Re: Playing around

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Playing around
From: "Robert W. Stephens" <rwstephens-at-ptbo.igs-dot-net>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 21:20:20 -0500
>>> Subject: Playing around
>
>>From hullr-at-whitlock-dot-comTue Jul 16 22:08:32 1996
>Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 09:27:49 -0700
>From: Richard Hull <hullr-at-whitlock-dot-com>
>To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>Subject: Re: Playing around
>
>Tesla List wrote:
>> 
>> >From chadwick-at-flash-dot-netMon Jul 15 22:53:21 1996
>> Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 23:07:08 -0500
>> From: "Chad A. Madison" <chadwick-at-flash-dot-net>
>> To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
>> Subject: Playing around
>> 
>> Well, just for hee hee's and ha ha's I decided to play with a 450 watt coil
>> this afternoon.  Instead of your standard issue series spark gap, I strapped
>> a Jacob's Ladder to it and took the shunt cap off.  Output with just the
>> ladder was almost exactly the same (at the peak of the ladder) as with the
>> .0056uf 40kvdc cap and 6-gap series spark gap.
>> 
>> Has Chad discovered some profound new way to completely eliminate the need
>> for a shunted cap?  Try it and see what results you encounter.
> 
>> Perhaps, in my somewhat inebriated state (four day vacation started today),
>> I bore witness to an illusion.  But my brother-in-law was there too, and he
>> agreed with me totally.
>>                                        \/   \     /
>>  Chad Alan Madison                      \   /     \
>>  BSEE Undergraduate Student              \ /  \   /
>>  University of Texas at Austin            \  /  //
>>  Member: Tesla Coil Society                \/  \/
>>  http://www.flash-dot-net/~chadwick/           ||  ||
>>                                            _______
>>                                           ////|\\\\
>>                                           \\\\|////
>>                                            \\\|///
>>                                             |||||
>>                                             |||||
>>                                             |||||
>
>Chad,

>There is nothing striking about your revelation.  The jacobs ladder is a 
>single variable space gap.  At the top of the arc in the ladder your 
>spaceing is at a maximum and this is where best output always occurs in a 
>system.  This is due to the higher voltage allowed to charge the 
>capacitor.  More energy, more spark.  Also this is the most damaging 
>point at which to operate a coil and many neon transformers are taken out 
>with overwide gap separations. 

> This form of gap used to be used by old radio amateurs and is called a 
>"horn gap"  It was also used as a safety type gap in early systems due to 
>its natural tendency to ultimately self extinguish.


>Richard Hull, TCBOR

Richard, Chad, 

As I read Chad's post I thought he meant that he had removed the 
system storage/oscillator capacitor entirely , as well as the 
standard oscillator 6 gap fixed spark gap, 
and had strung merely a Jacob's Ladder gap in series with the neon 
transformer and the primary of the Tesla coil, and then claimed that 
when the Jacob's Ladder arc had reached the top, he was getting 
streamer output from the Tesla secondary at that instant which was about
the same as the system was capable of producing when wired as a 
'normal' Tesla coil.  Is this correct Chad?

If so, this shud not work!

Confused by the description as presented, rwstephens