How about this elevator controller. That's a 40HP motor I'm leaning on, with open cable sheaves, etc. Notice the dates on the control drawing.
Posted on 01/24/2005 1:13:36 PM PST by hsmomx3
Westinghouse? Or perhaps I-T-E.
That pic in #39 looks like some of the switch gear in the old boilerhouse I used to work in.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
SCREWDRIVER ALERT!
Do the Tesla coils use a single, constant source of alternating current?You could get one to 'light off' with a couple car batterys, if you wound the primary with heavier wire (literally, copper strapping) ... drag one of the battery contacts repeatedly across a jagged 'contact' (to allow the built-up magnetic field to collapse) and you'd be set ...
The *secret* here is: e = L * di/dt with the secondary resonant (literally: a tuned RF circuit).
Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, but give him a case of dynamite and soon the village will be showered with mud and seaweed and unidentifiable chunks of fish.
It's Frank Adams gear. That piece has been installed and engergized since 1924.
A company I used to work for had a small piece like this displayed in the lobby. I'd been hoping to find some still in operation someplace. A project I'm involved in now has this one in place, but wants to keep it for their own display after the entire building is rewired. RATS, I wanted it.
It was surn near PE alert. Shortly after I took that picture, an access panel on a piece of hardware "crashed" open. I about had a heart attack at that instant.
The neon transformer I used is powered by standard 115 VAC, 60 Hz line current. The output was 15,000 VAC. That transformer is lethal by itself. It will generate a nice "Jacob's ladder" with a couple pieces of stiff 12 gauge wire on the output terminals.
You can build a safer Tesla coil than the one I built or the large economy size done by RadioAstronomer. There is a book titled Electronic Gadgets for the Evil Genius that includes project plans, parts lists and approximate costs. I bought a copy of the book to play with the anti-gravity lifters. The book projects are easily implemented by any electronics hobbyist. You might have to place a mail or internet order to get some of the odd parts.
One of the Tesla coil projects runs off the 115 VAC line and produces a 250,000 volts. It can produce a 12 inch spark. The Tesla coil operates at a frequency around 500 KHz for this model. Nominal cost is $100. The driving transformer product 6500 volts at 23 milliamps. About 1/3 of the voltage of my neon transformer and much lower amperage.
If you have more $$$ to spend, there is a Tesla coil project in the book that will generate a 30 inch arc. Duty cycle is limited to about 10 seconds on. It produces substantial amounts of ozone. The project plans warn that a Faraday cage may be required for safe operation.
I assume you have seen what happens when you give several cases of dynamite to the Oregeon DOT along with on large dead whale ?
It appeared to me, from one of the theory websites, Tesla coils use capacitors to create a secondary, phase-shifted AC source. It looked like there was an interference pattern that causes the effect.
Is this correct?
Neighbors thought UFOs had landed.
What did the FCC think?
I think you might mean Dale Carnegie.
PICTURES ! We need PICTURES !!!
My guess is a lack of the rule of law. Corruption is pretty much a way of life in Mexico and very few are willing to invest in a system where laws can be bypassed for a few pesos slipped to the right politician/LEO.
There's still a lot of F A gear in use. They made good stuff.
The oldest gear I have seen is the Main Electrical Board on the USS Texas battleship in Houston. Built in 1911 by the J B Cutter Electric Co. of Phila. PA, the predecessor entity that became the ITE Circuit Breaker Company, then ITE Imperial, then Gould ITE, Gould, Gould Brown-Boveri, BBC Brown Boveri and is now part of the ABB Group.
The oldest switchgear and breakers I have worked on were made in 1929, ITE type LX 600A 600V 3 Pole. They're quite interesting. Built on slate, "hot-front" (meaning that all metal parts were energized), pull-down operator, carbon block arcing assemblies. Main contacts made of copper leaves, main contact pressure adjusted by removing or adding leaves. Some are the elevator feeders at a downtown building in Minneapolis, two were still in use at Ameren UE's Bagnel Dam in the Ozarks.
Sometime around 1920 the Reverse Current Trip devices were no longer supplied on one or two legs as the Power System became more reliable, but prior to that time, you got both overcurrent and reverse current protection on polyphase breakers.
I'll keep you in mind when I upgrade Goodyear in Lincoln. They have a 2300V and 480V combined control board. If my outfit gets the contract, I'll have to dismantle it. It's the original Westinghouse.
Many moons ago Northern States Power hauled all of the slate panels from the St. Anthony Falls Dam powerhouse to the dump and tortured me for weeks before telling me the truth. It was a treasure trove of pre-1920 Electrical Control technology.
The stuff is still out there, I see it every now and again.
How about this elevator controller. That's a 40HP motor I'm leaning on, with open cable sheaves, etc. Notice the dates on the control drawing.
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