Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

September 2001 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the September 2001 issue, Vol. 52, no. 9, © 2001 Barks Publications, Inc. See also SeptemberTable of Contents.

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• Editor's Comment Perspective on current and upcoming issues, by Horace B. Barks, Editor and Publisher This month - A propitious time to be thinking about fuel cells .. Today, business promotion is more important than ever ... Interviewing the interviewer: Dick Nailen a local celebrity  ... 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: Scaled insulation: what it is - and does ... How vibration can affect bearing life ... What about efficiency of single-phase motors ... Can balanced voltages give unbalanced currents? ... How much voltage dip from on site-generator?  ... Beware of overly large balance weights ... What current variation indicates a bad rotor? ... Starting duty may damage connections   ... and more

• Letters Letters from Henry F. Payne, Payne Engineering, Scott Depot, West Virginia ... Gersil N. Kay, Conservation Lighting International, Ltd., Philadelphia ... John Atkins, CPE, Webcraft, a Vertis Direct Marketing Service, North Brunswick, New Jersey ... Mike Bailey, Bessemer State Technical College, Bessemer, Alabama

• Trade associations and professional societies News of non-profit organizations serving the electrical mechanical industries.  This month  - NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) tops U. S. standards - "NEMA Premium" ... it's virtual meeting time at ARI (Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute) ... Distributors cheer "tax relief" bill, with NAWD (National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors), NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses), NAM (National Association of Manufacturers), and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce taking credit ... OSHA (Occupational Health & Safety Administration) gets left-handed complement from NAM ... Steven Boggs, Professor at University of Connecticut and University of Toronto, calls DEIS (Dielectrics & Electric Insulation undemocratic ... Small Motors & Motion Association holds three day meeting and course on feedback devices ...  RSES (Refrigeration Service Engineers Society) discusses centrifugal chiller technology ... PEARL (Professional Electrical Apparatus Recyclers League) seeks abstracts of papers, ideas for topics for its annual conference  .. EASA honors Walter L. Corbin ... Association people Pamela K. Horner, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America; Daniel W. Holmes Jr., CEO Morrison Products and newly elected chairman Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute; Michael J. Stewart, Woodrow S. McClure Jr., and Les Parsons, Electrical Apparatus Service Association....and more

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month - P.D. George buys Epoxylite resin business, which along with Ripley Corp of Addison Illinois manufactures vacuum-pressure and trickle impregnation systems as well as variables ... Everson Electric produces superconducting magnet designed by American Superconductor Corp. ... Lincoln Electric Company opens new service parts business ... Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc., consolidates its subsidiary Electricord into its new Electricord Division ... GE Lighting launches a new version of its web site in Mandarin Chinese ... Graybar, the St. Louis based distributor of electrical products, announces plans to raise $100 million by issuing bonds through Prudential Capital Group ... Fuses Unlimited  is signed as an authorized stocking distributor for Volex Inc., (formerly part of Belden Wire and Cable) ... Certification: items feature Suflex, Inc., the Safety Equipment Institute, Standards Council of Canada, Tyco Electronics  ...a photo of the new headquarters building of connector maker Penn-Union Corp. of Edinboro, PA 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: Energy retailing ... Electrical distribution .. Corona prevention ... Feedback devices ... Power quality .. Lubricating grease ... Motor maintenance ... Power transmission ... Machine reliability ...   ... and more

• Accounting for management This month - Protecting your business from unexpected risks - Nearly anything can become a multimillion dollar claim  By Wiliam 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 -Standards harmonization no simple task ... Is Electrical Code controversy finally over? ... Electrical Code training in South America ... NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) guides to aid marketers to Europe, accessible at http://ts.nist.gov/ts/  ...ANSI (American National Standards Institute) seeks comment on two proposals   ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Names and Faces This month -Nancy Dickman, Waukesha Electric Systems, SPX Corp ... Dudley Wass, H. Power Corp ... Tony Clinkscales, Greg Moon and Chess Martin, Darby Electric ... Al Fortney, David Fortney, Danny Fortney, Fortney Sale Co ... S. Martin Taylor and Robert Harvey, DTE Energy Co/Detroit Edison ... Michael Catnia, Leeson Electric ... Charlie Jerabek and Dean Langford, Osram Sylvania ... Mark Reinders and Larry Wollums, Cooper Industries ...Jeff Hubert and Kevin Dunn, Baldor Electric Co. ... James Dolan, National Fire Protection Association ...  Edited by Kevin Jones.

