"Betty Boop" (1947-1949)

I have never heard of a “Betty Boop” survey instrument, but that is the name identified on the calibration curve and the schematic (on the inside of the case). It is almost certainly a variation of the “Betty Snoop," a high end survey instrument employing a plastic ion chamber that was developed in WWII. Although the probe of this particular “Betty Boop” is missing, the circuit diagram, connector, zero adjust, and calibration ranges indicate that it was an ion chamber.

The front end of the case has two controls, an on/off switch and a zero adjust, while there are two recessed adjustments on the side, one marked “Feed back” and the other marked “Sen. Adj.”

A metal plate attached to the case reads: "An Instrument Division Product, Argonne National Laboratory, Mark 2, Model 10, Ser. No. 27, U.S.A. No. 41129." A hand-drawn calibration curve for each of the four scales is attached to the side of the case and the calibration date is identified as 8-17-49.

Detector: Missing, assumed to be ion chamber

Meter scale: 0-20 microamperes

Range: 0-0.2, 0-2.0, 0-29, 0-200 R/h

Size: 3.5” x 9” x 5.5”

Batteries: One 1.5 volt, three 7.5 volt, one 22.5 volt, one 67.5 volt

Donated by Ryersson Polytechnic Institute courtesy of Herbert Clark.