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BIGCOIL.GIF



 * Originally By: Richard Quick
 * Originally To: Tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com
 * Originally Re: BIGCOIL.GIF
 * Original Area: UUCPE-Mail
 * Forwarded by : Blue Wave v2.12


 CA> Subject: Another gif file for your enjoyment

 CA> The file "BIGCOIL.GIF" (76387 bytes long) is... a 
 CA> 1.5MV Tesla coil, which seems somewhat "low" to me.

For those who are interested, I have some specific information on
the coil pictured in the BIGCOIL.GIF. This particular coil is
unmistakable and I immediately recognized it.

This coil was constructed by Greg Leyh in California. In the
early 1990's this was the largest Tesla coil in the U.S., and
possibly the world. For years this coil was stored at the old 
Phoenix Iron Works in San Francisco, and this particular photo
was taken sometime after April 10, 1993, when the new toriod was
installed.

The secondary coil is wound on an open wooden form. The coil form
construction is that of a polygon, not a true circle. The secon-
dary is four feet in diameter, twelve feet high, and space wound
with No. 8 AWG insulated stranded wire. 

The toriod discharge terminal is 65 inches in diameter by 24
inches thick.

The rotary spark gap is spun by a one-horsepower motor with a top
speed of 5000 rpm. The rotor electrodes are 1/2-inch copper slugs
cut from switch station buss bars and riveted to a one foot
diameter steel disk. The rotor electrodes move past two 1/2-inch
thick fixed electrodes of tungsten.

The primary coil made of 5 inch wide by 3/8 inch thick electro-
lytic copper bar wound into a coil of 2-1/2 turns. This system
has a total of fourteen commercial pulse discharge capacitors
which are wired in parallel with the same copper bar as used in
the primary.

This coil is capable of strikes 20 feet in length. I believe that
the rating given (1.5 mV) for this coil is in error as someone
placed a decimal that does not belong here. This is a 15 mV coil.

Richard Quick


... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
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