• Deaths  Charles E. Smith (Chuck Smith), retired vice president of I. E. Berger Corp., baseball pitcher, engineer, association officer

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

• Electropix This issue  - Distribution, electrotechnology and junk> Richard Martin wins a Ford F-350 heavy duty pickup truck from a prize drawing on the website of General Eelctric Supply at the National Electrical Contractors Association convention in Seattle ... Lincoln Electric Company welding equipment is featured on a Learning Channel's "Junkyard Wars"  Saving Energy at the French company AMC ETEC, St. Cézaire sur Siagne, France... Also, the new headquarters building of connector maker Penn-Union Corp. of Edinboro, PA ... EASA honors Walter L. Corbin ... photos from Cincinnati ... and more

• Literature Announcements of guides, catalogs, brochures, product specifications and other literature. This issue - LeCentric series in-line gear reducers catalog from Leeson Electric ... AOL Smith, Century and Universal Electric general= and special purpose a-c and d-c motors bulletin from A. O. Smith Electrical Products Co., ... Catalog listing flow monitoring and level control devices from Eugene Ernst Products Co., ... four product catalogs listing electrical insulation materials from the Quin-T Group ... interactive electronic catalog on CD-ROM from Baldor Electric Co ... Heavy-duty terminals and connectors in catalog from Tyco Electronics ... Buyers Guide of electrical products and services from WESCO International .... flexible electrical conduit brochure from Electri-Flex Co ... hazardous location luminaires brochure from Holophane ... test and measurement products catalog from Ideal Industries ...Features and benefits of the tubular plate flooded lift truck battery from GNB Industrial Power ..   hand tools catalog from Wiha Quality Tools ... basics of vibration measurement and single plane balancing from Balmac, Inc. ... and more

• Product briefs Announcements of power quality, controls, software, switching devices, test instruments, and  tools...This issue - Test instruments ... controls... Power Transmission ... Insulation ... Tools...  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  This month - we present a new brainteaser, and we feature the readers who submitted correct answers to the "Sample Carrier" puzzler:  Stuart Jones, Director of Engineering, Comprehensive Powers, Inc., Shrewsbury, Mass.; John Ekis, Entergy, Russellville, Ark.;  Darrell Nickerson, J&N Electric, Pasco, Washington; Don Hillman, Member Service Manager, Peoples Cooperative Services, Rochester, Minnesota; John Johnston, Charlotte, North Carolina; David Cleve, Barstow, California

• 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 - Something new under the sun - electricity-producing photovoltaic cells integrated into building exteriors ... Manufacturers, distributors at odds over e-business ... an atomic clock said to be 1,000 times better than today's best clock ... The Nixon tapes... Lithium Battery sales are expected to grow rapidly ,... The World market for low-voltage components will be growing ...  ...  

• 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 ...How many kinds of maintenance are there? Breakdown maintenance .. preventive maintenance .. predictive maintenance -- Agreeing on the meanings of terms is essential if we're to get the job done right.  . 

• Utility Briefs  - News of utility and power companies.  This month - DTE Energy Technologies joint venture with Samsung Techwin ... Primen utility research firm warns: go slowly on e-investments ... KeySpan Corp. in fight over control of Roy Kay contractor ... Edited by Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor

• Electrical manager  Steps to take about workplace anger (see also August EA)... Getting the best care from your doctor ... Ergonomic rules (without OSHA?) ... .Eliminating the causes of bad workplace stress ... Let's do lunch, but let's do it right ... 

• 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