sounding machine

American  

noun

Navigation.

1. any of various machines for taking and recording soundings.

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Etymology

Origin of sounding machine

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

These are carried out by Captain Sparrow and Mr. Wright the chief Congo pilot with the aid of a most ingenious sounding machine.

From A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State by Dorman, Marcus Roberts Phipps

Navigational sounding machine, 272 Newton, 195, 202 Nichol, John, Professor of English Language and Literature, 5 Nichol, John Pringle, Professor of Astronomy, 5, 20, 61, 63   Oersted, 61 Oscillations, electrical, 181 et seq.

From Lord Kelvin An account of his scientific life and work by Gray, Andrew

The sounding machine was kept running with rather dramatic results; depths jumping from five to thirty fathoms in the ship's length, and back again to the original figure in the same distance.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Mawson, Douglas, Sir

See that the patent log and sounding machine are in good order.

From Lectures in Navigation by Draper, Ernest Gallaudet

The depth recorded is that given by Massey's patent sounding machine.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John