"From the 2-mc 7000A series of electron tube counters and timers, you can select the instrument to satisfy your requirements for measuring frequencies, periods, time intervals, ratios, or random events.

You can make any of these measurements with a Model 7360A Universal EPUT & Timer - without accessories. This instrument provides the high stability and accuracy demanded in the laboratory, and the simplicity of operation, ease of interpretation, and durability required for production-line work."

The 2-mc 7000A series provide high sensivity and flexible input control. Each model provides 4-line bcd outputs, which can be recorded by a Beckman Model 1453 Printer" (Beckman, Catalog, 1963)

BRIEF SPECS

"The Beckman EPUT Meter was developed over a decade ago to provide a rapid method for accurate frequency determination. The EPUT meter is a high speed electronic counter with a electronic gate and time base, permitting the meter to count cycles of the applied signal for a precise time." (Beckman, Catalog, 1963)

"In September 1945 W. K. Rosenberry started Berkeley Scientific in a modest basement in Berkeley. Rosenberry's shop developed and manufactured highly advanced, precision 'counters'. These were high-technology instruments for recording with exactitude numbers od 'events' as they occurred over time. ... Others [counters] could keep track of thirty thousand, even a hundred thousand, events per econd. ... Berkeley Scientific enjoyed a brisk demand for its counting machines, and by 1950 had built its own factory in Richmond, California. ... Arnold Beckman decided to acquire Berkeley Scintific in the middle of 1952." (Arnold O. Beckman, One Hundred Years of Excellence, CHF publication, 2000)

This counter is one of the last tube models in the Beckman catalog. The line was developed at Berkeley Scientific Corp. (BSC), where engineers devised an instrument that could count particles at rates of up to 40,000 per second to measure the quantities of neutrons or other atomic particles bombarding an atom. In 1951 Berkeley Scientific was aquired as a division of Beckman (after that named Beckman/Berkeley).

Sources are not clear wether the Beckman EPUT or Hewlett-Packard's hp 524A (launched around 1952) counter was the very first direct-displaying frequency meter. HP's first instrument for counting pulses was the 520A high speed decimal scaler which lacked any display. EPUT means 'event per unit-time' and was a mark of renown. The forerunner Model 7360 had a frequency range of up to 1 MHz. As an option the range was increased to 2 MHz. Maybe Beckman sets the 2 MHz as standard to keep sales up at end of life of the tube counters. The actual instrument is in restored condition. As often the resistive pots were worn out. I had to replace two of them. If the display counts erratic, check the line of pots which control the frequency divider chain first (see detail page - right of top view).