Re: Drain Bamage - Not a mercury interrupter!

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Charles Brush by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <cfbrush-at-interport-dot-net>

>Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
>
>To follow up...
>
>This is Tesla's 50 horsepower 100,000 BPS mercury interrupter at Wardenclyffe.
>
>http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/inter.jpg
>
>I don't think OSHA would approve :-(( 
>
>Like what do you do?  Pour a fifty gallon drum of mercury into it, spin it
>up to speed, and start arcing 37000 watts in it...
>
>I don't know the internal working of this thing but it looks like a mercury
>vapor nightmare...  Or maybe a "happy
>  dream" after you have been near it too long...
>
>Cheers,
>
>	Terry



Terry,

Aha...I recognize that photo.  It was in Cheney's most recent book 
and was completely misidentified.  Many of her technical details are 
way off,  though her books are fun to read and the photos in the most 
recent are fascinating!  That is a direct coupled generating set, NOT 
Tesla's mercury interrupter.  It was a common design.  You can even 
see the tags on the steam engine and generator if you look closely, 
and I'll bet it's a Westinghouse unit.  That white insulated pipe 
coming down from the ceiling is the steam line feeding the engine 
which comprises the entire right half of the unit.  There are two big 
flywheels on either side of the steam engine, and the shaft is 
directly coupled to a large generator on the left.   That little set 
may be a 30kW++ unit and have been the main power source for 
Wardenclyffe.  No doubt Tesla ultimately had larger things in mind, 
but It is definitely not a mercury interrupter.

I just put a scan of a similar design up on my web site so anyone 
interested can see how these work.  This particular type predates the 
Wardenclyffe photo by about ten years, however aside from the older 
style generator, the design is almost exactly the same:

http://www.voltnet-dot-com/tesla/temp/directcoupled.JPG

I think there are some actual photos of Tesla's mercury interrupter 
floating around someplace, or you can go to the patents to see what 
it looked like.  What I find even more interesting about that 
particular photo you posted is where the spiral staircase goes.  It 
would be great if someday an archaeological dig could be done around 
the Wardenclyffe lab.   I'd love to know how deep Tesla really went 
with his ground system, how the lab was coupled to the tower, etc. 
etc.

Zap!

Charles Brush
http://www.VoltNet-dot-com