Re: Early rectifiers.
Mechanical synchronous rectifiers do have an advantage for low-voltage supplies in that efficiency can be better than almost anything else due to the vanishingly low voltage drop across the contacts.
Mercury arc: 15V wasted.
Selenium/copper oxide: 2V
Silicon: 0.9V or so.
Silicon schottky: 0.5V
Mechanical contacts: 0.05V
So very useful for electro-plating works.
Down side is that they are maintenance-heavy of course, you don't get anything for free!
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