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Re: Believe it or not!



> Sounds like he knows exactly what he is doing and has been doing it far
> longer than any of us...  

> >I do share your concerns with amateurs trying this, but these guys are
> >not amateurs


The following is from Dean Ortner's biography...

"Dean usually takes the Million-Volt "ride" only once
a week as part of the four-part Sermons from Science
series. However, during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he
performed the spectacular demonstration 16 times in
15 days. On another occasion, while working with a
photographer to obtain some promotional photos, he
took the ride 20 times in one day. 

Only once has Dean suffered injury from the demonstration.
While testing a new coil, an undetected short-circuit caused
him to be thrown from the coil. The man at the controls, an
engineer who had helped design and build the coil,
instinctively knew what action to take. He instantly killed the
power, turning off the voltage before Dean touched anything
and grounded out, which would have been fatal. While Dean's
life was saved, he did suffer a broken wrist from being thrown
into a wall. 

At one program during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Dean
selected a gentleman to help operate the controls. On
command, the man turned the power on and watched as
the board Dean held burst into flames. When Dean yelled
the command, "Off," this man froze at the switch and the
power remained on. Another man, one very familiar with the
program, was sitting in the front row. After a few moments
realized the problem and started chanting "Turn it off, turn it
off!" Before long, the entire audience joined in, "Turn it off,
turn it off!" Eventually, the man at the controls released his
grip on the switch and the demonstration ended. 

Since that time, except on rare occasions, Dean uses three
people to handle the controls. For the power to come on, all
three must throw their switch in the proper sequence, and
any one of them can turn it off by releasing their controls. But,
not trusting humans, Dean has designed a computer back-up
to automatically shut down the charge if an unusually long time
elapses."



The computer back-up idea PROVES he's a pro...