Download - Tesla Coil Bro
ikola Tesla was exploring the nature oftuned circuits resonating at highfrequency and high voltage. He
discovered early in his research that while using a coilof a given wavelength, other coils tuned to this samewavelength or one of its harmonics, would respondin sympathy by spouting its own crown of sparks,even though not physically connected in any way tothe operating coil. Here is an example of transmissionof radio frequency electrical energy over distancewithout wires.
The Mid-America Science Museum’s conical TeslaCoil exhibit (most powerful on earth at 1.5 million-volts) consists of two coils wound in a differentmanner than that of a traditional transformer.However, the Tesla Coil’s air-core design does notutilize the traditional transformer’s iron-core. TheTesla Coil’s primary coil resonates with thesecondary coil because they are tuned to be in stepwith each other electrically. This is accomplished byadjusting the number of turns in the primary coilwinding and the total capacitance in the capacitorbank.
The massive 2 1/2 ton steel Faraday cage is utilizedto protect the public from high-voltage discharges,greatly reduces high frequency emissions and toprotect against any possible communicationdisruptions. It also provides an excellent groundpoint to which high voltage discharges can leap.
This “Caged Lightning” Tesla Coil exhibit is a replicaof the conical coil at the world famous Griffith ParkObservatory in the Hollywood Hills of SouthernCalifornia. Since it’s initial operation in 1937, over25 million visitors have marveled at the unusual andexciting display of lightning-like discharges.
SPECIFICATIONS
Copper Electrode 12” SphereCorona Discharge:
1,500,000 volts A.C.8 to 16 feet to Faraday Cage
Frequency: 85,000 Hertz
Secondary CoilHeight: 48”
Top: 18” dia. Base: 38” dia.360 turns of #14AWGCopper stranded wire
Vinyl insulated
Primary Coil16,000 volts @ 500 amperes
6 turns of 2” wideCopper ribbon
Rotary Spark Gap1,800 R.P.M., salient poleSynchronous motor driven
Pulse repetition rate:240 pulses per second
Capacitor BankExtended-foil
Polypropylene non-PCB0.0625 mfd. @ 80,000 volts
Primary Power SupplyHigh Voltage Transformer16,000 Volts 5000 Watt
Input: 480 volts ACSingle phase, 60 Hertz
Power Supply/Controller(located in pedestal base)
Copper Electrode
Secondary Coil
Primary Coil
Rotary Spark Gap
Power Supply/Controller
Capacitor Bank
Griffith Park Observatory, California
N
HOURS OF OPERATIONMay 1 until Labor Day
9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily
Labor Day until Memorial Day
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday - Sunday
800-632-0583 or 501-767-3461
midamericamuseum.orgSermonFromScience.com HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Tesla Coil Bro 3/29/06 1:15 PM Page 1
Exhibit SponsorsCorporate
Employees and RetireesMatching Gifts Fund
PremierMathias Family Trust
Richard Wesley, Mary EllenDenise Lillian, Deborah Lynn
David Alan
SponsorArkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.
Cecil W. Cupp, Jr.Courtney C. Crouch, Jr.Entergy Arkansas, Inc.
