmeter?
Of course, it has additional advantage in that it does
not use any horizon at all.

Alex.

   

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