Multipurpose tester for phenomena in vibration and impact

The film describes a multipurpose dynamic tester capable of demonstrating several phenomena of vibrations and impact. The versatility of the equipment makes it suitable for a wide range of educational levels from elementary demonstrations in vibrations to investigations on the graduate level. Due to its capabilities of producing both the simple and complicated dynamic situations, it would stimulate interest in the students to explore the complicated situations after thoroughly understanding the simple ones. The equipment can be also utilized in testing the effectiveness and in calibration of new instruments or circuits designed by the students for measuring dynamic phenomena. It also provides a versatile model for research problems in vibrations on the undergraduate as well as the graduate level. The tester is a two-mass system with controllable linear and nonlinear elastic and damping characteristics. The system excitations are provided by two variable-speed exciters on the main and secondary masses, respectively, a frictional wheel drive on the main mass for inducing self-excited vibrations, and ballistic pendulums capable of providing different impulses on both masses. [The tester was developed at Marquette University in 1962 under a Science Teaching Equipment grant from the National Science Foundation.]