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Re: WARNING !! (HYDROGEN GAPS)
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>
>Original Poster: "Paul Marshall" <klugmann-at-hotmail-dot-com>
>
>If anyone is using a DC current to power a coil beware. Direct current
>can turn your gap into a plasma torch (No Oxygen required).
>
I am not questioning Paul's post about the danger but thought the following
quote might be of interest: The reference is on the subject of the Poulsen
Arc Generator for the generation of "undamped oscillations".
Bucher, Elemer E. "Practical Wireless Telegraphy" Wireless Press 1921.
" It is found that enclosing the arc gap in an airtight chamber and feeding
it with hydrogen gas, alcoholic vapors, or even steam tends to increase the
potential difference as well as to prevent the arc blowing out. It has been
determined further that powerful electromagnets moun ted at right angle to
the arc, tend to increase the potential difference and, atr the same time,
cause the arc electrodes to burn more evenly. For continuous operation, and
to prevent overfheating, the containing chamber and the arc electrodes must
be cooled by water circulation." The potential differece being talked about
is that across the arc.
A friend who used the Paulson Arc Generator when it was new told me that it
"produced a nice musical note" when properly adjusted. The critical
adjustment was the rate of alcohol drip. The alcohol had to be "pure" grain
alcohol. The fundamental diagram contained in the reference is almost
exactly that of a Tesla coil exceping the power source is a 500 volt D.C.
generator. The positive arc (gap) terminal is copper and the negative one
is carbon. The only Paulson arc transmitter I ever saw was a small one with
the arc enclosed in a cast iron chamber the size of a bread box.
Ray