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RE: [TCML] kVA Effects on History Channel
Dave,
There were many wording issues going back and forth during the filming of that segment. Many times, what needed to be said and
what was requested to be said didn't always coincide. It was more a matter to get a point across quickly and easily for a somewhat ignorant public.
(The lamp discussions were part of over 8 hours of filming here at the house...the whole day lasted from 8am to 9:30pm...unaired scenes included medical quackery pushing Tesla's name, surgical diathermy and antique/modern high frequency X-Rays, constructing an 1890s Tesla Coil, etc)
The Stopper lamp was a real interest to show, because it is one of the few physical items that remain of the "battle of the currents".
The need for the lamp was a huge issue for both Westinghouse and Tesla - who were faced with lighting an exposition at
a bid virtually to low to conceive. (I believe I read that their bid was around $5.25 a light a lamp, while most bids were nearly $15)
This led to many issues - the two most important were how to produce such a cheap lamp and how to produce one that didn't interfere
with Edison's patents. People had only been trying to do this the last 20 years and they had less than 6 months!
Westinghouse, Tesla, and their team of engineers had to find a solution. It didn't fall on anyone alone, the stakes were huge, and more than likely was a collective
effort of many people. The Sawyer-Mann lamp was an earlier stopper lamp (several Stopper lamp designs existed) but to my knowledge the lamp was built
by Westinghouse by their design in a special factory in Alleghany, Pittsburgh. At the price of their bid, platinum couldn't be used, nor any other expensive material.
Iron wires were used and carbon filaments. The seal was glass to glass, and a rubber-like stopper was used to pass through the iron lead-in wires. No expensive (or time consuming)
vacuum pumps, metal to glass seals, elaborate filament processes, etc...as cheap and simple as possible to light the expossition and that's it.
The bulbs were successful for the event, but a real challenge too in how impractical they were. The bulbs were exhausted and (I believe) back-filled with nitrogen. The seals didn't last long,
meaning the bulbs had to be replaced often...continuously in fact!. The bulbs remain synonymous today with Westinghouse and Tesla's AC system.
Today Stopper lamps (of any kind) are a real rarity. They sell for around $1500 each, and the sockets can sell for the same or higher. There were also adaptors for Edison-base lamps/etc -
also very expensive and equally rare.There is one particular Stopper lamp I was given a photo of that was original to the factory. It stood about a foot tall, and was purchased in a private sale for over $15,000!!!!
Mine was a gift from a friend, and remains one of the most prized possessions here. Its amazing, that with all of Tesla's historical acheivements, some of the only physical remains (historically) to obtain from them are Stopper lamps and Speedometers...and the odd original lecture or autograph.
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 03:05:45 -0700> Subject: Re: [TCML] kVA Effects on History Channel> From: davep@xxxxxxxx> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> CC: > > > Is the DVD that they have the same episode that was watched by the group?> Probably. The only ones who know fersure are History Channel:> www.history.com> > > I missed the first show and the second one never happened.> > Does anyone know if it will be re-broadcast?> Almost certainly, but perhaps not for 'months'.> Casual glance around web site shows: not in the next few weeks.> That site, and others, allow setting searches on upcoming> shows. An inquiry at history.com MIGHT be useful. Or not,> given the scheduling vagaries already exhibited.> > (Some of the 'History' was real iffy. A notable, if trivial,> example was the 'Tesla' lamps 'invented' for the Columbian> Exposition. These were invented by "Sawyer-Mann" and used> only to sidestep Edison's patents. cf: Wizard, by> Marc Seifer, p 119, for one. I don't propose to pick the> rest of Mad Electricity apart: suffice it to say the> probable version can be pieced together...)> > best> dwp> > > _______________________________________________> Tesla mailing list> Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
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