metal detector

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A U.S. Army soldier uses a metal detector to search for weapons and ammunition in Iraq

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

The simplest form of 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 electrically conductive metal 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

Toward 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, used a lot of battery power, and worked only to a very limited degree. Alexander Graham Bell used such a device to attempt to locate a bullet lodged in the chest of American President James Garfield in 1881; the attempt was unsuccessful because the metal bed Garfield was lying on confused the detector.^[1]

Modern developments

The modern development of the metal detector began in the 1930s. Gerhard Fisher had developed a system of radio direction-finding, which was to be used for accurate navigation. The system worked extremely well, but Fisher 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. However, it was one Lieutenant Josef Stanislaw Kosacki, a Polish officer attached to a unit stationed in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland during the early years of World War II, that refined the design into a practical detector. They were heavy, ran on vacuum tubes, and needed separate battery packs. The design invented by Stanislaw was used extensively during the clearance of the German mine fields during the Second Battle of El Alamein when 500 units were shipped to Field Marshal Montgomery to clear the minefields of the retreating Germans, and later used during the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Allied invasion of Italy and the Invasion of Normandy. As it was a wartime research operation to create and refine the design of the detector, the knowledge that Stanislaw created the first practical metal detector was kept secret for over 50 years.

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 profit. This helped to form metal detecting into a hobby.

Further refinements

Many manufacturers of these new devices brought their own ideas to the market. Whites Electronics of Oregon began in the 50's by building a machine called the Oremaster Geiger Counter. Another leader in detector technology was Charles Garrett, who pioneered the BFO (Beat Frequency Oscillator) machine. With the invention and development of the transistor in the 50's and 60's, metal detector manufacturers and designers made smaller lighter machines with improved circuitry, running on small battery packs. Companies sprang up all over the USA and Britain to supply the growing demand.

Modern top models are fully computerized, using integrated circuit technology to allow the user to set sensitivity, discrimination, track speed, threshold volume, notch filters, etc., and hold these parameters in memory for future use. Compared to just a decade ago, detectors are lighter, deeper-seeking, use less battery power, and discriminate better.

Larger portable metal detectors are used by archaeologists and treasure hunters to locate metallic items, such as jewelry, coins, bullets, and other various artifacts buried shallowly underground.

Discriminators

The biggest technical change in detectors was the development of the induction-balance system. This system involved two coils that were electrically balanced. When metal was introduced to their vicinity, they would become unbalanced. What allowed detectors to discriminate between metals was the fact that every metal has a different phase response when exposed to alternating current. Scientists had long known of this fact by the time detectors were developed that could selectively detect desirable metals, while ignoring undesirable ones.

Even with discriminators, it was still a challenge to avoid undesirable metals, because some of them have similar phase responses e.g. tinfoil and gold, particularly in alloy form. Thus, improperly tuning out certain metals increased the risk of passing over a valuable find. Another disadvantage of discriminators was that they reduced the sensitivity of the machines.

New coil designs

Coil designers also tried out innovative designs. The original Induction Balance coil system consisted of two identical coils placed on top of one another. Compass Electronics produced a new design; the two coils were made in a D shape, and were mounted back-to-back to form a circle. This system was widely used in the 1970s, and both concentric and D type (or Widescan as they became known) had their fans. Another development was the invention of detectors which could cancel out the effect of mineralization in the ground. This gave greater depth, but was a non-discriminate mode. It worked best at lower frequencies than those used before, and frequencies of 3 to 20 kHz were found to produce the best results. Many detectors in the 1970s had a switch which enabled the user to switch between the discriminate mode and the non-discriminate mode. Later developments switched electronically between both modes. The development of the Induction Balance detector would ultimately result in the Motion detector, which constantly checked and balanced the background mineralization.

Pulse induction

A pulse induction metal detector with an array of coils

At the same time, developers were looking at using a different technique in metal detection called Pulse Induction. Unlike the Beat Frequency Oscillator or the Induction Balance machines which both used a uniform alternating current at a low frequency, the pulse induction machine simply fired a high-voltage pulse of signal into the ground. In the absence of metal, the 'spike' decayed at a uniform rate, and the time it took to fall to zero volts could be accurately measured. However, if metal was present when the machine fired, a small current would flow in the metal, and the time for the voltage to drop to zero would be increased. These time differences were minute, but the improvement in electronics made it possible to measure them accurately and identify the presence of metal at a reasonable distance. These new machines had one major advantage: they were completely impervious to the effects of mineralization, and rings and other jewellery could now be located even under highly-mineralized 'black sand'.

