Signal dispersion system

Claim 1

AN ULTRASONIC WAVE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM COMPRISING AN ULTRASONIC PROPAGATION MEDIUM HAVING A PAIR OF OPPOSITE FACES HAVING DIFFERING DISTANCES BETWEEN DIFFERENT OPPOSITE POINTS THEREON, TRANSDUCER MEANS UPON ONE OF SAID FACES FOR CONVERTING A MULTIFREQUENCY ELECTRICAL SIGNAL INTO ULTRASONIC ENERGY HAVING A WAVEFRONT EXTENDING ALONG THE LENGTH OF SAID FACE, SAID LAST-NAMED TRANSDUCER MEANS HAVING A DIMENSION ALONG SAID FACE WHICH IS LARGE ENOUGH COMPARED TO SAID DIFFERING DISTANCE SO THAT SAID WAVEFRONT APPROACHES AN ESSENTIALLY PLANE WAVEFRONT ALONG SAID FACE, AND TRANSDUCER MEANS UPON THE OTHER OF SAID FACES FOR CONVERTING EACH COMPONENT FREQUENCY OF SAID MULTIFREQUENCY ULTRASONIC ENERGY INTO AN ELECTRICAL SIGNAL IN A UNIQUE PORTION OF THE LENGTH OF SAID FACE SO THAT ALL COMPONENTS OF SAID MULTIFREQUENCY ULTRASONIC ENERGY ARE CONVERTED INTO ELECTRICAL SIGNALS IN PORTIONS DISTRIBUTED ON THE BASIS OF FREQUENCY ALONG THE LENGTH OF SAID FACE, SAID TRANSDUCER COMPRISING A MEMBER OF PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIAL AND AN ARRAY OF ELECTRODES LOCATED UPON AT LEAST ONE FACE OF SAID MEMBER, THE INDIVIDUAL ELECTRODES OF SAID ARRAY HAVING A CENTER TO CENTER SPACING BETWEEN ADJACENT ONES THEREOF IN EACH OF SAID PORTIONS THAT IS SUBSTANTIALLY 360 DEGREES OF THE PHASE OF SAID ULTRASONIC ENERGY AT THE FREQUENCY TO BE CONVERTED IN SAID PORTION.