Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

November 2002 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the November 2002 issue, Vol. 55, no. 11, © 2002 Barks Publications, Inc. See also November 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 - Yes, there are still places (many) for gearmotors ... Intellectual curiosity can be a company's greatest asset ...  What's coming in future EA's ... 

• 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: Why is a cooler motor more efficient? ... Are withdrawn standards available? ... How rotor dimensions are accounted for in magnetizing ... Can a reound motor be used on a phase converter? ... What defines the minimum efficiency? ... Humidity limits for use of standard motors ... Coping with field coil overheating ... Blown fuses: replace one or all three? ... What drive circuit length is considered safe? ... A-C vs. d-c hipot: a function of size?...      Edited by the EA staff 

You are invited to send questions to this department. Your identity will be kept confidential, but we ask that you include your name, affiliation, postal (not e-mail) address, and telephone number. If you'd like a pre-publication reply, enclose a stamped envelope and we'll try to respond promptly. We cannot provide personal consultation or supply winding data.

• Letters  

Electrical Apparatus invites letters, 250 words maximum. All letters, including e-mail, must include name, company, title or position, phone number, city, state or province, and country. We may edit your letter for clarity and space.— Editor

• Trade associations,  professional societies and government activities  News of non-profit  government, and other organizations serving the electrical mechanical industries.  This month's items include: Electricians adopt NFPA standard in Ohio ... RSES expands training ... Hydraulic Institute endorses NEMA Premium ... Coalition promotes technical careers ... Association People: Andrew E. Sabin, of Sabin Metal Corp honored by the International Precious Metals Institute ... Darla Hineman, Don Gilpin and Nicholas Pasyanos of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association ... Coming Meetings:  SMMA - The Motor & Motion Association ... The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute .. The Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association  and more...

Note:  the 2003 EMBR lists contact information for more than 140 associations ... To update or add a listing to the 2004 EMBR, email eamagazine@barks.com 

• Electrical Manager ...A potpourri of news and features, selected and edited for maintenance and service managers.  This month -  ant advice on Xmas party?  Don't do it.  ... IRS warns:  watch out for tax scams ... OK to ban use of religious phrases ... Be prepared to explain receivables...  

  "Electrical Manager" is a copyrighted feature of Electrical Apparatus.  Any kind of reproduction, including electronic transmission, without permission of Barks Publications is illegal and is prohibited. 

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including facility briefs, financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month -ABB wins $48 million India power contract ... AVO International changes name to Megger ... Arizona GE affiliate becomes GE Presco... United Electric Controls  forms a new sensor division ... Nomex to Von Roll Isola ... ...Financial Briefs  ... A.O. Smith and GE offer positive earnings news ... reports from Dupont, Rockwell automation, Baldor Electric ... Distributor Briefs EFC International assumes role of master distributor for Oetiker, Inc. ... Certification briefs ...  Cantronic Systems certified to ISO 9001 ... Peer China earns QS-9000 certification ... Stocker Hinge Mfg. certified to QS-9000 ...   Edited by Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor

• Standards briefs This month: published standards from Council for Harmonization of Electrotehnical Standards of the Nations of the Americas ... National Institute of Standards and Technology .. Hydraulic Institute .. International Organization of Standardization .. National Electrical Manufacturers Assocation ... National Fire Protection Assocation .. National Electrical Manufacturers Assocation .. American National Standards Institute  ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Calendar Briefs - Upcoming trade shows, symposia, and events, from July 2002 through September 2003 ... Edited by Stacy L. Whitman.

• 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: plant maintenance from Joliet Junior College and Kilowatt Classroom... international standards from CSA International ... mechanical engineering from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers...Energy management from the Association of Energy Engineers ... Repair and management from the Electrical Apparatus Service Association ... Motors and drives from the Motor and Motion Association and Baldor Electric Co ... Electrical testing from AVO International Training Institute ... Predictive maintenance from Darby Electric Co ... Safety from the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society and the National Safety Council .. Infrared thermography from the Academy of Infrared Thermography and the Infrared Training Center ...

Producers of workshops, seminars, and instructional materials are encouraged to mail announcements to Training Briefs Editor, Electrical Apparatus. There is no charge.

