G'day Bill,

This article is not bad in some respects, lousy in others. The author had little idea what he was talking about. Have a look at that bit about a thermocouple effect, absolute nonsense. In a thermocouple the two dissimilar metals have to be in metal to metal contact, Stubblefield specifies otherwise. There is no thermocouple effect if there is electrical contact between the metals via moisture or an electrolyte.

Hans von Lieven

bill did the coil of wire around the 2 nails do 8 ma by themselfs? what did that coil configuration do by itself?

@ Hans:

I agree about the article in general and the part about the thermocouple business specifically.  I worked with some various thermocouples for some IBM contracts we had.  My understanding is that a thermocouple uses dissimilar metals yes, but only dissimilar in their coefficient of thermal expansion which is what causes the movement or bending action.

I was more intrigued by the mention of the "third" coil as the secondary.  You have been saying this right along that for a secondary to do any good, we have to be dealing with pulses.  This was also the first time I have read (that I remember) how the bifilar coils were wound. If accurate, it said that the cotton coated copper wire and the iron wire were wrapped side by side, and each layer was insulated as well.  It also mentioned that the 4 wire ends you end up with are where the power is taken from.  I have always wanted to know what to do with those ends and could never seem to find out.  According to this article, all 4 ends stick up out of the ground for connections to a load.  But, when a secondary is added, how is that connected?  Or, is it just induction with no connections?  I would like to attempt to build one of these one day soon.

PS

In my research to locate Bernard Stubblefield (Nathan's son) I have his last known address in Nashville, Tn
but I also read that he was 14 when helping his father in like 1910 so, I don't have much hope that he is still living.  the address I have for him is as of 1970.

Bill

@ Artic Knight:

I did test the coil/zinc spike/magnesium block configuration by itself and got 0 on everything. It put out a little over 9mA for several days and....dropped to zero!!!!  I have no idea why.  I have not had a chance to dig it up and see what might have happened. It's probably not a good sign.

bill for reference i tested my tesla coil today, i used foam board insulation as the circular frame at the top and a wooden rod as the shaft, i wrapped about 8 inches of coil around the shaft then made 3 circles around the insulation. the whole thing looked like a giant lolipop.Ã,  the only conducting material was my copper coil, i tried to use this with the aluminum rod as one pole and the tesla coil as the other no current. i tried grounding the coil and pulling some electricity from the secondary coil (a coil around the coil on the shaft) no current, i cut the top off and stuck it into the ground and got .4volt at no amps. mind you my coil is insulated.

perhaps what we need here is iron or its cusin steel?Ã,  i pulled 2 miliamp off of the steel rod and aluminum rod.Ã,  and coils like the steel rods.Ã,  i want to try this metal rod with the ceramic top and coil around the outside but i dont have the materials. does someone else have a glass or ceramic object that might could be used like the ones in the photos?

bill why use the magnesium blocks? why not use 2 nails with coils around them like you had in wood? seems like it would work. it might be a good base to see if the magnesium is interacting with the coils and nails or not!

@ bill i think i answered that a few pages back with my explanation to sid10 you  should check it out.
                                                                                                  Joe