Seismographs

Figure 1. Seismographs are designed so that slight earth vibrations move the instruments; the suspended mass (M), however, tends to remain at rest, and its recording stylus records this difference in motion. The horizontal seismograph shown here moves only in the horizontal plane. Vertical seismographs, like the simple one shown here, use a "soft" link between the earth-anchored instrument and the suspended mass. In this design, the mass hangs from a spring, which absorbs some of the motion and causes the mass to lag behind actual motion.