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month: "Is there still a place for gearmotors?"   Getriebemotoren haben weiterhin ihren Platz ... Les moteurs à engrenages ont toujours leur place ... Aún Hay Uso para los Motores de Engranaje ... 

• Utility Briefs This month: Pennsylvania governor honors Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. ... Sempra Energy executives certify financial reports ... General Machine Products Co, Inc., enters India venture (with photo) ...

• Accounting for management  A suitable chart of accounts - Finding the accounting model that's right for your company  (includes a sample chart of accounts for a service shop)  By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor and author of the newly published book, Steps to a Successful Service Shop.

• Say It Right ... The popular column about language in the workplace.   This month - "I read in an article ..." -- Learning to differentiate among the many types of published material:  An article is not just a news release from an advertising agency or public relations firm summarizing the status or nature of some product ...  by Richard L. Nailen, P.E., EA Engineering Editor 

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - Insomnia = daytime exhaustion = more accidents, less output - what can you do to get enough sleep? ...   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.

• Names and Faces This month - Timothy E. Fara of  Brook Crompton USA, Inc. ... David Peters of 3-D Service ...   Steve Owsley of Crescent Electric Supply .. Jirica Zovko of Pittsburgh Electrical Insulation ... Edited by Stacy L. Whitman.

• Deaths  This month - Jim Marks, CFO of Traction Motors Service, Inc., and Secretary/treasurer of Traction Motor Transit, Inc. 

• Literature Announcements of guides, catalogs, brochures, product specifications and other literature. Edited by the EA staff

Mail announcements of new products and literature to Editorial Department, Electrical Apparatus (page 2). No faxes, e-mail, or follow-up calls, please. There is no charge for publication, which does not constitute endorsement, nor can we verify product claims.

• Direct and Current Breaking news of interest to the industry, from The Editors of Electrical Apparatus. This issue -Distributors of knockoff ground fault circuit interrupters ... California's electric power failures .. A-c drives have resumed growth in North America ... health insurance is declining ... packaging machinery blues .. seal belt use increases ...  

• Product briefs Photos and announcements of  drives and inverters ... safety products ... measuring equipment ... software ... switching devices ... test instruments ... tools ...and more  ... Edited by the EA Staff.

• Web briefs ...  Selected websites for the electromechanical specialist … Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• 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. 

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

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

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

• Puzzles   Puzzles you and your colleagues can solve for fun and, if your answers are correct, for recognition in Electrical Apparatus.   Our most recent puzzle featured "The Housing Development."  Congratulations to those who solved the last puzzle, "The Handcuffed Prisoners" brainteaser, which ran in the June issue: Chester "Gayle" Littrell, of Krauth Electric Co. in Lexington, KY,  was the first person to submit a correct entry.  Other readers who solved the puzzle were: Sandy Kirchner, Beals Motor Rewind, Cherokee, LA ... Douglas McClung, Sungenta Crop Protection, St. Gabriel, LA ... Jim Milam, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mountain Home, Arkansas ... Bala Raghavan, Marathon Electric, Wausau, WI ... Ralph E. Rundell, Rundell Electric, Grygla, MN ... Timothy M. Thomas, Suncoast Electric Motor Serivce Inc., Tampa FL .. Lou Van Hout, Shakopee Public Utilities, Shakopee, MN      by Lillian Nielsen, Special Correspondent  

• Electripix  Photographs of people, places, equipment and more ..In this issue, find photos of Andrew E. Sabin ... Greg Schron of Eakin-Youngentrob, grand prize winner in the Siemens Ultimate Power sweepstakes ... Pages of photos featuring new products in the Shop Equipment Showcase ... Attendees at the EASA seminar on root cause failure analysis ... Dan Stelzner of Rockwell Automation, with attenees Brian Wright, Fred Geary, Dean Cleveland, Emily Milliken Cartee, Chip Cochran, Greg Moon, Wayne Nobles, Mike Darby and Steve Darby,  at Darby Electric Co's seminar on programming and applying Reliance inverters ... numerous photos from Manassas Electric Motor Company, Manassas, Virgnia ... General Machine Products' Doug Clemens and Bob Young with Sushama Knetkar and Supria ... Timoty E. Fara ... David Peters ... and Jim Marks...