Help please - info on big CDE pulse caps?

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: FIFTYGUY@xxxxxxx 

Folks-

    I sent this e-mail to the Geek Group first, but haven't gotten any 
response. So I'm gonna try here:

    I've got access to a dozen good-sized pulse caps made by CDE. I would 
like more specifications on them. Cornell-Dubilier has been a great sponsor 
for Coilers, and hopefully the other people on this list with long-time 
relations with the major cap manufacturers can help me out.
    Well, here's all the info I have on these particular caps. I was told 
by the surplus dealer who acquired them a few years back that the story 
*he* got was they came from the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line system. 
FYI, this was a long-range radar system the US set up in 1952-54 in several 
remote northern sites in Canada and Greenland to detect a pre-emptive 
bomber or missile strike by the Soviet Union over the North Pole. Western 
Electric received a $500 million contract for the system (in 1952 dollars!) 
which had something like 60 different sites. The DEW Line was dismantled 
after the end of the Cold War in the '90's, which was when the caps showed 
up as surplus (along with a van-sized transmitter which he declined!).
    These particular caps certainly had some military application, and 
some have tags printed with a military form ("DD FORM 1574, 1 OCT 66"). 
What I would like to know is how suitable these particular caps might be 
for Tesla Coil primary tank use, or just for energy-discharge 
(quarter-shrinker/exploding wire, or Marx Generator) use. Specs like ESR, 
repetitive pulse rating, voltage reversal, peak current, etc. would of 
course be nice. :)
    The caps themselves are a reasonable 9" wide by 12" deep by 25" tall, 
with a single 16" tall by 5" diameter insulator on top of that. Kinda 
heavy. Connection is via the terminal on top of the insulator and by the 
case of the caps themselves (mounting flanges on the bottom and "ears" on 
the sides of the case).
    Ink on the sides reads:
    "CORNELL DUBILIER ELECTRONICS
    TKB 165
    .15 MFD 120KVDC
    50[degree]C MAX OPERATING
    SERIAL NO. 109
    MANUFACTURED FOR RCA SERVICE COMPANY
    CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, PER CEMCO
    SPECIFICATION NUMBER 3079B
    MODIFIED PER G-41839002-J31 DATED 17 JUL 1964"

    Another, although inked "SERIAL NO. 56", has the above except:
    "MODIFIED PER G-51129024-J33 DATED 5-25-65"
    So it would appear the serial numbers were not necessarily consecutive 
in the entire series. You will also note the dates on the caps are for a 
dozen years after the initial construction and operation of the DEW Line, 
perhaps these were spares made at a later date, for a design change, or an 
expansion. Perhaps they were for an entirely different system.
     If the ".15MFD" means .15 micro-Farads, then they are kinda big for 
their energy storage. Perhaps the high voltage rating explains this 
disproportionate case size and insulator height. They are definitely 
oil-filled, and I am told by someone who dissected one that they have an 
internal voltage-distribution network of resistors. One has been a tad 
leaky at the base of the insulator, but the leak is very thick and sticky - 
like molasses.
    In any event, the military tags read:
    "SERVICABLE TAG - MATERIAL
    CONDITION CODE: A
    FSN PART NO. AND ITEM DESCRIPTION:
    5910 00 999 2414   TKB 465 [sic - should be TKB 165]  CAPACITOR
    UNIT OF ISSUE: EA
    QUANTITY: 1
    REMARKS:   M/F.  M.I.T. LINCOLN LAB."

    This last line is interesting. Someone suggested they were donated to 
the MIT for their research, and then found their way to surplus. Instead I 
feel this means that MIT was involved in their manufacture somehow. Their 
Lincoln Labs apparently still does some neato Gov't research stuff for 
DARPA and such.
     Hopefully this should be enough for someone to track down these 
things and help me with some further info. Cornell-Dubilier, RCA, Western 
Electric, MIT/Lincoln Labs, the DOD and the DEW Line - there's certainly a 
bit of history in them.
    Thank you very much for any help ya'll can provide!

-Phil LaBudde