General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

6

Total Parts

9

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

GLASS, METAL AND SYNTHETIC CONSTRUCTION THROUGHOUT.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

44.0 cm

Width

21.2 cm

Height

17.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Physics

Category

Atomic & nuclear

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Varian

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

British Columbia

Period

THIS MASER USED C. 1968 TO 1992. WAS OPERATIONAL IN 1993/94.

Canada

MASER WAS KEY ELEMENT IN PERMITTING NRC RADIO ASTRONOMERS TO BECOME THE FIRST IN THE WORLD TO CREATE A LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETER (LBI) NOT PHYSICALLY CONNECTED BY WIRES. THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM, CONSISTING OF NRC AND CANADIAN UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS, WON THE RUMFORD PREMIUM FOR THIS ACHIEVEMENT IN 1972. (REF. 1)

Function

TO MEASURE TIME WITH THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE DEGREE OF ACCURACY, AND TO GENERATE A VERY PRECISE TIME FREQUENCY.

Technical

ATOMIC HYDROGEN MASER PROVIDES HIGHEST POSSIBLE STABILITY OF TIME MEASUREMENT OVER PERIODS OF SEVERAL HOURS. THIS EXAMPLE WAS STABLE TO 1 PART IN 10(13)-10(14). IT'S SIGNALS WERE SYNCHRONIZED TO PERMIT COMBINING THE INCOMING RADIO DATA FROM ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTS SUCH AS QUASARS, ACTIVE RADIO GALAXIES FROM TWO OR MORE VERY DISTANT RADIO TELESCOPE ANTENNAS, SUCH AS THOSE OF THE LBI.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

All controls, connections, etc. labelled. "Vaclon ® PUMP CONTROL UNIT/ 921-0062/ [logo] varian" printed on upper front of panel. Inventory decal on left front reads "PROPERTY OF/ NRCC/ 202515", in French and English. Decal applied to right front reads "HERZBERG INSTITUTE/ OF ASTROPHYSICS/ HIA-0778/ ASTRONOMY SECTION". Red decal on unit top reads "DANGER/ HIGH VOLTAGE/ WHEN SERVICING:/ 1. TURN OFF AND UNPLUG VACION® PUMP/ CONTROL UNIT./ 2. WAIT 1 MINUTE BEFORE REMOVING COVER./ 3. SHORT ALL HIGH VOLTAGE CAPACITORS./ 4. AVOID TESTING ENERGIZED CIRCUITS- USE OHMMETER FOR TESTING./ BEFORE OPERATING MAKE CERTAIN:/ 1. CONTROL UNIT CHASSIS IS GROUNDED THROUGH AC POWER CORD./ 2. BRAIDED SAFETY GROUND LEAD IS/ CONNECTED TO PUMP CASE./ 3. HIGH VOLTAGE COAXIAL CABLE IS NOT FRAYED OR INJURED./ 4. HIGH VOLTAGE CONNECTOR COUPLING NUT/ IS TIGHTENED ON PUMP CONNECTOR./ B617661". Second red decal reads "CAUTION/ READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE CONNECTING TO PUMP AND/ BEFORE APPLYING POWER. BE/ SURE CORRECT VOLTAGE AND/ POLARITY ARE SELECTED./ B627139". Blue "SPECIAL INSPECTION SERVICE/ CANADIAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION" decal on unit back. "[logo] varian/ part/ no. 921-0062/ 120 VAC/ serial/ no. 653 60 Hz/ ship date [blank] 1.2 KW/ made in U.S.A". appears on silver decal on unit back.

Missing

N/A

Finish

Light grey-brown enamel finish on front panel; silver metal perforated panels cover casing sides.

Decoration

N/A