or a group of systems, to serve a specific requirement. For exam- 

 ple, our SUBMARINE RECORDING UNIT (fig. 8.10) is a consolida- 

 tion of commercial electronic counters, commercial converting 

 units, and connmercial flexi-writer s. The sensing elements that 

 are attached to these devices for temperature, for depth, and for 

 sovuid velocity are either not specifically engineered for the pur- 

 pose, or if they have been engineered, they have not been sufficient- 

 ly tested in the field to assure us that information being collected 

 on a continuous basis is valid. 



The third group of instruments with which we are concerned 

 are experimental devices. For instance, there was no adequate 

 recording system for the CURRENT METER' shown in figure 8.11. 

 The previous recorder for this instrument did not lend itself to 

 automatic machine processing of its data output. Shown in the 

 illustration is an experimental \init which takes the data from the 

 current meter and applies it to an ordinary electric typewriter 

 which can also be utilized with punched paper tape. The idea here 

 is to use relatively standard instrumentation with some modifica- 

 tions and some conversions. This, by and large, constitutes the 

 engineering state of the art --a good bit of our present-day infor- 

 mation is obtained from these instruments. 



Most of the newer oceanographic instruments have come 

 essentially from research prototypes that have been developed by 

 various laboratories in and out of the Government. They have 

 been developed in support of oceanographic research. These de- 

 vices are usually excellent for their original purpose, but there 

 is where the development stops. 



An urgent requirement for survey instrumentation is to 

 engineer the research tools into rugged, reliable instruments 

 that can be used aboard the classes of vessels that Captain 

 Fusselman has just described. Industry can play a major role 

 in the conversion of the research tool into the sxirvey instru- 

 ment. 



The Hydrographic Office probably has one of the largest 

 collections of oceanographic instruments. However, in spite of 

 this, our total investment amounts to only about three million 

 dollars. I^owever, the rate of this expenditure has been increasing 

 markedly during the last few years, and, according to the pro- 

 posed, instriiment program, this trend is likely to continue. 



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