Uses of metal detectors

Metal detectors in archeology

In England and Wales metal detecting is legal provided permission is granted by the landowner, and the area is not a Scheduled Ancient Monument or covered by elements of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Voluntary reporting of finds to the Portable Antiquities Scheme or the UK Detector Finds Database is encouraged. These schemes have their critics, however, including some archaeologists and metal detectorists. The situation in Scotland is very different. Under the Scots law principle of bona vacantia,^[2] the Crown has claim over any object of any material value where the original owner cannot be traced. There is also no 300 year limit to Scottish finds. Any artifact found, whether by metal detector survey or from an archaeological excavation, must be reported to the Crown through the Treasure Trove Advisory Panel at the National Museums of Scotland. The Panel then determines what will happen to the artifacts. Reporting is not voluntary, and failure to report the discovery of historic artifacts is a criminal offence in Scotland.

Archeology is beginning to recognize the contribution responsible metal detecting provides in adding to the knowledge of our past. One example is utilizing the skilled use of the metal detector to examine wide areas such as battlefield sites where surface scatters of metal objects may be all that survives. This has recently been demonstrated during archaeological work conducted at Antietam National Battlefield in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

As a hobby

This 156 ounce nugget was found by an individual prospector in the Southern California Desert using a metal detector.

Many people use consumer metal detectors to look for coins on the beach. Most metal detectors are good to detect metal only within a foot or so below the ground. The detection depth depends on the type of metal detector, type of metal in the buried object, size of buried object, type of metals in the ground, and other objects in the ground.

There are five major types of hobbyist activities involving metal detectors:

• Coin shooting is looking for coins after an event involving many people, like a baseball game, or simply looking for any old coins. Serious coin shooters will spend hours, days and months doing historical research to locate long lost sites that have the potential to give up historical and collectible coins.
• Prospecting is looking for valuable metal like gold and silver.
• Relic hunting is very similar to coin shooting except that the relic hunter is after any type of historical artifact, relic hunters are usually very determined and dedicated not only to the research and hunting that they do but also to preserving historical artifacts. Coins, Minié balls, buttons, axe heads, and buckles are just a few of the items that are commonly found by relic hunters.
• Treasure hunting is looking for valuable items in general.
• Beach combing is hunting for lost coins or jewellery lost on a beach. Beach hunting can be as simple or as complicated as one wishes to make it. Many dedicated beach hunters also familiarize themselves with tide movements and beach erosion.
• Metal detecting clubs across the United States and United Kingdom exist for hobbyists to learn from others, show off finds from their hunts and to learn more about the hobby.

Security screening

Metal detectors at an airport

The first industrial metal detectors were developed in the 1960s and were used extensively for mining and other industrial applications. A series of aircraft hijackings led the Finnish company Outokumpu to adapt mining metal detectors, still housed in a large cylindrical pipe, to the purpose of screening airline passengers as they walked through. The development of these systems continued in a spin off company and systems branded as Metor Metal Detectors evolved in the form of the rectangular gantry now standard in airports. In common with the developments in other uses of metal detectors both alternating current and pulse systems are used, and the design of the coils and the electronics has moved forward to improve the discrimination of these systems. In 1995 systems such as the Metor 200 appeared with the ability to indicate the approximate height of the metal object above the ground, enabling security personnel to more rapidly locate the source of the signal. Smaller hand held metal detectors are also used to locate a metal object on a person more precisely.

Industrial metal detectors

Industrial metal detectors are used in the pharmaceutical, food, beverage, textile, plastics, chemicals, and packaging industries.

Contamination of food by metal shards from broken processing machinery during manufacture is a major safety issue in the food industry. Metal detectors for this purpose are widely used and integrated in the production line.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Metal detectors

• On Dr. Gerhard Fisher's development of the first commercial hand held metal detector
• Metal Detecting ...What's it all about?.
• Metal detectors coil and search head design

References