From richard.quick@slug.orgThu Jul 18 22:47:13 1996 Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 00:25:00 GMT From: Richard Quick To: tesla@poodle.pupman.com Subject: Tesla References > Updated 6-17-96 I have (with the assistance of others) put together a list of references for those who are interested in Tesla and his work. > Tesla Book Company, PO BOX 121873, CHULA VISTA, CA 91912 This catalog is pretty good: Tesla Coil handbooks, Tesla Coil design manuals, coil plans, Tesla's Diary, Tesla's Lectures, Colorado Springs Notes, and many other titles. The catalog has a 1-800-398-2056 information/order line. > Twenty First Century Books, Box 2001, Breckenridge, CO. 80424. Twenty First Century Books also has a very complete Tesla book catalog, with several new titles (first edition of Tesla's "New York Lecture, April 6 1897" to name one). Tel: 303-453-9293 > Lindsay Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 12, Bradley, IL. 60915 > Voice - 815-935-5353 ; Fax - 815-935-5477 Lindsay also offers a good selection of Tesla literature, classic electronics publications, reprints, and T-Coil Design software. Ask for their 1996 Technical Catalog. > High Voltage Press, 4326 S.E. Woodstock, #489, Portland > OR 97206 USA Tel: 503-775-3209 Publishes and sells the three booklets by George Trinkaus > THE INTERNATIONAL TESLA SOCIETY, INC, (ITS) P.O. Box 5636, > Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80931, USA The ITS has a book shop that mail orders: > High Energy Enterprises, P.O. Box 5636, Colorado Springs, CO. > 80931, USA Tel: 719-475-0918, Fax: 719-475-0582 This source has many good Tesla publications and literature/ instructions on high voltage devices; historical and modern. Get the "1996 Resource Guide" which is the best and most compre- hensive Tesla catalog I have seen to date. There are several new titles for 1996 in this ever expanding offering: oscillator handbooks, HV capacitor construction guides, Tesla Coil con- struction guides/manuals/software, Tesla's Colorado Springs Notes, Radio Tesla, Tesla's Diary Comparisons, and many, many more Tesla titles. A must have catalog for any Tesla buff. To get a complete listing of the books, pamphlets, and software I have reviewed below, you will need to contact all of the book sources above. There will be some duplication of titles, but a unique gem or two will be found from each source. These book sources also cater to fringe "science" people. I tend to stay away from titles with words/phrases: free-energy-scalar-wave- zero-point-gravitobiology-time-travel, etc.. I include this material in the fringe or "crackpot" scientist catagory. Of course, what you do is your business, but: CAVEAT EMPTOR! > The TESLA COIL BUILDERS ASSOCIATION, (TCBA) Harry Goldman, 3 > AMY LANE, QUEENSBURY, NEW YORK, 12804, USA; tel: (518) 792-1003 Publishes a quarterly newsletter NEWS, with parts mart, Q&A, reader project, historical project, topical reprints, papers, etc.. Back issues and index are available, tell Harry I sent you! > Information Unlimited, P.O. Box 716, Amherst, NH., 03031, USA Tesla Coils, rail guns, lasers, tasers, plasma cutters, Jacob's ladders, stun guns, plasma globes, HV power supplies,... Completed units, kits, parts, or just plans. Nice catalog. Tel: 603-673-4730, Fax: 603-672-5406, Order: 800-221-1705 > The U.S. Patent Office, Washington, DC. Copies of Tesla's patents are available for $1.50 each. You must specify patent numbers. > Tesla Information, 18321 Edgewood Ave., Villa Park, CA. 92667 They carried Tesla coil design instructions, manuals, and supplimentary papers and manuscripts. > Vangard Sciences, P.O. BOX 1031, Mesquite, TX, 75150 BBS: 214-324-3501; Has Tesla software, Tesla papers and Tesla info; public domain information accepted and available. > Barnes & Nobel Booksellers, 126 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011 Tel: 1-800-242-6657. I list them because they have really been increasing their number of Tesla titles. In addition to: THE COMPLETE PATENTS, and a couple of other books reviewed below, they also have a video tape: NIKOLA TESLA: THE GENIUS WHO LIT THE WORLD, that takes the viewer inside the Tesla museum in Belgrad, Yugoslavia before the recent civil war. Some of Tesla's handmade exhibition equipment was still operational, and his original demonstrations were reproduced for the video. > Tesla Memorial Society, 453 Martin Rd. Lackawanna, NY, 14218 Produced the video mentioned above. > chip@grendel.objinc.com Internet mailing list for Tesla info, files (public domain), or, write to: Chip Atkinson, 7675 Matai Court, Niwot, CO. 80503 Tel: 303-652-3616 > To subscribe to the USA-TESLA newsgroup send the following message (via internet): subscribe usa-tesla@usa.net "Your Name" Where "Your Name" is your name, do not use quotation marks. Send this message to:> listproc@usa.net ... Books to look out for: > THE COLORADO SPRINGS NOTES, 1899-1900 By Nikola Tesla... Hardcover, 440pp, Published by NOLIT, Beograd, Yugoslavia, 1978. At the time of his death, Tesla was actually a Yugoslavian dependant. Recognized as a national hero, the govern- ment of Yugoslavia had set up a small trust fund to insure Tesla had rent and food. When he died in 1943, his personal effects were examined, plundered a bit, then forwarded to his next of kin, Yugoslavia, who built a museum in Belgrad (spel Belgrade & Beograd) to house them. In the mid 1970s the Tesla Museum organized Tesla's notes from the 1899-1900 experiments at Colorado Springs, CO., and sent them to the museum publisher NOLIT. This edition ran in 1978. Prefaced and annotated by Dr. Aleksandar Marincic, Assoc. Prof. of EE Beograd Univ. and advisor to the Nikola Tesla Museum, Yugoslavia; it transcribes Tesla's original english manuscript w/schematics, and B&W photos. > NIKOLA TESLA ON HIS WORK WITH ALTERNATING CURRENTS > AND THEIR APPLICATION TO WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY, TELEPHONY, > AND TRANSMISSION OF POWER This is a fine product of a modern legal research, edited by Leland I. Anderson, published in 1992 by Sun Publishing, Div. of Boyle & Anderson, Denver, CO., 80219. Library of Congress Catalog #92-60482, ISBN 0-9632652-0-2, paper 237pp; this book is the transcript of Tesla's pre-hearing interview conducted by his legal counsel in 1916. The interview was precipitated by a number of pending court cases in the fledgling radio industry. One of the attorneys conducting the interview held an EE degree. Photos, patent covers, schematics, mechanical drawings, etc. were submitted by Tesla as the stenographer recorded his answers and explanations. None of this material was intended for print, and there is no question as to accuracy or authenticity. His testimony and depositions led to a US Supreme Court decision in his favor 1943. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! > NIKOLA TESLA: LECTURE BEFORE THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES > - APRIL 6, 1897 Nikola Tesla, 1897, (edited and prefaced by Leland I. Anderson) published by Twenty First Century Books, 1994, Library of Congress Card No.: 94-61004, ISBN 0-9636012-1-0 (hard cover) ISBN 0-9636012-7-X (soft cover), 123pp, $12.95 cover price. This is a real gem. Tesla was the third speaker of the evening April 6. The hour grew late and the presentation was cut short. Leland Anderson has retrieved the entire lecture as it was originally written by Tesla, and has included the sections that Tesla had determined not to present due to conflicts with pending patent applications. The lecture covers coil construction (complete with techniques, drawings, and photos), radio schematics, the AND logic gate schematic (incredible), radio and X-Ray tube con- struction and experiments. This is another overwhelming proof that Tesla was at least a half a century ahead of his time. One resonator schematic used for production of X-Rays was heralded as a great improvement when it was re-invented 38 years later by D. Sloan. This is no interpretation, this is the original work. Highly Recommended > EXPERIMENTS WITH ALTERNATE CURRENTS OF HIGH POTENTIAL AND > HIGH FREQUENCY: A Lecture delivered before the Institution > of Electrical Engineers, London by Nikola Tesla, with an appendix by the same author: > TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRIC ENERGY WITHOUT WIRES 1904, Mcgraw Publishing Co., New York, reprinted 1986, Angriff Press, P.O.BOX 2726, Hollywood CA 90078, 162pp, ISBN 913022-25-X The title is a pretty apt description. The lecture (presented in 1895) covers his RF work and lighting systems with details of single terminal bulb design, circuits, and some coil design and construction. Tesla also expands on his ideas for wireless power transmission that were presented in a lecture in St. Louis in 1893. The appendix is quite interesting, and consists of a reprint of an article that was solicted by "Electrical World and Engineer" magazine for their 30th aniversary issue, March 5, 1904. At the time the appendix article was written, Tesla's Wardenclyff project was beginning to show signs of stalling: cost overruns, construction delays, and problems with financing. The project of course never saw commercial completion, though Tesla did fire it for experimental purposes. > THE INVENTIONS RESEARCHES & WRITINGS OF NIKOLA TESLA Nikola Tesla, 1893 (edited and prefaced by Thomas Commerford Martin), ISBN 0-88029-812-X, published by Barnes & Nobel (1992 second edition). 512pp, hardcover, (Item #1774447, $9.98 US) Transcripts of Tesla's famous lectures and articles up to December 1893, with many sketches, schematics, and wiring diagrams of Tesla polyphase systems, coil systems, single terminal RF light bulbs, RF systems etc.. Basic principals of electron microscopy, laser light, and radio are discussed. > THE COMPLETE PATENTS OF NIKOLA TESLA Nikola Tesla, edited by Jim Glenn; 1994, ISBN 1-56619-266-8, Barnes & Nobel, paperback, 535 pp, $14.98 (plus a couple of bucks shipping and handling in the U.S.), Barnes & Nobel item # 1903210 The title says "THE COMPLETE PATENTS", but Tesla, fluent in at least five languages, had dozens of additional patents approved in countries outside the U.S.; however, all one hundred and twelve U.S. patents are reproduced in their entirety. I should stop and note the excellent quality of this edition. The text from the original patents has been completely reset in new type for this edition, and all paragraphs are numbered to match the originals. In addition, all of the schematics and wiring dia- grams are faithfully reproduced. This book is not to be compared with the murky second generation photocopies that were sold for years at $40.00 per set and contained many illegible sections. > JOHN STONE STONE ON NIKOLA TESLA'S PRIORITY IN RADIO AND > CONTINUOUS-WAVE RADIOFREQUENCY APPARATUS edited by Leland I. Anderson, published as "THE A.W.A. REVIEW" Volume I, 1986 by the Antique Wireless Association, Inc., Holcomb, New York, 14469. I received this 41 page paperback booklet courtesy of Leland I. Anderson and was very impressed with Stone's views and interpretations of Tesla's work. John Stone Stone was witness to Tesla's famous trio of lectures in New York in 1891. Stone went on to a career in wireless, making an association with Lee de Forest (inventor of the audion, the first triode tube amplifier), then going on to become a leader of the Institute of Radio Engineers: president in 1914-1915, Medal of Honor 1923. Stone devoted his entire life to developing radio. Needless to say, his work was greatly influenced by Tesla; he clearly and concisely traces the radio industry back to Tesla's 1891 lectures and Tesla's patents that followed. Excellent! > NIKOLA TESLA'S DIARY 1899 - 1900 John T. Ratzlaff & Fred A. Jost, 1979, Tesla Book Co., ISBN 