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Re: mercury break
Tesla List wrote:
> Original Poster: Tom Stathes <newphreak_16-at-yahoo-dot-com>
>
> I remember reading somewhere that tesla used something
> called a mercury break on the coils he used for the
> wireless transmission of electricity. Can anyone tell
> me what a mercury break is? Can someone send me a
> picture or diagram of one?
Look at this:
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/rotarysw.jpg
It has a motor above and an a closed cylindrical box
below. At the bottom of the box there is a pool of
mercury. The motor turns an assembly with two tubes,
or rails, that dip into the pool. As the assembly
is rotated, the mercury is forced up these tubes
or rails, hitting the electrodes of the interruptor.
The box was filled with illumination gas (without
oxigen, of course) to avoid the oxidation of the
mercury.
This particular unit was used with a large induction
coil, as power supply for an early Tesla coil used
for medical purposes:
http://www.coe.ufrj.br/~acmq/tesla/oldtesla.html
Antonio Carlos M. de Queiroz