Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

August 2001 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the August 2001 issue, Vol. 52, no. 8, (c) 2001 Barks Publications, Inc. See also August 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 - It's no longer your grandfather's Navy ... Why we take seriously the matter of accuracy ("At Electrical Apparatus, the first thing writers are taught is that the reader may know more than we do.") ... Next month in EA ...

• 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: Brazed joints: tight but not too tight .. V-belt slippage: Is belt dressing the answer? ... How much air to cool power resistors? ... Cracked rotor bars: repair, or replace? ... How much variation in V-belt tension? ... What polarity is best for an ASD motor? ...How are hazardous areas defined -- and by whom? ... Turns ratio accuracy: What is the limit?  ... and more

• Letters Letters from Patrick McShane, Cooper Power, Dielectric Fluids Products, Waukesha, Wisconsin ...Dick Quantrille, Kaman Industrial Technologies, Spokane, Washington ... Alan W. Gottlieb, Great Neck, New York ... Bob Van Loock, Van Loock Motoren, Schoten, Belgium ... Richard Langout, Columbus, Ohio ... John E. Ranieri, Ranieri Electric Motor Service, Dafter, Michigan ... Joel Avery, Avery Electric Motor Repair, Billings, Montana ... John Rytkonen, Electro-Motor, Inc., Sulphur, Louisiana

• Trade associations and professional societies News of non-profit organizations serving the electrical mechanical industries.  This month  - 50 firms unite as the Common Ground Alliance to protect utility infrastructure ... NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) backs U. S. national energy plan ... USEA (United States Energy Association) issued earlier national energy strategy developed by the American Public Power Association, Edison Electric Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, National Energy Institute, American Gas Association and American Petroleum Institute ... EASA (Electrical Apparatus Service Association) urges exhibitors to follow up sales leads ... Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute reports April central air conditioner sales down in April ... and more

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month - Saftronics buys California drives company ... ERG Resources is new power system and enclosure company ... Rockwell Automation introduces motor service network ... Grand Eagle unveils new logo and identity ... GE Supply introduces Palm Pilot ordering ... Baldor introduces motor energy labels ... Motion Industries opens Puerto Rico branch ... GE Support's new breaker core exchange ... Kentucky firm holds seminar in new facility ... Utility data collection line sold by Maysteel LLC to HD Electric Co. ... E-MON Corp. moves to new San Diego facility ... PdMA Corp is certified to ISO 9001 ... Crescent Electric Supply opens 116th distribution facility in The Dalles, Oregon ... Bridgeport Fittings, Inc., names Lester Sales Co., Inc. a representative  ... and more

• Training Briefs Announcements of workshops, seminars and instructional materials, and our Training Index, listing program topics featured in Training Briefs in the past year - This month: Quality certification ... Electrical safety ... Electrical distribution ... Motor maintenance ...Power transmission ... Machine reliability ... Infrared thermography ... Motor repair  ... and more

• Accounting for management This month - Protecting your business from unexpected risks - Nearly anything can become a multimillion dollar claim  By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor.

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - Workplace rage: when anger erupts into violence   - Upset workers usually direct their complaints at supervisors  By Richard B. Elsberry, EA Contributing Editor.  

• 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 - IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) adopts revised insulation standard .. UL (Underwriters Laboratories) proposes outlet box standards for ANSI ... NEMA revises servo/stepper standard ... ANSI (American National Standards Institute) seeks public comment on mining cable ... CSA (Canadian Standards Association) releases ISO essentials handbook ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Names and Faces This month - Donald Heinrich, John Bertrand and Joe Thomas from A.O. Smith Corp ... Patrick Carlin of Heyco Products, Inc. .. Kenny Helton of Chevron Products recognized by PdMA Corp ... David Stankes moves to Quin-T Corp ... David Roybal awarded  Ralph H. Lee Department Prize by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .. Sean DeCamillo scheduled to talk at Turbomachinery 30th Symposium and Short Courses conference ... Wesley Clark named President and COO of W. W. Grainger ... Richard Regan and Ted Dlugolecki of Standard Electric .. D. Beatty D'Alessandro, Kathleen Mazzarella, Michael Fowler, Richard Harvey, Stephen Thomas, Thomas Townsend, John Fischer, Joseph Sabatino, Keith Davis at Graybar ... David Tallant of Motion Industries ... Charles Call at National Starch and Chemical Company .. Peter Desloge and Gary Neal of Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co ... Doug Parentice, Bill Hurst of  Electric Utility Products and Enclosures Group ..,. Mark Alspaugh, Phillip Thompson Jr.of Warren Electric ... David Wilczyski of Appli-tec ... Vishwanath Prasad, Dean, College of Engineering, Florida International University in Miami... and more ...  Edited by Kevin Jones.

• Deaths  

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

• Electropix This issue  - Technology speeds ahead: New high speed train in France - TGV train operated by SNCF... First injection molding center in Cincinnati - The world's first Energy Resource Center by Milacron, Inc. ... EASA's biggest show in Chicago ... and more

• Literature Announcements of guides, catalogs, brochures, product specifications and other literature. This issue -Permanent magnet motor catalog from Imperial Electric Co ... Electric sub0nmetering instruments and automatic meter reading hardware and software from E-MON Corp .. Laser alignment systems, stainless steel precut shims, and balance weights from Mr. Shims ... Hipot testers from AEMC Instruments  ... and more

• Product briefs Announcements of power quality, controls, software, switching devices, test instruments, and  tools...This issue - Drives and inverters ... Interconnections ... Measuring Equipment .. Motors and gear motors ... adhesives/sealants ... power safety bag ... and more

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month's topic is "Surge suppressors - first line of transient defense"  Unterdrückungs-vorrichtungen für Stoßspannungen bieten den besten Schutz...Suppresseurs des poussées de tension - Première ligne de défense contre les courants transitoires ... Eliminadores de sobrevoltaje - La Primera Linea de Defensa Contra Ondas Transitorias

• 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 

• 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 - Changes at Underwriters Laboratories ... The US Postal Service Saturday delivery question .. Computers will participate in the office of the future ... E-Baldrige Organizational Profile ... Fire.gov, a free online newsletter from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Fire Administration ...  

• 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. This month ... What do we mean by load? Usage of the word can depend on what kind of drive is being used. 

• Utility Briefs  - News of utility and power companies.  

• Electrical manager  A potpourri of news and features, selected and edited for maintenance and service managers. This month - Look, listen and live at railroad grade crossings ... The good and the bad of the Americans With Disabilities Act ... Love is sweeping the workplace .. Smart tips for smart shoppers - avoid credit card fraud...

• EMBR update  - changes to the Electromechanical Bench Reference 2001, the annual buyers' guide that readers received with their December 2000 Electrical Apparatus.  Since the directory was published, corrections and additions appear in subsequent issues of the magazine.  

• Shop Equipment Showcase  - A special section devoted to equipment and materials used in apparatus service and repair - See July issue