Helical wire springs have been used as one‐dimensional wave models. Sections having predetermined acoustic impedance contrasts can be wound, and then attached together. The springs are suspended horizontally. Means are described for introducing various forms of mechanical pulses into the model and for detecting and recording the resultant motion at any desired position along the model. Interfering modes of wave motion are minimized by proper design and uniform winding. Such a model has been used for experimental study of a number of plane wave propagation problems, including the verification of the formulas for the reflection and transmission of plane waves at vertical incidence, pulse propagation through a section of tapered acoustic impedance, the reflection of a pulse by a thin layer of relatively large acoustic impedance contrast, and the change in form of a pulse with time as it travels through a medium of low but finite absorption. It is concluded that the helical spring model can be used as an analog computer for many problems in plane wave propagation in applied seismology.