The evolution of the quartz crystal clock

Some of the earliest documents in human history relate to man's interest in timekeeping. This interest arose partly because of his curiosity about the visible world around him, and partly because the art of time measurement became an increasingly important part of living as the need for cooperation between the members of expanding groups increased. There are still in existence devices believed to have been made by the Egyptians six thousand years ago for the purpose of telling time from the stars, and there is good reason to believe that they were in quite general use by the better educated people of that period.1 Since that period there has been a continuous use and improvement of timekeeping methods and devices, following sometimes quite independent lines, but developing through a long series of new ideas and refinements into the very precise means at our disposal today.

[1]  J.H. Dellinger.  The Status of Frequency Standardization , 1928, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[2]  Lee De Forest.  The Audion; A New Receiver for Wireless Telegraphy , 1906 .

[3]  E. L. Hall,et al.  The national primary standard of radio frequency , 1935 .

[4]  William David Dye.  The vale-maintained tuning-fork as a precision time-standard , 1923 .

[5]  W. A. Marrison.  A High Precision Standard of Frequency , 1929 .

[6]  H. Jones,et al.  The Rotation of the Earth, and the Secular Accelerations of the Sun, Moon and Planets , 1939 .

[7]  S. Jimbo.  An International Comparison of Frequency by Means of a Luminous Quartz Resonator , 1930, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[8]  C. F. Booth,et al.  Crystal oscillators for radio transmitters: an account of experimental work carried out by the Post Office , 1935 .

[9]  W.A. Marrison.  Thermostat Design for Frequency Standards , 1928, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[10]  L.A. Meacham,et al.  The Bridge-Stabilized Oscillator , 1938, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[11]  F. Barrows Colton,et al.  Split-second time runs today's world , 1947 .

[12]  J. D. Tear,et al.  Short Electric Waves , 1923 .

[13]  H. B. Law.  An instrument for short-period frequency comparisons of great accuracy , 1947 .

[14]  Harold Spencer Jones.  Proceedings of Observatories: Royal Observatory, Greenwich , 1943 .

[15]  W.G. Cady.  An International Comparison of Radio Wavelength Standards by Means of Piezo-Electric Resonators , 1924, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[16]  I. Estermann,et al.  Molecular Beam Technique , 1946 .

[17]  W. A. Marrison,et al.  Modern developments in precision clocks , 1932, Electrical Engineering.

[18]  E. A. Eckhardt,et al.  An electron tube tuning fork drive , 1922 .

[19]  Maurice Ewing,et al.  Gravity‐measurements on the U.S.S. Barracuda , 1937 .

[20]  H. T. Friis,et al.  A Multiple Unit Steerable Antenna for Short-Wave Reception , 1937, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[21]  K. S. Van Dyke,et al.  The High Q of Quartz Resonators , 1947 .

[22]  N. H. Williams,et al.  The Shortest Continuous Radio Waves , 1936, Science.

[23]  J. Frederick Hellweg,et al.  Time Service of the U. S. Naval Observatory , 1932, Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

[24]  W. P. Mason,et al.  A New Quartz-Crystal Plate, Designated the GT, Which Produces a Very Constant Frequency over a Wide Temperature Range , 1940, Proceedings of the IRE.

[25]  J. F. Hellweg.  Time determination and time broadcast , 1937 .

[26]  W. A. Marrison,et al.  Precision Determination of Frequency , 1928, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.

[27]  W H Eccles.  The Use of the Triode Valve in Maintaining the Vibration of a Tuning Fork , 1918 .

[28]  L Essen,et al.  A new form of frequency and time standard , 1938 .

[29]  L. Essen,et al.  The valve maintained tuning fork as a primary standard of frequency , 1934 .

[30]  William E. Good,et al.  The Inversion Spectrum of Ammonia , 1946 .

[31]  Henri Abraham,et al.  Mesure en valeur absolue des périodes des oscillations électriques de haute fréquence , 1919 .

[32]  W. M. H. Greaves,et al.  The Short-period Erratics of Free Pendulum and Quartz Clocks , 1943 .

[33]  H. M. Dadourian.  On the Characteristics of Electrically Operated Tuning Forks , 1919 .

[34]  R.L. Miller.  Fractional-Frequency Generators Utilizing Regenerative Modulation , 1939, Proceedings of the IRE.

[35]  F.J.M. Laver,et al.  A standard of frequency and its applications , 1946 .

[36]  J. K. Clapp.  “Universal” Frequency Standardization from a Single Frequency Standard† , 1927 .

[37]  N. H. Williams,et al.  Electromagnetic Waves of 1.1 cm Wave-Length and the Absorption Spectrum of Ammonia , 1934 .

[38]  J. M. Lafferty,et al.  A Millimeter‐Wave Reflex Oscillator , 1946 .

[39]  S. Millman,et al.  The Molecular Beam Magnetic Resonance Method. The Radiofrequency Spectra of Atoms and Molecules , 1946 .

[40]  John Ambrose Fleming.  II. On electric discharge between electrodes at different temperatures in air and in high vacua , 1890, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.

[41]  I. Rabi,et al.  A New Method of Measuring Nuclear Magnetic Moment , 1938 .

[42]  E. Giebe,et al.  Sichtbarmachung von hochfrequenten Longitudinalschwingungen piezoelektrischer Kristallstäbe , 1925 .

[43]  W A Marrison.  THE CRYSTAL CLOCK. , 1930, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[44]  Ernest W. Brown.  A celestial encounter , 1926 .

[45]  W. A. Marrison,et al.  Frequency Measurement in Electrical Communication , 1923, Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

[46]  Vening Meinesz,et al.  Theory and practice of pendulum observations at sea , 1929 .

[47]  H. Jones,et al.  The measurement of time , 1937 .