Precision Determination of Frequency

The relations between frequency and time are such that it is desirable to refer them to a common standard. Reference standards, both of time and of frequency, are characterized by the requirement that their rates shall be so constant that the total number of variations executed in a time of known duration may be taken as a measure of the rate over shorter intervals of time. Frequency standards have the further requirement that the form of their variations and the order of magnitude of their rates shall be suitable for comparison with the waves used in electrical communication. Two different types of standard which meet these requirements are described. One consists of a regenerative vacuum-tube circuit, the frequency of which is determined by the mechanical properties of a tuning fork. The other is a regenerative circuit controlled by a piezo-active crystal. Means are provided, in the case of each standard, whereby the recurrent cycles may be counted by a mechanism having the form of a clock, the rate of which is a measure of the frequency of the reference standard. Data taken over a period of several years with a fork-controlled circuit show that, under normal conditions, its rate may be relied upon to two parts in one million. Data taken over a much shorter time with crystal controlled oscillators indicate that they are about ten times as stable.