Peter,
Thank you for the fascinating interview. Several quotes made me sit up straight:
"I developed a brush made up of a layer of graphite, then carbon, then graphite, then carbon."
"We licked that one by developing what we called our "reverse current relay". "
I'm currently sitting at my office desk with the electrical schematics of a 1950's helicopter spread out beside me. I just realized that this helicopter regulates its own engine-driven generator with field coils stimulated through a "reverse current relay", just as Jacobs describes.
"The bearings themselves were pretty good, see, but the seals around the races would dry out and let the grease inside get away after a few years."
Another thing I've encountered in some helicopter components. Sealed bearings AREN'T. Some things never change....
"...it's not very smart to completely stop a windplant propeller. The ice mostly freezes on the lowest blade and that'll wreck your plant if you turn it loose. It's much better to let the propeller swing around a little bit during a winter storm."
Q: "What if an individual wants to go out and build his own windplant the way you put your first ones together...with materials he finds in junkyards and other odds and ends?"
JACOBS: Well I haven't been active in the field for 15 or 18 years now. There's a lot of new stuff I'm not familiar with...but I'd say that some of the AC generators and the rectifiers now available should make that pretty easy. "
The foundation of this site...