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Re: High Voltage Question



Original poster: "Bert Hickman by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-net>

William and all,

In the 1930's, GE represented THE state of the art in HV testing. Some of
the equipment they used for HV testing was exhibited in GE's Steinmetz Hall
at the 1939 World's Fair. 

Following is a link to an image of a 1 million volt power arc from a
cascade of three HV transformers. This is from GE's Steinmetz Hall, part of
their exhibit at the Fair. 
Are these transformers similar to the ones you saw?
http://www.aquila-dot-net/bert.hickman/photos/1mevarc.jpg

This next image provides a better view of two of these transformers, and
also shows a 10 million volt discharge from the huge bipolar Marx generator
(+5 MV to -5 MV). 
http://www.aquila-dot-net/bert.hickman/photos/impulse.jpg

The last image shows all three of HV transformers and Marx Generators. 
http://www.aquila-dot-net/bert.hickman/photos/steinmtz.jpg

These images were scanned from early issues of General Electric Review by
Dave Farkas, a fellow HV enthusiast and Marx Generator builder from the San
Francisco Bay area. More details on GE's HV lab can be gleaned from K. B.
McEachron's book, "Playing With Lightning", Random House, 1940, available
on the used book market.

These guys really knew how to play... :^)

-- Bert --
-- 
Bert Hickman
Stoneridge Engineering
Email:    bert.hickman-at-aquila-dot-net
Web Site: http://www.teslamania-dot-com

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "William R. Langston by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <blangsto-at-iwvisp-dot-com>
> 
> Hello Everyone,
> 
> One of my uncles was a VP for General Electric in New York state. By his
> good offices, years
> ago, I visited the GE HV Lab in Schenectady, NY. Along with two very, very
> big cap/diode/gap
> stacks, sat on opposite ends of a very large lab -- for destructive testing
> of transformers,
> breakers, etc.; anyway, along with the stacks was a million-volt+, 60 Hz,
> 3-toroid transformer
> stack. Very impressive to a teen (It helped me decide on physics and
> electronics for my
> vocation). Very impressive sound it made too, both arcs and 60 Hz ('cycles'
> back then ;-) hum.
> 
> My point is that if one is willing to do the work and spend the cash...
> 
> Have a great evening all,
> Bill Langston
> 
> Tesla list wrote:
> 
> > Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>
> >
> > Tesla list wrote:
> > >
> > > Original poster: "S & J Young by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
> > <youngs-at-konnections-dot-net>
> > >
> > > Hi Irrelative (please use a real name on this list),
> > >
> > > Cal Tech used to have a high voltage lab which had a million volt power
> > > transformer.  I witnessed the lab technicians draw amazing arcs which
would
> > > flash over at about 3 feet and could be drawn out to over 20 feet!
> There is
> > > no voltage limit in theory, just the practical limits of breakdown of
> > > insulation.  One could cascade a few transformers for several million
volts
> > > if one had an almost unlimited budget
> > > --Steve
> >
> >         When I went to Caltech (1948) the Kellog High Voltage lab did
indeed
> > use a cascade of transformers to get HV AC.  By having the primary of
> > each transformer connected across a tap on the preceding one the problem
> > of primary-secondary voltage breakdown is essentially eliminated.  The
> > building is still there but suspect it is being used for something else
> > since power engineering isn't of much interest there these days.
> >
> > Ed