reverb springs torsional vs longitudinal

[Bissell, Harry]

The original Reverb Spring (Hammond) was a torsional device, very complex
and had to hang vertically. Most units today are longitudinal.

ALSO: (quote)  O.C. Electronics: This is a PREMIER reverberation
device...maunfactured by BEAUTIFUL Girls in Milton, Wisconsin, under
controlled atmosphere conditions. 
(I actually still have one around.) Got to admire a company like that ;-)
Harry 


> At 11:07 PM 23/02/99 EST, JWBarlow wrote:
> >
> 
> >It is easy to imagine how the waves travel through the spring (in the
> ideal
> >case) if you think of one side of the spring as having a speaker element
> which
> >forces the spring back and forth (in a longitudinal manner) at the same
> freq.
> >as the input signal. A small section of the spring will be compressed or
> >expanded, and will "travel" towards the other side of the spring, when it
> >comes to the end of the spring, it will travel back towards the driver
> element
> >(see any good physics book on longitudinal waves). 
> 
> .....I have the feeling (but cant put my hand on actual evidence at the
> moment) 
> that torsional waves, not longitudional waves, are used because:
> 
> 1. they are much slower
> 
> 2. they are less likely to be spuriously injected by knocks & bangs.
> 
> I once saw a 6inch steel wire loop with torsional input & output used as 
> circulating memory in one of the first 'electronic' calculators (?1967?)
> 
> paul perry Frostwave analog fx melbourne australia