[Milsurplus] Night Vision and Signalling

[J. Forster]

Robert G. Flory wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Does anyone know anything about Navy infrared signalling devices of WWII era?

I don't have manuals, but you might try Fair Radio.

The snooperscope used a 1P25 and a Cassagrain optical system, with  primary
mirror of about 4" aperture with a hole in the middle and a secondary mirror
deposited on the front glass plate. I don't remember if the front glass plate
was a corrector (Schmidt) or not. The curved front face of the tube was matched
to the focal plane of the Cassegrain system.. The tube took about 4 kV, made
with a small vibrator, HV transformer, and tube rectifier. It was a wide angle,
surveillance instrument.

The sniperscope, a device for shooting in the dark,  came in an early version
that also used a 1P25 with a similar power supply, but one that was mounted
separate from the intensifier assembly. The sniperscope used objective lenses,
with an aperture of about 2" and included an IR illuminator composed of a bulb
and gold plated reflector with an IR filter. The whole thing ran off a 6 Volt
lead-acid battery. The illuminator was turned on by a push button on the
illuminator stock.

The later sniperscopes used a 6032 tube, which requires a special cold cathode
rectifier for the 20 KV DC supply. Otherwise, it was pretty similar to the
earlier one.

Hope this helps.

-John