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Old 13th Oct 2017, 1:11 am   #41
dave walsh
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I didn't know that Colin! It's as interesting and as ambiguous as the Tesla story. It's been said [on here] that his [available] theoretical papers are somewhat impenetrable and certainly some are presented with more mysticism than engineering. On the other hand, though, I suspect that anyone who was able to analyse and comment on them with professional authority wouldn't be making a great career move.

As for the Blumlein story, what might he have achieved living longer and how beneficial would his demise have been to the [then] enemy? I try not to jump to hasty conclusions, as I've implied but the hiatus described might well have been very useful to anyone seeking to in suppress the truth. Indeed, I thought immediately of Mr Punch ie... "That's The Way To Do It"

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Old 13th Oct 2017, 7:19 am   #42
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Thanks, Colin. That was it. I just remembered the kerfuffle and mis-remembered who it was about. IEE and Blumlein fit.

The waters around Tesla and Westinghouse were muddied by Edison throwing rocks at them in the AC-DC power wars. There seemed to be character assassination and electric chairs involved.

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Old 13th Oct 2017, 8:48 am   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dave walsh View Post
I've just read anecdotal accounts of rainy nights in Leeds or Bradford about the blue flashes, ozone and noise associated with Tram movements... leading to a certain "tension" in the air
There aren't any trams in Leeds or Bradford. Are you thinking of Manchester?
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Old 13th Oct 2017, 11:45 am   #44
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Default Re: Nikola Tesla

Leeds had trams until 1959 and Bradford until 1950.
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Old 13th Oct 2017, 7:07 pm   #45
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Default Re: Nikola Tesla

Talking of blue flashes and ozone, another interesting Tesla-esque character to research is Andrew Crosse. Another example of fact and fiction merging.
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Old 13th Oct 2017, 8:25 pm   #46
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Thanks for the Tram confirmation Graham. I was beginning to think we had another mystery on our hands Hastings and Bexhill had Trams until the fifties. I think it's the time when a number of post war councils changed to buses but in cities, urban towns or places of historical/amenity interest it was probaly a false economy and much of the light rail infrastructure has come back again as a financial success [if you discount the Edinburgh debacle].

Manchester's system got dumped as well barreter but I'd only read the accounts about an ominous buzzing in the wet in relation to Yorkshire! I think the Tram Tracks still exist buried along Bexhill's, Blackpool like, promenade. Tram Cars would have been a great assett to the town if they had been retained. There were scenes of great emotion in most places when the final Cars ran.

Related to the "When the collection takes over" thread [in my case it's not just radios] I've been doing some sorting out today and one of my Tesla books emerged ie Commander X Nikola Tesla Free Energy and the White Dove. This is an example of the books that tend to mix in an amount of mysticism with the Tesla engineering but fascinating all the same! The American and German governments don't seem to have been that sceptical during and after the War. I've had a look at the Gustav Winter house on FeurtaVentura. It's nothing to do with Tesla [as far as I know] but does illustrate very well that very strange things went on during WW2. At least one of the Indiana Jones films might not be that fictional.

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Old 13th Oct 2017, 9:28 pm   #47
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It seems that trolleybuses took over from trams in Bradford in the early Fifties, and if my memory of riding on them in Hull in the late Fifties/ early Sixties is anything to go by, there were plenty of sparks and blue flashes to be seen. Perhaps peoples' anecdotes are conflating the two.
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Old 14th Oct 2017, 1:55 pm   #48
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Back to Mr Tesla please.
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Old 14th Oct 2017, 6:39 pm   #49
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There can be little doubt that Tesla developed the modern usage of alternating current. Despite the "magical" overtones of my book, it relates clearly the "resistance" of the DC lobby [led by Edison-who was not an engineer]. In 1874, as a student, Tesla was apparently not impressed by a Gramme machine [DC Dynamo/Motor] and it's sparking commutator! "The professor explained that as long as electricity flowed in one direction, a commutator would be necessary to change the direction and sparking could not be avoided." Tesla felt that the use of alternating current could solve that one. "The professor informed Tesla that many men had experimented with alternating current and it was simply not feasible".

In 1891, after his 'friend' Westinghouse had used Tesla's polyphase system to monopolise electrical distribution, HIS own backers told him to destroy his connection with Tesla or face ruin. "Standing there before Westinghouse, Tesla smiled serenely and tore up his contract without a trace of bitterness. At that moment he was entitled to at least twelve million dollars in royalties."

Now here's a claim-"It has often been said that failure to pay royalties to Tesla proved to be the greatest handicap to scientific and industrial progress which the human race has ever experienced. After the financial setback 'engineered' by the Westinghouse money men, Tesla never again had sufficient funds to develope his inventions."

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Old 14th Oct 2017, 7:12 pm   #50
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What was the power of Teslas monster coil?
Has anyone ever come close to the same power output?
One, potentially faulty source suggested the local generating station experienced damage with the load.

Wasn't the idea to use the Earth like a pool of water, the coil being like a wave machine. Eventually you reach a point where there is a wave created many times greater than that you are pumping into the system.
People must have been scared stiff by his experiments.

I wonder what he would have made of Arc Attack using music to modulate the output of two Tesla Coils & a guy on stage in a Faraday chain mail suit.
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Old 17th Oct 2017, 11:53 am   #51
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
The waters around Tesla and Westinghouse were muddied by Edison throwing rocks at them in the AC-DC power wars. There seemed to be character assassination and electric chairs involved.
...And elephants.
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Old 17th Oct 2017, 8:21 pm   #52
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I'm not sure that anyone knows the total power radiatedor/transmitted Neil [p50*] but Wikki says that the Wardenclyffe Tower built at Shoreham [New York..not along the coast from here!] had a coal fired AC Generator producing 200kv on the input! Going back to post 12* and mentioning Eric Laithwaite, I found myself talking to a chap on Sunday about the Trams that used to run along the Bexhill Sea Front.

Coincidentally, he was from Sussex University and had met Professor Laithwaite. The Prof turned up to demonstrate his levitating "train" [model] and required the use of the lecture room 3 Phase supply which had not been used recently, if at all. Being somewhat flambouyant and direct in manner, he then dramatically wound up the Variac to the max and blew the system.
The Tech on duty opened it up and the insulation had failed-Eric should have taken his time. Of course, those Japanese trains don't hang about either!

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Old 16th Nov 2017, 12:05 am   #53
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Pertinent here I think - some pictures of the Tesla monument at Niagara Falls, taken during our recent vacation visit to Canada.

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The associated plaque rather nicely simply records what was probably his most significant idea, the three-phase induction motor.

It was interesting that the original Niagara Falls polyphase installation had two-phase alternators, with Scott transformers to convert to three-phase for transmission, apparently because the effects of unbalanced phase loading on three-phase alternators had not been worked out at the time.


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Old 16th Nov 2017, 12:21 am   #54
dave walsh
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Thanks for that! I was at Niagra Falls in 1997 but didn't reall know about the Generating Plant etc until I saw a Horizon Documentary on BBC2, so I missed out on a visit to the Monument. It is said that Tesla was reading or reciting the poetry of Goethe when the polyphase notion occured to him. A perfect blending of Art and Science perhaps

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Old 19th Nov 2017, 10:01 pm   #55
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The Handsome Family do a song “Tesla’s Hotel Room” about his last days at the Hotel New Yorker. According to them he was run over by a cab and killed in the end..

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H6k5BRwIPxk
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Old 20th Nov 2017, 12:13 am   #56
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Nah - nothing as romantic as being run over. Died in his hotel room (at the New Yorker) at age 86 from a heart attack.
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