[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: The "T" word



>>From lod-at-pacbell-dot-netSun Oct 13 22:03:11 1996
>Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 20:51:08 +0000
>From: GE Leyh <lod-at-pacbell-dot-net>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: The "T" word

>Hi All,

>I feel the need to show some support for Theory at this point,
>for all of those out there that see it as a diversion from 
>performing 'real work'.  
>
>Our modern civilization was designed by those brave souls whose 
>painstaking efforts to model the physical world has allowed us our 
>present degree of safety from the elements, comfort and convenience.
>Would you rather fly in a plane built by someone who 'feels'
>that the design is sound, or built by someone that can prove it?
>
>Tesla once spoke of Edison:
>"If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed
>at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw
>until he found the object of his search.  I was the sorry witness
>of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation 
>would have saved him ninety percent of his labor."
>
>I hope that no one tries to build that 1MW coil by trial and error!
>
>(end of rant)

>Thanks, GL

Greg,

Darn, I didn't want to share the news about my new _killer_ coil just 
yet, but...
Do you mean to caution me that that 20 foot long tube I made from six damp
industrial cardboard barrels and painstakingly wound with #36 AWG 
nichrome wire (friends helped put on the 15 miles of heatshrink as we 
wound it) might not work?  : (

Actually, I think Greg's statement here is a valid point, its practical 
value potentially recoverable in time and savings will probably really 
start to benefit as the size/power of the system approaches the 
20-25 kW range.   Even the cost to obtain a first class Pentium computer
and good CAD software is cheap insurance, and a lot cheaper than a 
major unforseen design flaw, if  spending $20K or more on hardware for a very
large coil system.  Equally important IMO is to study the efforts of 
several coilers of recent years in attempts to build that _killer_ 
coil system.  All of these large projects have shown some form of design
shortcomings from which their high power successors can learn.

Thank you Greg for your own meritorious pioneering contribution in this arena.
I commend you on your own fine project and an excellent paper documenting 
it.

rwstephens