Kearny fallout meter

[3] Prior to this, the use of the electrometer principle for radiation detection had seen widespread application in the form of the quartz fiber dosimeter.

[2] Commercially made radiation meters are typically based on electronic circuitry or require a battery-powered charging apparatus, allowing susceptibility to battery shortages and to electromagnetic pulse.

The Kearny fallout meter was designed to utilize static electricity, produced by (for example) a hard plastic rubbed on dry paper.

[2] The KFM was also designed to be less expensive to build than the purchase price of dosimeters and to be made out of commonly available materials, such that they could be constructed even after a disaster.

[2] Most commercial radiation meters also require initial and periodic professional calibration, but "... if a KFM is made and maintained with the specified dimensions and of the specified materials, its accuracy is automatically and permanently established by unchanging laws of nature".