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Re: Tesla Coil Operation - Myths
Charles Brush is absolutely correct, and the key thing is that the
generators which Tesla supposedly overloaded were never overload by Tesla or
his coil. They burned themselves up!!! Tesla was not straining them at
all! He merely sent transients into them which arced over the insulation
inside and this caused the internal armature wires to short. From here on,
the generators destroyed themselves.
Tesla's coil was the causitive agent, but not by asking for more power than
the Colorado Springs power station could supply. In theory, a 1KW coil could
have brought the whole system down if operated nearer the power station.
Power stations of that era were designed for one thing.......Lighting only!
Tesla had also added induction motors to the list. There were no RF worries
on the power lines beyond lightning damage.
Richard Hull, TCBOR
Tesla List wrote:
> Original Poster: Charles Brush <cfbrush-at-interport-dot-net>
>
> >But according to everything I've read, his spark at the Springs began to
> >grow exponentially with the standing waves to the 135' mark before it
> >blew the generators. Hardly sounds like a milliwatt of energy here...
> >
> >Bob V
>
> There are plenty of references to 135' sparks made by people other than
> Tesla, however I have never seen any mention of sparks anywhere near that
> long in Tesla's own Colorado Springs notes. There are so many crazy myths
> about Tesla that it really helps to read his own writings. You might also
> check out Richard Hull's excellent analysis of the Colorado Springs notes
> where he specifically deals with some of these technical issues. Tesla's
> Colorado Springs magnifier was just not capable of arcs that long. That
> said, Tesla did get some very impressive arcs, however he pulled a lot of
> power to do so.
>
> As far as blowing the generator goes, that is not particularly surprising
> since his system was sending masses of HV RF back down the line to the
> generators. I don't have the notes right here, but I believe he was
> experimenting pulling arcs from his transmission line to ground when this
> happened (someone fee free to correct me). That's guaranteed to create
> some major transients. Anyone who has run a Tesla coil knows that even a
> small one can send some nasty HV RF junk into nearbye wiring. Mine blew a
> pole pig last year, and I have seen light switches internally arc and
> explode in the vicinity of Tesla coils. You can imagine what one the size
> of Tesla's at Colorado Springs could do.
>
> Zap!
>
> Charles Brush
> http://www.foundrygroup-dot-com/cbrush/fun