by Butch Shadwell
Little Schlomo had nothing on his mind as he rolled the wheel down Pearl Street with his stick. The sound this perfect circle made as it rumbled along, drew his thoughts away from here and now. It was 1889, and for a ten year old in New York, life was lived in the street, and things were hard. Uncle Lenny, who had been living with his family for as long as he could remember, was sure his ship would come in any day now. Even though he knew it was rubbish, sometimes Schlomo would enjoy listening as his uncle would explain his latest get rich quick scheme. It was on a Tuesday, as he heard his Uncle Lenny describe his new electric light business. As you know, light bulbs were pretty expensive, about a dollar a piece, and they didn't really last that long. Lenny's idea was to sell folks lower voltage light bulbs which were a little cheaper and would last a little longer. He planned on buying transformers to reduce the voltage. What turn ratio did he need to run 25 volt bulbs? Hope you remember your electrifying history.Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email)
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† Our friend Butch volunteers a bit too much, he never quite catches up to the current month.
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1 comment:
Brain Teaser Solution - "September"
I am a little embarrassed to have put in so many clues, but I still got some incorrect answers. Schlomo "rolled the wheel down Pearl Street" - The Pearl St. Station was a well known DC generating station. "It was 1889, and for a ten year old in New York," - The Pearl St. station burned in 1891. "... he heard his Uncle Lenny describe his new electric light business. As you know, light bulbs were pretty expensive, about a dollar a piece, and they didn't really last that long. Lenny's idea was to sell folks lower voltage light bulbs which were a little cheaper and would last a little longer. He planned on buying transformers to reduce the voltage. What turn ratio did he need to run 25 volt bulbs? Hope you remember your electrifying history."
Edison's New York power grid ran on 110 volts DC. Of course the use of a transformer to lower the voltage would not have worked without a later invention called a vibrator (used in car radios in order to create the higher B voltage for the vacuum tubes), which would turn DC into pulsing DC which could produce an output from a transformer.
But I bet you already knew that.
Butch
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