Vibration monitoring system

Claim 1

In a system for use in analyzing vibratory motion imparted to a plurality of mutually remote structural elements of a vehicle, including a transducer for converting electrical signals indicative of motion imparted to said elements to perceptual intelligence, the improvement comprising: A. a plurality of motion detector units, each detector unit including, 1. means for coupling the detector in a substantially vertical orientation to one element of said plurality of elements, 2. an hermetically sealed housing having seated therein a substantially vertically oriented sleeve formed of nonferrous material and having an internal cavity of a tubular configuration, 3. an electrical conductor of a helical configuration disposed in a concentric, external relationship with said sleeve, 4. a permanent magnet disposed in said housing in juxtaposition with the cavity for establishing therewithin a magnetic field, and 5. a soft-iron core of a cylindrical configuration having a diameter substantially equal to that of the diameter of said cavity disposed within said field and supported for freefloating axial displacement relative to said conductor, whereby vertically directed components of vibratory motion imposed on said element impart linear displacement to said core for thus causing lines of induction of the magnetic field to be served and electrical signals to be generated within said conductor, said signals being indicative of the vibratory motion; B. electrical signal transmission means interPosed between said electrical conductor and said transducer for transmitting electrical signals generated in said electrical conductor to said transducer; and C. means for isolating signals received from each of said detector units.