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Frank S. Betz Static Electric Machine: Cost $4500. Cost to
ship: $3500. Cost to restore: $10,000.
This machine needed 24 new glass plates cut. Covered in shellac.
And pieces of tin foil meticulously glued in the correct places.
It also needed a new set of dischargers. Wood grafted back into
place and repaired. The cabinet completely devoid of humidity.
New rubber and felt gaskets.
Every piece was hand-made. Every piece was made according to the
way they were made in 1900.
Daniel Cuscela bought the machine. We
restored it together.
These plates took months to make...because each one had many steps of
coating, baking, recoating... There are 24 plates total.
They weigh roughly 600 pounds.
That axle weighed about 650 pounds when all was said and done...and the
plates had to be installed within millimeters of each other in the exact
order and rotated at precise angles.
To make it more complicated, some were fixed to the axle and others are
floating... It took many hours and a lot of hard work...there were
only two of us to lift the assembly.
That night Dan crashed about 1:30. I had no rest until I got it
working...
Some of the first spark photos taken that night, around 2am...we were
exhausted. But we made history. It's the largest machine of
that type in the US.
Sparks with Leyden Jars using an $6000 Ultraviolet Quartz-Lens Camera.
This is Frank S. Betz. I think he would be proud.
This machine is now at RGF Environmental Group as part of the
Electro-Mechanical Museum. http://www.rgf.com/electro-museum/
This is an alternating current Kinraide Coil. The oldest high
frequency X-Ray machine in the USA.
It was stolen from a school in Salem
MA...
The coils needed completely rewound and each part had to be
disassembled, repaired, and polished.
They were wound using handmade quadruple silk-coated wires according to
Kinraide's original prototypes.
Solidworks drawings of each part were made.
The restoration was a success.
It made X-Rays using less energy than a light bulb. Just like the
original.
The machine was returned to the only surviving family of its original
inventor.
This is Thomas Burton Kinraide. I think he would be proud.
An accurate functioning replica is on display at RGF Environmental
Group's Electro-Mechanical Museum http://www.rgf.com/electro-museum
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