0-9603536-0-7, paperback, 182pp. This book opens with the corrections, omissions, and comments on the 1978 NOLIT publi- cation, THE COLORADO SPRINGS NOTES 1899-1900 by N. Tesla. Ratzlaff went the Beograd museum, carefully examined Tesla's original documents, and noted the errors in the NOLIT edition. The second section proceeds with the full translation of the commentary by Prof. Aleksandar Marincic, the museum consultant. Prof. Marincic's original comments were edited from 67pp in his original Serbo-Croatian, to only 37pp in the NOLIT english translation. The loss of commentary was significant, and should be read in full to get a better understanding of Tesla's Colorado Springs work. Ratzlaff then moves to include the correspondence between Tesla and George Scherff (who managed Tesla's New York lab during Tesla stay in Colorado Springs) which gives an insight of the equipment Tesla was using, and his day to day concerns. The book concludes with six selected Tesla patents needed to better understand Prof. Marincic comments. Excellent reading! > GUIDE TO COLORADO SPRINGS NOTES Richard Hull, 1994, published by Twenty First Century Books, or available from the author: Richard Hull, 7103 Hermitage Road, Richmond VA, 23228. ISBN# 0-9636012-2-9, paperback, 129 pages. Richard Hull is head of a group: Tesla Coil Builders Of Rich- mond (T.C.B.O.R.), which is currently the world leader in Tesla Magnifier development. As such, Mr. Hull is qualified to review and guide the reader through Tesla's sometimes cryptic notes from the Colorado Springs Lab. Mr. Hull converts all of Tesla's archaic units of measurments into the modern Farads, Henrys, and Hertz, then explains Tesla's experiments so anyone can clearly understand what he did. Mr. Hull slants the perspective towards the practical coiler who is looking for better power processing efficiency. Included is a 32 page appendix with numerous closeup photos of the author's Magnifier lab. Cost is $24.50 (which includes shipping and handling in the U.S.), and is well worth the price. Mr. Hull also offers an excellent video tape series which includes a video presentation on the construction of homemade pulse discharging high-voltage capacitors (Video #3), with many tapes on 1/4 wave and Magnifier systems. > VACUUM TUBE TESLA COILS James F. Corum, Ph.D. and Kenneth L. Corum, 1987, published by Corum & Assoc, Inc., 8551 State Route 534, Windsor, Ohio, 44099, USA. ISBN 0-924758-00-7. Tesla Math, tube coil circuits, theory. This book is geared more for the advanced coiler with some knowledge of calculus, but offers enough for the beginner to be on the "read" list. This book is a guide to the significance of Tesla's Extra Coil work, the infamous lab at Colorado Springs, and the history of resonators. Many charts and much of the theory are easily understood. Excellent technical bibliography > TCTUTOR A PERSONAL COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF SPARK GAP TESLA COILS; > With Particular Emphasis on Tesla's Colorado Springs Machine "Written for the IBM Compatable Family of Personal Computers" by James F. Corum, Daniel J. Edwards, Kenneth L. Corum, 1988 Corum & Associates, Inc., 8551 State Route 534, Windsor, Ohio 44099; Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 88-92703; ISBN 0- 924758-01-5; This package includes the software and a book. Geared more for the advanced coiler, it offers the opportunity for RF power processing simulations through changes in Tesla's patented coil circuits. Nearly all components are listed as variables, with Tesla's Colorado Springs machine providing the default software settings. Rotary dwell times, coupling, coil resistance, etc., can be changed in this software package. > TESLA, MAN OUT OF TIME Margaret Cheney, 1981, published by Dorset Press, ISBN 0-88029- 419-1; available from Barnes & Nobel, 320pp, hardcover, (Barnes & Nobel item #1611151, $7.98 US). Well balanced and researched biography of Tesla; accurate, informative, and good reading. > PRODIGAL GENIUS THE LIFE OF NIKOLA TESLA John J. O'Neil, 1944 reprinted 1978, Angriff Press, P.O.BOX 2726, Hollywood, CA 90078, no ISBN or Lib of Congress No, paper 326pp. John J. O'Neil was a friend of Tesla's in the newspaper and publishing business and began work on this book shortly after Tesla died. The biographical details are complete, Tesla is portrayed fairly and in his best light. This book falls short in technical presentation; while it was not the author's purpose to burden the reader with technicals, the chapter on Tesla's work at Colorado Springs and details of the oscillator there are woe- fully inaccurate. Still, a good reader. > TESLA Tad Wise, 1994, Turner Publishing, Inc. 1050 Techwood Dr., NW, Atlanta, GA. 30318, ISBN 1-878685-36-8 (Hardcover) ISBN 1-57036- 163-0 (Paperback). Distributed by Andrew & McMeel, 4900 Main St. Kansas City, MO. 64112 and available from Barnes & Nobel (Item # B118884, $9.98 paper). Billed as a "biographical novel" this book is a very loose biography laced together with fictitious dialog between Tesla and his co-workers, friends, and associates. The book portrays Tesla in an unnecessarily bizarre light by playing up on his eccentricities. In all fairness, others in the book are not portrayed in their best light either; the description of Edison as a mean, gnomelike figure with snarled teeth who spews tobacco juice everywhere but in the spittoon finally did the man justice. There is no technical meat or merit in this publication. > RADIO TESLA: The secret of Tesla's Radio and Wireless power George Trinkaus, 1983, High Voltage Press; No ISBN; booklet 37pp. This paper is both unique and informative. At the time it was written the Tesla Magnifier was still a mystery, but the rest of this publication shines. The sections on grounding and earth con- duction are excellent. Trinkaus has pasted in wiring diagrams, patent covers, schematics, drawings, and