Alexanderson gets zapped while working in hotel basement
Another interesting device was brought to the station by Dr. Alexanderson.
This was a resistance coupled amplifier, with especially made G.E. tubes
which had extremely high impedance. The amplifier didn't help much, although
it gave good signals, because it was too microphonic and would amplify
static just as much as it would the signals. I am not likely to forget
the time Alexanderson and I were testing it in the basement of the main
building. We had brought out a lead to the 2000 ft. ground wire buried
7 ft. deep. I chose that wire because it would have plenty of static, as
well as plenty of signal on it. In the middle of our experiments, a violent
thunder storm came up. One of the 450 ft. towers, a few hundred feet from
the building, was struck by lightning. If anyone thinks that a wire 7 ft.
under ground cannot pick up a violent surge of current, they are very much
mistaken; sparks four inches long jumped out of the lead wire coming into
the basement, although it was shielded almost to the receiver. I had just
put the receivers down, but Alexanderson still had the receivers on his
head. He got a pretty lively shock. Even this didn't cause him to quit
the experiment.
Page updated December 30, 2003
page created September 02, 2000 Previous
StoryNext
Story
Back to the Taylor Index
Back to the InfoAge Homepage
Next
Story
Back to the Taylor Index
Back to the InfoAge Homepage
