Sweep-synchronized positionable trigger and supplementary components

This report describes the Sweep-Synchronized Positionable Trigger, together with its functions and supplementary components, as designed and built for use with the Precision Graphic Recorder (PGR) at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The positionable trigger provides a means for plotting a variable on the PGR record as a function of time, for triggering equipment such as oscilloscopes at any time, for displaying ship's heading, and for supplying, semi-automatically, ocean depth to a ship- board computer.The Office of Naval Research under Contract Nonr- 40 29(00

A new species of Phyllophaga Harris from the island of Navassa in the Caribbean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae)

The small Caribbean island of Navassa (U.S. possession) is unoccupied by humans, but recent surveys have detected a surprising number of endemic (precinctive) invertebrates. A new species of May beetle, Phyllophaga navassa, is here described and compared to the Hispaniolan Phyllophaga fauna

New evidence on state banking before the Civil War

Prior to the Civil War there were three major differences among states in how U.S. banks were regulated: (1) Whether they were established by charter or under free-banking laws. (2) Whether they were permitted to branch. (3) Whether the state established a state-owned bank. I use a census of the state banks that existed in the United States prior to the Civil War that I recently constructed to determine how these differences in state regulation affected the banking outcomes in these states. Specifically, I determine differences in banks per capita by state over time; bank longevities (survival rates) by state, size, and type of organization; and bank failure probabilities also by state, size, and type of organization. In addition, I estimate the losses experienced by note holders and determine whether there were systematic differences in these depending on whether or not a bank was organized under a free banking law.Banking law - United States ; Banks and banking

Interbank payments relationships in the antebellum United States: evidence from Pennsylvania

This article investigates U.S. interbank relationships before the Civil War using previously unknown data for Pennsylvania banks from 1851 to 1859 that disaggregate the amounts due from other banks by debtor bank. It finds that country banks, banks outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, dealt almost exclusively with financial center banks. Most had a large, highly stable relationship with a single correspondent bank. The location of a country bank's correspondent was consistent with trade patterns, particularly railroad and canal linkages. Philadelphia banks, in contrast, did not establish correspondent-type banking relationships. Further, Philadelphia's correspondent banking market was not highly concentrated, and entry was easy.Banks and banking

Were U.S. state banknotes priced as securities?

This study examines the pricing of U.S. state banknotes before 1860 using data on the discounts on these notes as quoted in banknote reporters in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. The study attempts to determine whether these banknotes were priced consistent with their expected net redemption value - that is, as securities are. It finds that they are not. A bank's notes did have higher prices when the bank was redeeming its notes for specie than when it was not, and banknote prices generally reflected the distances necessary to travel in order to redeem the notes, with larger discounts generally required for longer distances. However, those relationships were not tight, and persistent asymmetries existed between locations.Banks and banking ; Bank notes