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Re: Old Inventions
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 10:46:43 -0300
From: NTesla <ntesla-at-ntesla.csd.sc.edu>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Old Inventions
>Tesla List wrote:
>Yes it does sound like an induction coil, but it's not open cored. The
>originator specifically said that the core was a bundle of soft iron
>rods. This is common practice for induction coils in a "kicker" setup.
>The fact that it has two windings definitely makes it a transformer in
>the traditional sense (although the magnetic eddies must be horrendous)
>and the label is probably telling the truth.
When I first started researching Tesla-coils, I didn't know the terminology
well enough to know what an induction coil was. I just got the Periodical
Reader's Guide at the local university library, and starting at 1900,
looked up every article I could find with keywords "coil", "transformer",
"induction", etc. Consequently, I ended up with all kinds of plans for all
kinds of things, including induction coils. The coils described above are
exactly what one would have ended up with, had one followed any of the many
plans published over the years.
Iron wires were used to reduce the eddy currents, as ferrite, iron-powder,
and silicon-steel laminates had not yet been developed. Each core-wire was
usually
hand-sanded, boiled in water, dried, and coated with shellac. Then the
primary was wound on, and then the secondary over that. Winding with
single, continuous layers, one over the other, was found to be inefficient,
and secondaries for these types of induction coils were later made of wire
pancakes, all connected in series across the body of the coil.
As I did more and more research, and as I learned how to use the library, I
realized that I was on the university campus, navigating the university
library, and learning with great success. I went on to register with the
university, (a social-jump of incomparable magnitude, given my ummmm...
history and economic background ;) and over the years gained both a BA and
a M.Ed.,
*ONLY* because I became so interested in Tesla-coils that I was determined
to go to the university library and find out more. (The public library
didn't have the periodicals back that far.)
I really like seeing things in real-life that I've only read about on
paper. If I had seen those coils, I probably would have bought them all. A
sort of validation, I guess. :)
Dan