Paper - Magnetic Methods - Theory of A. Schmidt’s Horizontal Field Balance (With Discussion)

Some 15 years ago, Dr. Adolf Schmidt, director of the Magnetic Observatory in Potsdam, Germany, developed an instrument, which was a modification of Lloyds balance, for the measurement of the vertical component of the earth's magnetism in the field. There was a keen demand for this because (1) it was desirable to have a field instrument that would measure the component of the earth's magnetism which stands in the closest and simplest relation to the configuration of the subterranean magnetic formations-the vertical component; (2) it was desirable to have an instrument that was not only more sensitive but also more reliable than the existing vertical magnetometers (the dip needle, for instance). The application of the magnetometer in oil geology demanded such an instrument, because the magnetic disturbances produced by most types of magnetic formations associated with the occurrence of oil (salt domes, faults, anticlines with crystalline core, etc.) are too small to be detected with the ordinary dip needle. The writer can prove, by some investigations recently made for the U. S. Bureau of Mines, that these instruments may be used also to very great advantage in mining, because they are capable of measuring anomalies which are as great as twice the normal strength of the earth's magnetic field. Even for such anomalies, the field balance is more advantageous than the dip needle. First, the instrument rests on a firm support and can be adjusted in the proper azimuth, which insures measurement of the vertical intensity only, without a part of the horizontal intensity, which is very important for the interpretation. The readings give the vertical intensity in linear terms and not as a function of an angle; and the field balance is insensitive to temperature when used with scale values that are adequate for the determination of large anomalies. In another phase of mining, the gold placer work, the field balance has also shown excellent results for which the dip needle is not adequate. What has been said about the dip needle holds also, though to a lesser extent, for two other types of vertical variometers recently used, the Tiberg balance and the Thomson-Thalen magnetometer.