Metal Detector Resource - Metal Detectors

Fisher Detector

The Fisher name is very well known among the metal detector crowd. Dr.Gerhard Fisher began his career as a research engineer in the 1920's in Los Angeles.Ca..His work was with Radio Detection Finders and Dr.Fisher obtained the first patent ever issued for such a device. His work attracted the attention of the likes of Dr. Albert Einstein.

During the 1930's Dr Fisher was hired by the U.S. Navy to install a radio direction finder aboard the USS Macon, a Navy Dirigible. It was at this time that while aboard the Dirigible he noticed that large metal structures and mineralized mountains cancelled out the capabilities of the instrument. This condition led him to invent the very first metal detector.

Dr.Fisher went on to found Fisher Research Laboratory in 1931. He worked behind his home in a garage like many inventors have done. He and four employees began producing the " Metallascope", a very rugged and easy to use metal detector.

In 1936 sales of the Metallascope were increasing so much here and abroad that Dr.Fisher had to move from his garage to a small building in Palo Alto,Ca.. Shortly after this Dr.Fisher received a patent for the Metallascope. The Metallascope was soon nicknamed the M-Scope and was accepted as a standard for all types of electronic metal detection.

In 1939 Dr.Fisher moved to another larger building just before WWII. During WWII and the Korean conflict the country called upon Dr.Fisher and FRL to contribute it's considerable technical expertise to the war effort.

With the increasing popularity of the M-Scope, and with the patent rights expiring, numerous competitors began their own companies to compete for their market share of this business. But Dr.Fisher maintained the companies position in the market as a forward moving and progressive company. Fisher also kept close ties to his loyal users and listened to their vast field experience to help design new models to keep the company in the top position.

In 1967 Dr.Fisher retired only after having firmly established his name in the annals of electronic history. The company continued to grow and in 1974 moved to Los Banos,Ca.. During the following years the company continued to grow by leaps and bounds,producing detecting instruments for the hobby, industrial, and security fields.

In 1990 Fisher built a modern and spacious building to continue it's growth and manufacturing fine instruments for their customers. Fisher was just recently purchased by First Texas of El Paso. Even though Dr.Fisher is gone now, First Texas is carrying on the Fisher tradition of constantly upgrading the product and introducing new models. They are providing high performance instruments and meeting the demands of their loyal customers even today. Always listening to those that prefer Fisher for their treasure hunting needs and building on the experience of these treasure hunters. You can be sure that the Fisher name and tradition still lives on today.