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Re: 100 meter sparks (picture of GE machines!)
From: Jim Lux[SMTP:jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net]
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 1997 9:31 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: 100 meter sparks (picture of GE machines!)
> At first I thought it was a Marx bank as well, but the staggered height
> of the cylinders would seem to suggest otherwise. The absence of the
> obligatory series Marx bank spark gaps is yet another clue.
> Could it be a 120Hz rep rate Marx bank, with the gaps inside the
> cylinders?
We're off the subject of tesla a bit, but,...
Staggered arrangements are very popular if you distribute the marx caps in
more than 2 columns. Imagine if you stacked up 20 stages, each 6 feet
high, you would have a stack 120 feet high, which is excessive. Instead,
stack in 2 columns for 60 feet, or 4 columns for 30 feet. Craggs and Meek
have many examples of such systems.
The spark gaps are in the center of the 4 columns. It is probably a system
where they have a rotating insulating rod going up the center of the stack
making an array of DPDT switches to change from parallel to series. Or,
they use the rotation to adjust the gap to change the trigger point.
It doesn't look like a 120 Hz rep rate unit, because the charging
transformer isn't big enough.