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Re: Tesla Coil Operation - Myths

"Subject: 
            Re: Tesla Coil Operation - Myths
 Resent-Date: 
            Mon, 8 Feb 1999 14:00:16 -0700
Resent-From: 
            tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
       Date: 
            Mon, 08 Feb 1999 12:36:15 -0700
       From: 
            Tesla List <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
         To: 
            tesla-at-pupman-dot-com


Original Poster: Richard Hull <rhull-at-richmond.infi-dot-net> 

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"

	In the "good old days" of spark transmitters,  RF feedback into the
power line was known as "kickback", and it was very common to use a
capacitive filter across the line as a "kickback preventer".  This was a
rudimentary form of the filters many use today, and served the same
purpose. If you read the ham radio magazines of 1916 to 1921 vintage you
will find amusing (and probably true) articles mentioning fire in the
neighbors' house, or on the front porch, or something like that, when
the RF caused breakdown in the power line circuits, followed by an arc
as the line fed power into the ionized region.  Light bulb sockets are
often mentioned.  The peak powers guys were running in those days were
many megawatts, the frequencies were generally above 1 MHz, and the
antennas were usually efficient.  Lots of high-peak power RF radiated
and also conducted into the power lines. 

Ed