Field Ratemeter - Scintillometer - Ericsson

Written for Brought to Light by: Michael Kenner and Elizabeth Bor. Student research group: Michael Kenner, Robert Del Col, Elizabth Bor, Megan Wallace, Caitlin Bettles.

Plastic case (simmulated wood) with handle on the top and switch board syle front. Panel with circular window on the top. Use: To count scintillometers field profile.

Ericsson Ratemeter 1292A. Unlike its famous cousin, the Geiger counter, this particular ratemeter doesn't detect electromagnetic radiation just like light, radio, and microwaves. Instead it detects the broken fragments of atoms. It was an expensive cutting-edge apparatus jointly developed in '54/55' by the UK government and Ericsson corporation. In 1944, the British Government urged the Australian Government to encourage prospecting for uranium. At first the Government in Canberra offered financial incentives to individual prospectors. Then in 1952, uranium mining was declared tax exempt. Companies employed geologists and geophysicists. This ratemeter may have been used to locate some of Australia's nine uranium mines.

As uranium decays, it emits radioactive gamma rays. These are detected by a scintillator containing crystals. When the Gamma rays hit the crystals, photons appear as a flash of light or scintillation. The photomultiplier converts the photons into electrons which produce electric pulses. The microampere meter measures these pulses.