photos of classical radio and high-voltage circuits and components such as: coherers, magnetic detectors, vacuum tube detectors, crystal detectors, rotating rectifiers, Marx generators, Tesla mutiplex, Tesla regenerative, Tesla's hetrodyne, Tesla Tanks, resonance; all pictured next to clear and concise text explanations. Not only is this book easy to read, but it opens the mind. > TESLA'S MAGNIFYING TRANSMITTER Marc J. Seifer, Ph.D., 1986, published by the author, BOX 32, Kingston, RI 02881, no ISBN or Lib.of Cong. No., booklet 37pp. This is a chapter (Section 6) taken from Dr. Seifer's doctoral thesis on Tesla. The author has done his homework to provide a good overview of the Tesla transmitter theory without getting too technical. Many of Tesla's patents are tied together showing how Tesla may have intended the use of advanced multiplex circuits and superconducting coils in his commercial transmitter stations. Good use of references, excellent bibliography. > TESLA '84; PROCEEDINGS OF THE TESLA CENTENNIAL SYMPOSIUM > "In light of Modern Physics", An IEEE Centennial Activity edited by Dr. Elizabeth Ann Rauscher, Nuclear Physics and Mr. Toby Grotz, BSEE; published by the International Tesla Society. This is a very interesting publication, as several ground breaking papers were presented August 9-12, 1984 by such notables as Robert Golka, Dr. James and Kenneth Corum, and Charles Yost. In additon a previously unpublished paper credited to Dr. Nikola Tesla: "The New Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-Dispersive Energy Through Natural Media" discusses and diagrams the open- ended vacuum tube and power systems that Tesla was reported to have designed as the projector (power head) for a particle beam device. Another very interesting paper presented by the Corum brothers discusses Tesla's X-Ray patents as a method of rectifying the extreme high-voltages produced by large electrical oscillator/resonator sets. The resulting DC could be pulse discharged at ELF frequencies to determine cavity resonate modes of the Earth. The conference ends with (my op) some mind numbing explanations of "zero-point-scalar-wave-modern-ether"...Uggg > PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1988 INTERNATIONAL TESLA SYMPOSIUM edited by Steven R. Elswick, 1988, published by the International Tesla Society, ISBN 0-9620394-2-X, 185pp. This book is a compil- ation of the papers that were presented in 1988 at the Symposium in Colorado Springs. Authors include Dr. James and Kenneth Corum, Dr. Marc J. Seifer, and Dr. Elizabeth Rauscher to name just a few of the better ones. Several of these papers are significant, as the focus of much of the conference concerned resonate modes of the earth and Tesla's Colorado Springs and the Wardenclyff oscillators. Other papers centered on: Tesla beam weapons (no real data presented), electrotherapy, and the AC/DC wars. The conference ended with several worthless (reviewer's op) papers on "zero-point-N-machine-levitation-"lost"-unified-theory"...uggg... > THE TESLA EXPERIMENT: LIGHTNING AND EARTH ELECTRICAL RESONANCE > A Commentary on 1983 Research & Test Results Charles A. Yost, 1983, Dynamic Systems, Inc., Leicester, NC, published by Tesla Book Co., no ISBN or catalog #, booklet, 40pp. This paper by Charles Yost is very interesting in that it provides modern, reproducable data, from a simple roof antenna, coax, ground, and a Hewlett Packard 1207A Storage Tube O'scope. The experiment measures electrostatic transients caused by lightning strikes up to 50 miles away and presents the unaltered data which strongly supports Tesla's earth resonant ideas. > ELECTRICITY AT HIGH PRESSURES AND FREQUENCIES Henry L. Transtrom, orginally published: 1913, second edition 1921, Joseph G. Branch Publishing, Chicago; Reprinted 1990, ISBN 1-55918-054-4, Lindsay Publications, Bradley, Illinois, 60915. Paperback, 247pp, Lindsay # 20544, $ 11.95. Excellent technical book; useful in calculating and designing coil control systems, coils, inductance, field strengths, capacitance, etc.. Classic transformer construction and reference text, but the Tesla coil/capacitor designs are primitive by today's standards. > HIGH FREQUENCY APPARATUS Thomas Stanley Curtis, 1916, Everday Mechanics Co., Inc., New York; Reprinted 1988, paper ISBN 1-55918-003-X, cloth ISBN 55918- 004-8, Lindsay Publications Inc., Bradley IL. 60915. Paperback, 246pp, Lindsay order number 20030, $ 11.95 : Classic coil text, much of which was reprinted in 1985 by R.A. Ford in his book "Tesla Coil Secrets". "Classic" means before the age of plastics, and these historical coils and coil components frequently lack efficiency, reliablity, and safety. The sections on rotary spark gaps and step-up transformers is excellent however. > TESLA COIL SECRETS: Construction Notes and Novel Uses R.A. Ford, 1985, Lindsay Publications, Inc., Bradley IL 60915 ISBN 0-917914-31-7, paperback, 74pp. Ford researches and repro- duces several classic Tesla coil and component designs from publications of yesteryear. He updated nothing, but did include a very good section on rotary spark gap designs. **************Imported*text************************************* MB> I hope the following information on Tesla books will be of MB> interest to some of you. - Mark Brown MB> I recently purchased the following books from Lindsay MB> Publications, Bradley IL 60915: Their Technical Books MB> catalog has many Tesla Coil books in it. Their service was MB> EXCELLENT!! I have tagged each book with a brief "review." MB> The opinions are my own. Lindsay order numbers are given (#). > DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF INDUCTION COILS # 20404, $ 12.95; Step-by-step guide to building your own induction coil. Reprint from early 20th century magazine project. Fascinating, but many turned brass parts, etc.. > EXPERIMENTS WITH ALTERNATE CURRENTS OF HIGH