Re: WOAH ,tesla coils KILL?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>

Hi Drew,

At 10:52 PM 1/30/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Waittaminute,
>They can kill and have killed?
>I've never heard mention of this before.
>Like i do know that the capacitor can do some serious damage, but even when 
>I was young and foolish at 13, i knew better than to lick my fingers and put 
>them on a charged capacitor's connector! When tuning my coil I always have a 
>piece of hv wire with probes attached to it for shorting out the caps, and 
>whenever i am transporting my coil i always short out the caps with 
>alligator clips and wire.
>But from all of the responses i have gotten on the "COOL THINGS YOU CAN DO 
>WITH YOUR COIL" bit, most of them have mentioned the voltage coming off of 
>the top load being dangerous and can kill? Like of course I did make sure 
>that my legs were away from the strike rail!
>Are there ACTUALLY recorded deaths from tesla coils?
>
>                                                   Up here in Canada,
>                                                    Drew Murray


The list of known Tesla coil deaths is as follows: 

Henry L Transtrom - Electrocuted while working on a stage and using a large
Tesla coil. He inadvertently allowed a power arc to go from his body to
some metal framing that was part of the stage backdrop. He authored the
following book: "ELECTRICITY AT HIGH PRESSURES AND FREQUENCIES" Henry L.
Transtrom, originally 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. 

1992 - Graduate student intern working at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. A
Tesla coil was being used to test aircraft parts against the effects of
lightening. The person got too close to the tank circuit and either bushed
up against it or a spark left the circuit and struck him. He never regained
a heartbeat despite excellent CPR and paramedic responses. 

March 29,1998 - An unsupervised 14 month old boy wandered into the poorly
made AC line wiring of a Tesla coil. He was found some time later but could
not be resuscitated. 

A master, a bystander, and a small child have been killed by Tesla coils.
It is always a number one priority to keep that list from growing... 

Terry