Mid-America Science Museum FoundationRegions Bank
Wal-Mart Foundation
PatronArlington Hotel
Friends of the Museum CommissionKiwanis Club of Greater Hot Springs Village
Majestic Hotel, Museum Volunteers AssociationPD Printing, Riser Ford, Seiz Sign Company
Edward L. BehenMr. & Mrs. Ted Brudniak
Mr. & Mrs. C. H. Guernsey, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Dave JohnsonMr. & Mrs. John F. Jones
Robert E. LarsonJack Ralph Mathias
Mr. & Mrs. Ken and Gerrie RitchieMr. & Mrs. Warren Seckel
William H. TerboMr. & Mrs. Delbert L. Williamson
Mr. & Mrs. Winston and Ouida Wolfe
SERMON FROM SCIENCEwww.SermonFromScience.com
Electrifying Educational ProgramFree program available forPublic and Private SchoolsContact: Richard W. MathiasE-mail: [email protected]
Acknowledgements
Exhibit Conceived & Promotedby
RICHARD WESLEY MATHIAS
MARY ELLEN MATHIAS
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Tesla Coil Constructedby
WILLIAM C. WYSOCKFounder and President
Tesla Technology ResearchMonrovia, California
Exhibit Designedby
NILES ELLIS
Mid-America Science Museum
Faraday Cage Builtby
KEN EWING AND GIL FRAHMHot Springs Village, Arkansas
500 Mid-America BoulevardHot Springs, Arkansas 71913
(501) 767-3461 or (800) 632-0583midamericamuseum.org
Champion of Electricity“Master of Lightning”
Nikola Tesla was born July 9, 1856, in Yugoslavia andwas educated in Eastern European schools anduniversities. He came to America in 1884 with topeducational honors, fluency in eight languages, and aphotographic memory. Upon arriving in America, byletter of introduction he went to the New Yorklaboratory of Thomas Alva Edison, who immediatelyhired him.After working for Edison for a short while,Tesla became disinterested in Edison’s ongoing workwith direct current and left his employment topursue his own experiments with alternatingcurrent. Edison was staunchly opposed to alternatingcurrent, considering it too dangerous. He made manyattempts to discredit Tesla’s research.
In 1892, Tesla patented his system of wirelesstransmission and reception, three years beforeGuglielmo Marconi. Even today, many textbooks giveMarconi credit for inventing the radio even thoughthe Supreme Court of Review overturned his patentsin 1943 to recognize Tesla as the predominantpioneer in the art.
In 1893, the Chicago World’s Fair utilized theTesla/Westinghouse system of alternating current tolight 250,000 incandescent lightbulbs. Using a TeslaCoil, Tesla passed 1,000,000 volts of high frequencyelectricity through his body to prove to the World’sFair audience that this form of alternating currentwas safe and to demonstrate its unique properties.Alternating current was here to stay and many creditTesla as “father of alternating current.”
Two years later, in 1895, Westinghouse was awardedthe contract to develop and install the first powerplant at Niagara Falls, utilizing the Tesla system ofpolyphase alternating current generators, to deliver
electricity to Buffalo and later to New York City.Thiswas acclaimed to be “the supreme electricalengineering feat of all time.” Of the thirteen patentson these generators, nine were Tesla’s. An impressivestatue of Tesla stands in tribute to his achievementson Goat Island overlooking Niagara Falls.
In 1899, Tesla moved his laboratory to ColoradoSprings, Colorado, where he concentrated on thedevelopment of his famous coil. From May throughDecember of that year, Tesla developed andexperimented with his largest coil. It generatedmillions of volts and consumed 50,000 watts ofpower, producing electrical arcs many feet in length.Tesla was researching methods of transmittingelectricity without the use of traditional wires. Teslasucceeded in lighting two-hundred, 50-wattincandescent lamps twenty six miles away bygenerating an electric field with the Tesla Coil.
Other life-changing and enriching inventionsattributed to Tesla include - turbines, x-rays, radar,alternating current motors, fluorescent lamps andmany other outstanding inventions. However, thetransmission of electrical power by radio waves wasTesla’s greatest dream. With more than 250 patentsto his credit, Tesla died at age 86, literally penniless,in a New York hotel room on January 7, 1943. It israther ironic that a man who gave the world somuch, received so very little for his efforts. He spentthe last years of his life in solitude. Tesla remarked,“The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion andsolitude. It does not cost a million dollars to think,and by thinking, the idea is created.”
Tesla is a riveting journey into the mind and life ofthe eccentric wizard who was Edison’s enemy, MarkTwain’s friend, J. P. Morgan’s client, hero and mentorto many of the 20th century’s most famous scientists.
In final tribute, theInstitute of RadioEngineers said, “Helived in a land ofbrilliant concepts anddreams so lofty as tobe foredoomed -- acatalyst in the realmof technology. Hispassing seems, in asense, to be the endof an epoch.”
Nikola Tesla
“.....The present istheirs. The future,for which I reallyworked, is mine.”
Tesla monument @ Niagara Falls
HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSASIN ASSOCIATION WITH THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
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