POTENTIAL # 4392, $ 9.95; (no review given by Mark, but it is an EXCELLENT experiment book) > HOW TO BUILD A 40,000 VOLT INDUCTION COIL # 844, $ 4.95; A solid state design that uses a surplus auto ignition coil and a power transistor. Almost all Radio Shack parts. Small booklet. Some info on Kirlian photography, ozone production, etc. Interesting (and easy - no coil winding) project, but not a Tesla coil. > HIGH POWER WIRELESS EQUIPMENT # 4953, $ 9.95; Step-by-step process from old radio magazine on building an spark-gap transmitter. Nice historical information, fascinating processes and diagrams. > TESLA'S LOST INVENTIONS # 748, $ 5.95; Booklet (by George Trinkaus). Short descriptions of several of Tesla's most interesting inventions, including turbines, etc. Good, but too short! ***************End*of*imported*text****************************** > TESLA COIL DESIGN MANUAL > JHCTES TESLA COIL DESIGN SOFTWARE > TESLA HANDBOOK > TESLA COIL CONSTRUCTION GUIDE (Separate Titles) John H. Couture, 1992, 1992, 1988, & 1994; JHC Engineering Co., 10823 New Salem Point, San Diego, CA., 92126 USA. No ISBN or Lib. of Congress catalog #, but these are available from the author and the bookdealers listed previously. The first two titles are based on John Couture's design theory and some empirical data. The basic math for 1/4 wave coil winding, tank circuit design, performance, etc., is well laid out, but when it comes to using his charts to predict the best design parameters, it falls short. Many of my best coils would never have been built if I had gone by his data. His JHCTES TESLA COIL DESIGN SOFTWARE also kicks out my coil designs, saying they exceed the construction voltage breakdown limits! The program is based on the same sets of data. The TESLA COIL CONSTRUCTION GUIDE is a 1994 update of the TESLA COIL DESIGN MANUAL. This update does away with some of the prob- lems of the earlier publications, but the author still advises that coils be wound with insulated stranded wire, and advocates using small (even tiny) primaries, large capacitors and small dischargers. These guidelines indicate that John Couture's design process is derived more from radio theory, and not from years of experience in actual Tesla coil construction and testing. Coils built with this design method do work, but they require larger power supplies, and they sacrifice a lot efficiency and reliability. His grounding suggestions have improved only slight- ly from his previous titles (they are still inadequate), but his ideas for RF filters and choking are now closer in agreement with mine. A beginner would find this a useful book. Couture has laid out some good wiring diagrams, wire tables, some "OK" coil plans, Faraday cage instructions, and a series of experiments. As usual, his math section is very well thought out and organized. > TESLA COILS! 100 Years of Electrical Magic Brent C. Turner, 1991, self published, 118 pp, soft cover, no ISBN, contact the author at: 18321 Edgewood Ave., Villa Park, CA 92667 USA. The sales address for the book is: P.O. Box 3612 Fullerton, CA 92634-3612. This book does a good job of briefly covering all three basic coil types: Spark Gap, Vacuum Tube, Solid State. Useful to have for the wiring diagrams, specs, and basic math. This makes a good general purpose reference book. Well organized. Brent has a home page at: http://www.apc.net/bturner/mainpage.htm: > TESLA COIL George Trinkaus, 1986, 1987, & 1989, Third Edition, Extensively Revised. No ISBN, published by High Voltage Press, 4326 S.E. Woodstock, #489, Portland, OR., 97206 ($4.95). Mr. Trinkaus has a few Tesla booklets out for under $10.00. This one is a simple Tesla Coil built from scratch: neon sign xfrmr, beer bottle salt water capacitor, brass bolt spark gaps, PVC plastic pipe second- ary, primary wound on a Rubbermaid "Servin' Saver" bowl, copper toilet tank float for a discharger... Need I say more? > TABLE-TOP LIGHTNING : HOW TO BUILD A > POWERFUL, COMPACT, TESLA COIL Lloyd F. Ritchey, Jr., 1992, published by the Tesla Book Co., paperback, 38pp, ISBN: 0-914119-26-5. The author also advertises manuals, kits, and parts: Ritchey Productions, 7803 Stanford, Dallas, TX 75225, USA.. This short booklet details the plans for two basic Tesla coils evolved from the "classical" designs of the 1920s and 30s. While I am sure the coils that are detailed will live up to the promised performance of 24 inches of spark... My own designs and techniques are years ahead of Mr. Ritchey. I found the book to be full of the misunderstandings and misinform- ation that are extensions of the design errors that coilers began making 70 years ago. I like a high inductance, all plastic, hermetically sealed secondary coil with no holes in the coil form and a large high Q copper pipe primary that can be tapped for a wide range of efficient operating frequencies; I am sorry Mr. Ritchey, you missed the boat to the 20th century. > MODERN TESLA COIL THEORY Duane A. Bylund, 1990, Tesla Book Co., no ISBN or Lib. of Congress No, paperback 142pp. Available from Tesla bookdealers and the author: Duane A. Bylund, 140 S. 700 E., Spanish Fork, Utah 84660 USA. Duane has developed very powerful, efficient, and reliable, solid state oscillator circuits for base feeding Tesla resonators. These solid state driver and coil designs are excel- lent for lighting bulbs and for conducting experiments with wire- less power transmission through ground currents. The book is also chock full of Tesla math and theory, and includes chapters on spark gap and tube coils, sections on waveforms, grounding and counterpoise experiments, multiphase coil systems. This is a must have book for any serious coiler. > HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATION WITH AIR CORE SOLENOIDS Thomas W. Lee, 1995, self published, contact the author at: 8329 East San Salvador Drive, Scottsdale, AZ, 85258, USA, No ISBN, 146 