Re: 600kV voltmeter

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts" <m.j.watts@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Phil,

On 15 Mar 2005, at 21:09, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: FIFTYGUY@xxxxxxx
>
> In a message dated 3/15/05 9:36:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> tesla@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
> I mentioned the lack of correspondence between sparklength in
> repetitive operation and voltage in my 1995 article. A lot of the
> "operational research" for that article involved operating a coil in
> both repetitive and single shot modes.
>
>      Where can we find a copy of this article?
>
> -Phil LaBude

It was first published in "Electronics World" March 1995. I believe
there is a copy of this somewhere on hot-streamer. I had a quick look
but couldn't find it. A letter from myself containing some
corrections was published in the "Letters" section a month or two
later.
      At the time it was written, I had not signed up to any Tesla
list (I signed up with usa-tesla a month or two after the edition was
published). 5 months into the research (which lasted for
approximately 6) I became aware of Richard Quick's through a video
tape lent to me by an acquaintance and through that of Richard Hull's
work. I wrote the article about 12 years after I built my first
(awful) working coil. My motivation for writing was that I had
discovered Medhurst's formula and had a designed a successful working
coil in about 20 minutes on the back of an envelope. This after
obtaining some plans for coils from Information Unlimited and some
other place and discovering that the wirelength formulae that were
kicking around at the time for predicting the resonant frequency of
the coil didn't work, at least for the general case. I thought that
if I had found an easier way to do it, others might also be
interested.
      Along the way I had discovered for myself that the system was
really a resonant transformer, developed measuring techniques and
then a reliable means of building a good coil. Based on what I had
observed, I then started to question some common beliefs about coil
operation, output voltages etc. The article was published sooner than
I had wanted but I got a hurry-up from the magazine editor and
consequently a few bits in it were somewhat woolly around the edges.
      Ironically, I was actually only interested in publishing the
method of capacitor construction I'd developed but I included a photo
of the coil in operation and the magazine turned out to be totally
uninterested in the capacitor and deeply interested in the coil. The
capacitor construction method was included as part of the finished
product.

Malcolm