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Re: Mercury Vacuum Rectifiers -- A History
From: William Noble[SMTP:William_B_Noble-at-classic.msn-dot-com]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 1997 4:27 AM
To: Tesla List
Subject: RE: Mercury Vacuum Rectifiers -- A History
does this imply that you could use a fluorescent tube ( a form of a mercury
arc lamp) as a HV rectifier??? if so, that could prove interesting. Or what
about one of those mercury vapor street lights??
[bill] snip
Steinmetz used brush generators to power his street lamps
with DC. Ever the electrical engineer and inventor, Steinmetz next
invented the mercury vapor lamp which he also powered with DC along
with his magnetite arc lamps and brush generator. A very strange thing
occured. Steinmetz found that when he used both the magnetite arc
lamps and mercury vapor lamps in series he could power them with
alternating current. Steinmetz had unwittingly invented the first
mercury vacuum rectifier.
RWW