pp, hardcover, $40.00 (usd). This is an interesting publication as it covers many areas of Tesla coiling that are only briefly mentioned in other books, "singing" coils for example. It suffers from poor editing, off topic discussions, and lack of focus on what really does work for high performance Tesla coiling. The coil designs are poor. > THE CAPACITOR HANDBOOK Cletus J. Kaiser, 1993, CJ Publishing, 2851 W. 127th St., Olathe, KS 66061, ISBN 0-442-01558-5, Lib. of Congress No. 92-35798, hardcover 124pp. This is a nice little book. I found it both interesting and useful, but still not the last word in a cap- acitor reference book. The book opens with a chapter explaining theory, including basic math, then moves on to separate chapters for each type of commercial capacitor design. The book concludes with a very nice math appendix, a decent glossary, and biblio- graphy. What I found missing were dielectric tables, which given the detail of the rest of the book seemed a glaring omission. > HIGH VOLTAGE CAPACITOR DESIGN HANDBOOK K.R. Scott, 1994, published by Lambda Publishing Group, P.O.BOX 1894 Lawrence, KS, 66044-8894, USA. No ISBN number, booklet of about 25 pages, cover price $6.50. This is a compilation of reprints from: old Pop. Magazine capacitor projects, a Tesla patent, some capacitor descriptions from an old radio catalog, some instructions taken from Transtrom's book (reviewed above) and finally; some recent tables showing electrical properties and constants for modern plastics, and several pages of essential capacitor math (which you could photocopy out of any current amateur radio or electrical engineering handbook). > THE TESLA COIL COMPENDIUM Randall S. Peterson, no date, ISBN, publisher, etc.. I guess it is available from Randy at: 16671 T.R.51, MT. Cory, Ohio, 45868 This publication is a compilation of Randy's favorite designs. The coils are "OK", but a little dated. Randy used to ship out complete kits and fully assembled coils in his spare time... > "The Incredible Inventions of Nikola Tesla", by David Hatcher > Childress... it is not presented as a textbook IMHO, but more as a cartoony overview. It also contains the Lecture NT gave to the IEE in London. This one seems to be regurgitated every time a new Tesla Book comes out. I didn't buy it! Phil Mason > MODERN RESONANCE TRANSFORMER DESIGN THEORY D.C. Cox, no date or ISBN, published by the Tesla Book Co.. I will quote from the inside jacket: "This book was written and dedicated to the young coil builders who will design, modify, measure, test, and evaluate today's technology, and then, design and develop tomorrows highly efficient Tesla coil systems." I don't think I ever got a thing out of this book, although it does have design math, toroid math, etc.. DC Cox is a pro, and his company Resonance Research, designs and builds museum coils; but never forget he is in it for the $$$$$... ... Additional resources, reviews > Resonance Research Corp. RTE. 1, Shadylane Rd. Baraboo, WI > 53913 USA, Tel: 608-356-3647 This is D.C. Cox's company (see publication notes above) and I assume he sells completed coils, plans, and parts (sources say he sells rotary gaps). But he won't reply to even an information request without $10.00 in his hands (no personal checks accepted: bank money orders or cashiers checks only).... Go Figure... > Tesla Technology Research, 2527 Treelane Ave, Monrovia, CA > 91016 USA ; Bill Wysock is a well known, respected coiler. My sources say he sells rotary gaps. > THE BELL JAR Journal on vacuum work written by Steve Hanson and published quarterly, $15.00, 35 Windsor Drive, Amherst, NH, 03031 Many high voltage projects. > THE TESLA COIL DESIGNER IBM DOS coil construction software by Walt Noon. Available from Lindsay Publications, others. This is a first class Tesla Coil design package that reduces the hours and hours of paper, pencil, and calculator time to mere seconds. All constants and formulas are already programed into the menu driven package, just "plug n chug" for fast 'n' accurate coil calculations. Write to: > Walt Noon III, 3283 Belvedere, Riverside, CA 92507 USA > October 1992, Popular Electronics pp 69-71, Fun With Tesla > Coils, by Charles D. Rakes This article builds a small solid state coil using a driver oscillator which base feeds the HV HF Coil. The project uses a 567 tone decoder IC, a few resistors, caps, and a power supply to drive a small coil to light bulbs etc.. The secondary is wound on a piece of 4" PVC, looks simple and inexpensive (~$80.00). My archives contain a self extracting program (TESLABLD.EXE) that gives detailed instructions on building this project. > November 1993, Electronics World + Wireless World, (magazine) pp 937-942. "The spark that gave RADIO to the world", by George Pickworth: "Marconi" this and "Marconi" that; Tesla mentioned only once; but it did have clear photos and diagrams of what not to do... As well as useful photos of damped wave trains produced with authentic gap systems. A good general explanation of spark gap types and functions. > March 1995, Electronics World + Wireless World, pp 190-195. "Like Lightning?", by Malcolm Watts: This is a fine article on the basic principals and theory of Tesla coil design, con- struction, and operation for the beginning coiler. The article includes wiring diagrams (including how to connect diagnostic equipment), basic coil math, component design and construction, and both spark and fully lighted photos of a small coil built by the author. Highlights include a section on steps to take to bring a coil into tune, and construction of a dry fired poly-AL capacitor from scratch. A corrected formula for a minor error appeared on page 271 of the April 1995 issue of the same publication. > BUILD YOUR OWN LASER, PHASER, ION RAY GUN & Other working Space > age Projects by Robert E. Iannini. Sounds goofy, but there a lot of inter- esting and