On this day in 1928, the fathometer was patented by Herbert Grove Dorsey. The fathometer is an active sonar instrument used for navigation and safety to determine the depth of water. The fathom is a unit of water depth, which is where the instrument gets its name. The fathometer is an echo sounding system for measurement of water depth. A fathometer will display water depth and can make an automatic permanent record of measurements. When being operated, an electrical impulse from a transmitter is converted into a sound wave by an underwater transducer called a hydrophone which is then sent into the water. When the sound wave hits an object, i.e. the bottom of the ocean, it bounces back and records how many fathoms deep the water is.
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