Re: Early versions of Tesla's coil

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

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Matt,

"I" always think of a "Tesla coil" as an "air core resonant transformer 
capable of creating enormous voltages and colossal discharges" as defined 
in the clip at:

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/tesla%20coil.mpg

It is very possible Tesla himself designed and maybe constructed vacuum 
tube Tesla coils.  The basic principle behind the OLTC (low voltage - high 
current) must have certainly been considered by Tesla.  But he did not have 
the means to make it work, so he went with high voltage and low current 
primaries instead.  Solid State coils work much as Tesla envisioned but 
only with a different gap technology.

We also attribute Tesla's name to our coils just out of respect and to 
promote his great name.  When you hear the name of "Tesla", few will think 
of the unit of magnetic measurement named after him.  "Gauss" won that 
(rightfully so, since his staggering brilliance had a giant impact on the 
world too...)  There is the band...  But mention "Tesla coil" and everyone 
knows who your talking about ;-))  Recently, Tesla has gained far more note 
for AC power among the "population" too ;-))  But Tesla coils are all 
Tesla's...  No one can claim anything there but the master himself.  We 
also have "Tesla coil caps", "Tesla coil transformers", Tesla coil spark 
gaps"...  Type "tesla coil" into E-bay and you will find the term is 
getting a lot of wannabes "wishing" they had something to do with Tesla 
coils  :o)))  So the term "Tesla coil" has grown far beyond a mere 
definition now.  Not sure "what" it is now.  Maybe Ralph knows the proper 
term...

Cheers,

         Terry


At 10:14 PM 7/7/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>    Philosophical question:
>
>        Was it possible for Nikola Tesla to design and build any coil that 
> wasn't by definition a type of "Tesla Coil" ? Seems that his coils of 
> this type would have a better claim on the name "Tesla coil" than an 
> OLTC, VTTC or SSTC, none of which he ever designed or built.
>
>I think I need a life!
>Matt D.