workable designs here. One chapter on a neon sign transformer based Tesla coil. ~250,000volts. > GADGETEER's GOLDMINE by Gordon McComb. Similar to above. Lots of parts sources listed. Also has a chapter on building your own PLASMA GLOBE. > RADIO ELECTRONICS - SEPTEMBER 1991 This issue has a construction project for a soild state Tesla coil by Duane A. Bylund. ~ 100,000volt system > A SOLID-STATE LOW-VOLTAGE TESLA COIL DEMONSTRATOR by Donald G. Bruns, American Journal of Physics. #60 (9), Sept. 1992, pg 797 > HIGH POWER ELECTRONICS by W. James Sarjeant and R.E. Dollinger c1989 Tab Books ISBN 0-8306-9094-8; Absolutely great with chapters on spark gaps, hard-tube pulsers, transmission lines and pulse-forming networks (blumleins too), marx gens, HV air-core pulse transformers, and more. Your mind will be expanded, and the math is very manageable. Zap, Mark > * INTERNET - freebie * The Tesla group archive is online. The ftp-site is nic.funet.fi alias ftp.funet.fi and this site can be connected using anon-ftp. The files are in the directory /pub/sci/electrical/tesla and it's subdirectories. If one does not have online-ftp it is possible to get the files using ftp2mail-gateways via e-mail. Some ftp2mail-services: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com or ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu or ftpmail@lth.se bitftp@dearn or to bitftp@vm.gmd.de (Europe only) ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr or ftpmail@ieunet.ie bitftp@plearn.edu.pl or bitftp@plearn (Europe) ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk or ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu In order to get more information on this subject one has to send mail to an address above and use just "help" as a body-of-letter to get information on the precise format of the script language that the particular site uses. If one uses the keyword "ftplist" one will receive a list of the other sites available. The information is available via World Wide Web as well - the url is: http://ftp.funet.fi/ftp/pub/sci/electrical/tesla. This is just the beginning of Tesla on WWW - there shall be more in the nearby future. > Another INTERNET-freebie; Check out anon ftp to ftp.ee.ualberta.ca (circuit cookbook directory) There is a nice small book by Harry Suomalainen called TESLA COIL THEORY AND APPLICATIONS - it's in POSTSCRIPT *****Parts*&*Supplies******************************************** > The Condenser Products Corp., 2131 Broad Street, > Brooksville, FL 34609 USA > Tel: 904-796-3561, Fax 904-799-0221 Manufacturers of commercial high-voltage plastic film, pulse discharge, (Tesla) capacitance. Minimum order $150.00, minimum shipping time about 6 weeks. These are where my big commercial capacitors come from, as they will build them to your specs. > Solomon Corporation, P. O. Box 245, Solomon, KS 67480 > Watts: (800) 243-2867 Tel (913) 655-2191 Fax (913) 655-2502 Supplier of power distribution (pole pig) transformers. > T & R Electric, P. O. Box 180, Colman, SD 57017 > Watts (800) 843-7994 Supplier of power distribution (pole pig) transformers. > H&H Transformer Inc. (303) 289-2802 Denver area pole pigs, tip by Chip Atkinson > NWL CAPACITORS, 1 Industrial Dr., Snow Hill, NC 28580 > Tel: 908-842-5757 Fax: 908-842-1161 or as it was given to me by Richard Hull... > NWL CAPACITORS, 8050 Monetary Dr., Riviera Beach, FL., 33404 > Tel: 407-848-9009 Custom manufactured high voltage pulse discharge Tesla caps... > NWL Transformers, Dept. G, Rising Sun Rd., Bordentown, NJ 08505 Source for neon sign transformers. > Sprague Electronics, 134 Fulton Ave. Garden City Park, NY 11040 Source of high voltage capacitors. TS> Plastic Capacitors, 2623 N. Pulaski Rd, Chicago, IL 99120 TS> Tel: 312-489-2229. High-Voltage, pulse discharge, plastic film (Tesla) Capacitance TS> Cornell-Dubilier, 1605 E. Rodney French Blvd., New Bedford, TS> MA 02744, Tel: 508-996-8564 They bought out Sangamo > Danny Churchill at Commercial Radio Co. in VT, 802-226-7582, sometimes has some interesting stuff around. I bet you'd find him interesting even if he didn't have whatever model you currently need. Among other things, he manufactures custom high-voltage inductors and transformers, in an old 3 story brick schoolhouse converted to a factory/warehouse. (T.S.) > Hipotronics, Inc., RTE.22, Brewster, New York, 10590 (or 10509) > TEL: 914-279-8091 Manufacturers of high-voltage test equipment. Capacitors, transformers, bussing, toroids, etc. are available. These are the guys who make the test gear that power utilities use to destroy their xmission equipment to determine breakdown limits. > CSI Capacitors, 810 Rancheros Dr. San Marcos, CA, 96069 > TEL: 619-747-4000 Another source of custom made, commercial plastic film, high- voltage, pulse discharging, (Tesla type) capacitance. Ask about left over units from production runs, sometimes you will find a bargin in a top quality cap. > Nick Andree, Hi-Way Company, Surplus Electronics, 305 Wisconsin > Ave. Oceanside, CA 92054 Tel: 619/967-7225 Surplus Sprague HVDC rated capacitors, excellent bypass caps > George Trinkaus, High Voltage Press, 4326 S.E. Woodstock, #489, > Portland OR 97206 USA Tel: 503-775-3209 Carries some surplus HVDC rated Sprague doorknob caps. > Maxwell Labs, Inc., 8888-G Balboa Ave, San Diego, CA, 92123 > TEL: 619-279-5100 Manufacturer of commercial high-voltage equipment, capacitors, power supplies, etc.. > Vacuum Tube Industries, Inc., 506 North Warren Avenue, > P.O. Box 2009, Brockton, MA. 02405 USA > tel: 508-584-4500, tel: 800-528-5014, fax: 508-584-0096 Specialize in new and rebuilt 450 KC power tubes for commercial RF induction heaters and the supply & control xfrmrs, cooling loops, etc.. These are the type tubes I would use for a CW coil. > Antique Electronic Supply, 6221 S. Maple Ave, P.O. Box 27468, > Tempe, AZ, 85285 TEL: 602-820-5411 Source for the tube coil builder, many