Metal Detectors

Metal detectors use electromagnetic induction to detect metal. Uses include demining (the detection of land mines), the detection of weapons such as knives and guns, especially at airports, geophysical prospecting, archaeology and 'treasure hunting'. more...

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Metal detectors are also used to detect foreign bodies in food, and in the construction industry to detect steel reinforcing bars in concrete and pipes and wires buried in walls and floors.

In its simplest form, a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field. If a piece of metal, which is electrically conductive, is close to the coil eddy currents will be induced in the metal, and this produces an alternating magnetic field of its own. If another coil is used to measure the magnetic field (acting as a magnetometer) the change in the magnetic field due to the metallic object can be detected.

History and development

The first detectors

Metal detectors have been around for much longer than most people realize. Towards the end of the 19th century, many scientists and engineers used their growing knowledge of electrical theory in an attempt to devise a machine which would pinpoint metal. The use of such a device to find ore-bearing rocks would give a huge advantage to any miner who employed it. The German physicist Heinrich Wilhelm Dove invented the induction balance system, which was incorporated into metal detectors a hundred years later. Early machines were crude and used a lot of battery power, and only worked to a very limited degree. The Scottish physicist, Alexander Graham Bell, unsuccessfully used such a device to attempt to locate a bullet lodged in the chest of American President James Garfield in 1881.

Modern developments

The modern development of the metal detector began in the 1930's. Gerhard Fischer had developed a system of radio direction-finding, which was to be used for accurate navigation. The system worked extremely well, but Dr Fischer noticed that there were anomalies in areas where the terrain contained ore-bearing rocks. He reasoned that if a radio beam could be distorted by metal, then it should be possible to design a machine which would detect metal, using a search coil resonating at a radio frequency. In 1937, he applied for, and was granted, the first patent for a metal detector. His designs were soon put to the test in a practical way, as they were used as mine detectors during the Second World War. They were heavy, ran on vacuum tubes, and needed separate battery packs - but they worked. After the war, there were plenty of surplus mine detectors on the market; they were bought up by relic hunters who used them for fun and for profit. The hobby of metal detecting had been born.

Read more at Wikipedia.org