A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs (tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal. It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone once the high overtones fade out. A tuning fork's pitch depends on the length and mass of the two prongs. They are traditional sources of standard pitch for tuning musical instruments.
Tuning fork by John Walker stamped with note (E) and frequency in hertz (659)
Quartz crystal resonator from a modern quartz watch, formed in the shape of a tuning fork. It vibrates at 32,768 Hz, in the ultrasonic range.
A Bulova Accutron watch from the 1960s, which uses a steel tuning fork (visible in center) vibrating at 360 Hz.
1 kHz tuning fork vacuum tube oscillator used by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) in 1927 as a frequency standard.
A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses a piezoelectric crystal as a frequency-selective element. The oscillator frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock signal for digital integrated circuits, and to stabilize frequencies for radio transmitters and receivers. The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is a quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them became known as crystal oscillators. However, other piezoelectricity materials including polycrystalline ceramics are used in similar circuits.
A miniature 16 MHz quartz crystal enclosed in a hermetically sealed HC-49/S package, used as the resonator in a crystal oscillator.
Quartz crystal resonator (left) and quartz crystal oscillator (right)
100 kHz crystal oscillators at the US National Bureau of Standards that served as the frequency standard for the United States in 1929
Very early Bell Labs crystals from Vectron International Collection