old/rare vacuum tubes and related equipment (sockets, mica caps, power supplies, etc.) for projects like "Lil Tesla Coil" of the 1960's Pop Electronics era. > Weisner Electronics, 149 Hunter Ave, Albany, NY, 12206 > TEL: 518-438-2801 Another source for the tube coiler. Plate xfmrs, mica caps, tubes, assembled Tesla coils, etc.. > Edmund Scientific Company, 101 East Gloucester Pike > Barrington NJ 08007-1380 Phone: 1-609-547-8880 > Fax: 1-609-573-6295 > Fair Radio Sales, P.O. Box 1105, Lima, OH 45802 > Tel: 419-223-2196, 419-227-6573, FAX 419-227-1313 "One of the best sources for electronic surplus." H.Goldman > ALL ELECTRONICS, PO BOX 567, VAN NUYS, CA 91408 Tel: 1-800-826-5435 > GAR-RON Plastics Corp., 5424 Pulaski Hwy., Baltimore, MD 21205 > Tel: (800)492-4695 (they have a catalog) Specialty plastics dealer, good source for coil forms. > The Coax Connection: Joe Cassata, 10 S. Meadow lane > Naperville, Ill. 60564, Phone# (708)-420-0342 Here is a good source for coax cable AND magnet wire, He carries in stock sizes from #22 gauge to #10 gauge, and can order other sizes. He sells by the pound and his prices are decent. Good quality stuff! > MWS Wire Industries, 31200 Cedar Valley Dr., Westlake Village, > CA 91362 USA PH: (818) 991-8553 FAX (818) 706-0911 Source of square and rectangular wire for custom inductors. > Ross Engineering Corp., 540 Westchester Dr. Campbell, CA 95008 Supplier of discharge terminals > Superior Electric, 383 Middle Street, Bristol, CT 06010 Tel (203) 585-4500, Fax (203) 582-3784 Customer service direct line (203) 585-4750 or (800)787-3532, ext. 4750; Manufacturers of industrial variacs, this the the comapny that makes POWERSTATs, used by most coilers in their control cabinets. Source of factory replacement parts. > Tungsten face on steel slug spark gap electrodes The Miller (welding supplies/parts) part numbers are: 095 621 base $3.50 porcelain, each one holds 2 gaps 020 622 point holder $8.52 Al, 4/base, cooling fins all around 020 603 HF point $3.25 steel slug w/ tungsten face, 4/base Prices are for each piece, avail as an assembly. > Marlin P. Jones & Assoc. Inc., P.O.BOX 12685, Lake Park, FL > 33403 USA Fax 1-800-4329-9937, Fax 407-844-8764, Tel: 407-848-8236; Sources for surplus: ferrite toroid cores for HV RF chokes, Current transformers for panel ammeters, EMI line filters, meters, power control relays/contactors, fans, etc.. > JOHNSON SHOP PRODUCTS; PO BOX 160113, CUPERTINO CA 95016 Tel: 408-257-8614 Fax: 408-253-6228 Inductors; Current Transformers; Ferrite & Iron Powder Toroids, rods, & "boxes" for RF chokes; relays; circuit breakers, etc.. > Another good catalog: C & H Sales Co., 2179 E COLORADO BLVD > PO BOX 5356, PASADENA CA 91117-9988 USA Fax: 818-796-4875 Tel: 800-325-9465 Tel: 213-681-4925, Tel: 818-796-2628 Filters, meters, fans, relay-contactors, switches, HV & LV capacitors, LV transformers, variacs, etc. > R & D ELECTRONICS, 5363 BROADWAY AVE., CLEVELAND OH 44127 > Tel: 216-441-8500 Tel: 216-441-5577 Tel: 800-642-1123 Known locally as "Electronic Surplus", they are an excellent source of typical Tesla coiling fare: current xfmrs/meters, variacs, HV wire, relays/contactors, RF filters & choke cores... > Yet another good catalog: Surplus Center, 1015 WEST O ST > P.O.BOX 82209, Lincoln NE 68501-2209 USA > Fax: 402-474-5198, Tel: 402-474-4055, Order: 800-488-3407 Surplus equipment supplier useful on large coil projects. Lots of aircraft parts: high-performance DC motors for rotary spark gaps, hydraulic double action cylinders and power paks for remote control tuning, spark gap cooling loops, etc.. > Electrical Insulation Supplies,Inc., 1255 Collier Road, N.W. > Atlanta, GA 30318 Voice 1-404-355-1651 Fax 1-404-355-6069 A good source of equipment and supplies for Tesla coil builder. Ask for their full line catalog. > Edward Wingate, "Wingate Electric", 545 Salmon Creek Rd. > Brockport, NY 14420 USA I list this address for completeness. CAVEAT EMPTOR! Mr. Wingate is mailing flyers advertising rotary spark gaps. > Richard T. Quick II, 10028 Manchester Rd., Suite 253, Glendale, > Missouri, 63122, USA I have a two hour video tape that documents my 10" diameter secondary coil and 10 KVA power supply in operation. It covers a wide area of related high voltage experiments and techniques. (Jacob's Ladder, RF choking, spark gaps, critical coupling, etc.) Due to the dangerous nature of this work I cannot be responsible for the safety of life, limb, or property should anyone choose to, or attempt to, reproduce any of the equipment or experiments featured on the video. To obtain a copy: send a blank, high quality, VHS video tape; a first class postage pre-paid, self addressed mailer; and $10.00 US. I will happily trade tapes. This text file gets regular updates, as I both see and receive, many requests for information on this subject. YOUR references or reviews would be welcomed additions to this file. While I always try to be as accurate as possible, there are no assur- ances that ANY of the information posted here is error free, or, that there is no risk in acting on this information. Revelant text files from Tesla coil theory and operation discussions, GIF file spark gap diagrams, graphical coil instructions (all w/text instructions & parts lists), GIF wiring diagrams and circuit schematics (with text instructions and explanations), scanned T-Coil photos, as well as Tesla Coil shareware calculator programs and other public domain programs and material are available on the internet and on various BBSs for free. See the internet references tagged with an * above. This information/software is also mailed out at no charge to anyone who sends me a self addressed postage pre-paid mailer and five or more blank formatted IBM DOS 1.44 mbt floppy disks. Richard Quick ... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it! ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12