Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

June 2001 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the June 2001 issue, Vol. 52, no. 6, (c) 2001 Barks Publications, Inc. See also June Table of Contents.

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• Editor's Comment Perspective on current and upcoming issues, by Horace B. Barks, Editor and Publisher This month - The energy crisis - what is and what isn't being done. Featuring photos of: wind farm at Green Mountain Power Co. in Vermont ... incinerator plant for household waste near Paris ... solar operated Ferris wheel off Santa Monica, California

• Let's Solve Your Problem The longest-running and one of our most popular features, Let's Solve Your Problem answers real questions posed by people in plants and service shops around the U.S. and abroad. Selected Q&A's from this column are available in our popular Let's Solve Your Problem books. This month's problems include: What's causing group connection failures?  Is re-treatment of VPI effective? Do older motors need lower stripping temperatures? What could be causing repeated motor failures? Generator relaying differs for different turbines... Wave-wound versus lap-wound rotors ... Commutator temperature can affect brush life ...Can a wye-delta starter save energy? What surface finish for commutators?   ... and more

• Letters Letters from Jonathan Anstee, Anstee & Ware, Ltd., Avonmouth, England ... Bob Blank, Metal-Line Corp, Manistee, Michigan ... Douglas Smithman, EMP Engineering Services, Dresher, Pennsylvania ... Dale Hamil, Illinois Electric Works, Granite City, Illinois ... 

• Trade associations and professional societies News of non-profit organizations serving the electrical mechanical industries.  This month  - Improved refrigerants can benefit the world ... Refrigeration Service Engineers Society revises certifications ... Manufacturers' Representatives Educational Research Foundation graduates 76 representatives ... Remanufacturing Institute lobbies for Remanufacturing and Metals Recycling Tax Credit (HR 2953) ... Association people Charles F. Knight, J. Michael Marks, Richard S. Herd, T. J. Glauthier, Paul J. Griffin ...  and more

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month - Louis Allis and Rotating Specialists merge ... Regal-Beloit forms umbrella motor group ... Baldor acquires generator manufacturer ... Graybar buys Virginia distributor .. High-voltage test companies merge ... Detroit Edison subsidiary buys distributor  .. GE/Honeywell merger news ... Saftronics buys drive systems integrator ... Joslyn sells non-core product lines ...Fuses Unlimited acquires GE line .. American Superconductor receives Navy contract for superconducting motors ... earnings reports from W. W. Grainger and General Cable ...new sales offices for Pittsburgh Electrical Insulation and Electronic Connections, Inc.... New sales representatives for Bridgeport Fittings and Peerless-Winsmith ... ..and more

• Training Briefs Announcements of workshops, seminars and instructional materials - This month: Motor maintenance, machine reliability, electrical distribution, appliance motors, motors and drives, infrared thermography, lighting design, motor repair, accreditation for HVACR programs, training materials from the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society ... and more

• Accounting for management This month - Getting the best effort from your salespeople - For a sales incentive to be effective, it must be fair as well as generous  By Wiliam H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor.

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - AED: a must for every company's first aid kit - Automatic external defibrillators can save lives when used within minutes of a heart attack.  By Richard B. Elsberry, EA Contributing Editor.  Also - Workplace fatalities down 50% in 20 years, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention 

• New Books Recently published books, reviewed by our editors.  See also Books for the Plant and Shop from Barks Books, including titles from the editors of Electrical Apparatus.

• Standards briefs This month - National Electrical Code adopted in Ecuador.... American National Standards Institute requests public comment on two new electrical standards .. Underwriters Laboratories announces release of two new electrical standards ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Names and Faces This month - Jerry Kochanski, Bob Carapella, Mark Eaton, Ben Hamilton, David Harrison, Richard Schul, Scott Telesz, David Baxter, Timothy Rooney, Larry Woolums, Joe Fox, Gerry Snowden, Toshio Sugiura, Steve Itoh, Alan Noia, Dan Leeser...  Edited by Kevin Jones.

• Deaths  James Ketcham, founder and owner of Ketcham Electric Motor Repair, Ligonier, Indiana

• Calendar Briefs - Upcoming trade shows, symposia, and events, from June 2001 through June 2002 ... Edited by Kevin Jones.

• Electropix This issue's Electropix include Africa's largest wind farm ... Monarch Electric Service Company's rapid response to m/g failure ... a new electric vehicle, Robosoft's the RobuCar.  Also: National Electric Motor & Supply warehouse...the staff of Advanced Coil Technologies ...  wind farm at Green Mountain Power Co. in Vermont ... incinerator plant for household waste near Paris ... solar operated Ferris wheel off Santa Monica, California... Russian-French solar powered satellite vehicle ... wind power in Wideham, France ... photos of product pipelines, offices, and field work in Campo Boscan, Venezuela

• Literature Announcements of guides, catalogs, brochures, product specifications and other literature. This issue - the fall protection instructor set from the Construction Safety Council, Ferraz Shawmut's fuse and accessory North American Advisor, electrical enclosures and more from AD Products Co, Lincoln Motors' washdown duty motors, Minarik Corp's 2001 Motors and Drives Catalog, The Tri Lifter mobile crane ... and more

• Product briefs Announcements of new controls, drives & inverters, interconnections, measuring equipment, motors, gear motors, power transmission, safety equipment, test instruments, tools, and miscellaneous products. This month - Interconnections, power transmission, measuring equipment.

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month's topic is "Is there such a thing as a 'standard thermal limit curve'?"  Gibt es für die thermische Leistungsgrenze eine Standardkurve? Exist-t-il une courbe de limite thermique normalisé? ¿Exist una Curva de Límite Térmico Normalizada?

• Puzzles   Puzzles you and your colleagues can solve for fun and, if your answers are correct, for recognition in Electrical Apparatus.   by Lillian Nielsen, Special Correspondent  This month - Congratulations to Ron Gutru, P.E. and CEO of an electrical manufacturing company, who was the first person to solve both the "Average Speed" and the "Paradox" puzzles. Tim Apgar (Independence Power & Light, Independence, Missouri) and Don Hillman (People's Cooperative Services, Rochester, Minnesota) also solved both puzzles ...  and twenty two other puzzle solvers have their names listed on page 63 for solving the "Average Speed" puzzle.  Our next puzzle, "Sample Carrier," appears on page 62.

• Classified Advertising Equipment, jobs, businesses, business opportunities and services.

• Cy's Super Service, Motorhead and Generatorhead Comic strips featuring characters from our favorite cartoonists. 

• Direct and Current Breaking news of interest to the industry, from The Editors of Electrical Apparatus. This issue - Buildings damaged during the recent midwest floods ...small fuel cell residential generating systems... fictitious stock fund ....the uninterruptible power supply (UPS)  ... economic predictions ... and more 

• Advertising Index  An easy to use reference to the advertisements in Electrical Apparatus magazine.

• Say It Right By Richard L. Nailen, P.E.,  Contributing Editor.

• Utility Briefs  - News of utility and power companies

• Electrical manager  A potpourri of news and features, selected and edited for maintenance and service managers.