Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

February 2002 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the February 2002 issue, Vol. 55, no. 2, © 2002 Barks Publications, Inc. See also February 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 - Think positively - times may be getting better ... Blame USPS, but tell us about torn copies ... EMBR update ... Staff news:  Stacy Whitman promoted to Assistant Editor, Alexis Ball, now teaching in Chicago public schools, continues as staff artist (including cover design of William Wiersema's latest book, Steps to a Successful Shop - Essentials of Financial Management)...

• 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: Continuous operation of short-time rated motors ... Adding d-c field turns could cause trouble ... Does varnish differ from resin? ... How long can a motor run single-phased ... Do-it-yourself hold-down bolts may be dangerous ... Growler test isn't always reliable for cage rotors .. What's causing riser breakage in d-c motor?  .. Temperature sensors, what's in a name? ...  and more

• Letters  - In this issue, letters from James R. Johnson, P.E., Oregon and Utah Coos-Umpqua Area Engineer, Pacificorp, Roseburg, Oregon ... Mark Kennedy, Advanced L&C Engineer, L&C Systems, Little Canada, Minnesota...

• Trade associations and professional societies News of non-profit organizations serving the electrical mechanical industries.  This month  - NEMA president Malcolm O'Hagan says electric industry will be "in the thick of it" ... Illuminating Engineering Society of North America honors Herb Odle .. EASA to hold a "trading post" to sell equipment ... Professional Electrical Apparatus Recyclers League donates $4,000 to "United We Stand" ... NETA urges members to "spend, spend, spend"... Refrigeration Service Engineers Society plans its 65th Annual Conference ... Erik Weihenmayer, blind mountain climber who plans to climb the highest peaks on each of seven continents, speaks at the National Association of Electrical Distributors ... the American Society for Testing and Materials renames itself ASTM International ... Coming meetings of the Professional Electrical Apparatus Recyclers League, the International Electrical Testing Association, the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society, the Bluegrass State Association, the International Energy Agency Heat Pump Conference in China, the North American Marketing Conference, and the National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association ... and more.  Note:  the 2002 EMBR lists contact information for more than 140 associations ... 

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month - Volland Electric acquires supply and leasing business ... Standard Electric purchases B&B Electric Supply ... Hernon Manufacturing and Inchem Holdings form adhesive venture ... Richco, Inc., in licensing agreement with Miniflex  ... Minarik Corp purchases Reserve Motion Control ... NKK Switches expands distribution into Southeast Asia, working with Future Electronics ... GE Industrial Systems acquires Interlogis, Inc., electronic security company ... ABB's Australia groups are combined ... WEG Electric Motors trademarks the phrase "crusher-duty" ... New facilities for Lafert North America, Simkar, and Graybar ... Lincoln Electric is certified to ISO 9001 ... New sales reps for E-Mon Corp ... 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: Industrial maintenance... Power transmission ... Electrical safety ... Hazardous locations... Digital multimeters ... Infrared thermography ... Refrigeration service... Repair and management ... and more

• Accounting for management This month - Financial tools for difficult times - The best way to prepare for tough decisions is to have contingency plans in place beforehand ...  By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor and author of the newly published book, Steps to a Successful Service Shop.

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - Attention Deficit Disorder - It affects adults as well as kids.  A children's learning disability can also occur among daydreaming employees.   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, including our latest new book, Steps to a Successful Service Shop.

• Standards briefs ...  This month - European testing standard to take effect ... a metric centenary celebration ... NETA maintenance testing standards OK'd .. News from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Web briefs ...  Selected websites for the electromechanical specialist.  This month:  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Say It Right ... The popular column about language in the workplace. This month:By Richard L. Nailen, P.E., EA Engineering Editor . 

• Names and Faces This month - Larry Heran and Bob Koptis from Armature Coil Equipment Inc., ... Randy Reynolds from Conneaut Industries, Inc. ... Stephanie Remus and Dean Hoffmann from Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co....Phillip Pellegrino from Intermagnetics General Corporation ... Richard Mack from Harting Inc. of North America ... Al Vanacore from Network Service Management .. Jake Fey of Washington State University's Cooperative Extension Energy Program ... Peter Schwartz of United Electric Controls .. .Edited by Kevin Jones.

• Deaths  

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

• Electropix Photographs of people, places, equipment and more ... 

• Literature Announcements of guides, catalogs, brochures, product specifications and other literature. This month  features materials from Adalet ... PK Neuses ... Baumer Electric ... Baldor Electric ... Greenwich Electronics ... Lyon Workspace Products ... Grand Eagle, Inc.  ... Tyco Electronics ... ACE Equipment Co ... Associated Research Inc ... Eaton Corp ... Lab Safety Supply Inc. ... Balmac, Inc.... and more... 

• Product briefs Announcements of Controls ... Drives and Inverters ... Insulation ... Measuring Equipment ... Motors and gear motors ... Power transmission ... Interconnections ...Switching devices ... Software ... Test Instruments ...   and more

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month: Alternative to capacitors: the synchronous condensor ...Eine Alternative zu Kondensatoren - die Synchron-Blindleistungsmaschine  ... Une alternative aux condensateurs statiques: le condensateur synchrone  ... Une alternativa a los capacitres: el Condensador Sincrono... 

• 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 - Prices are rising (so what else is new?) ... USPS needs to cover losses .. Job search time is increasing ... More money to be spent on R&D this year ... Two major manufacturing categories gained last year ... Conducting evacuation drills at work .. the first large scale wind turbine in Antarctica ... ...  

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

• Utility Briefs  - News of utility and power companies.   This month - Combustionless fuel cell to be installed in Japan ... Renewable energy purchase said to be Northwest's largest ... New sag monitors lift power line efficiency ... Keyspan raises one million dollars for World Trade Center relief ...  Edited by Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor

• Electrical manager  A potpourri of news and features, selected and edited for maintenance and service managers.   This month - Ten resolutions to get your company off to a good start ... How Electronic Maintenance Associates of Norcross, Georgia, improved morale and customer satisfaction despite a slow economy ... 

• EMBR update  - changes to the Electromechanical Bench Reference 2002, the annual buyers' guide that readers received with their December 2001 Electrical Apparatus.  Since the directory was published, corrections and additions appear in subsequent issues of the magazine.