Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

December 2002 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the December 2002 issue, Vol. 55, no. 12, © 2002 Barks Publications, Inc. See also December Table of Contents and Previous issues 

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• Editor's Comment Perspective on current and upcoming issues, by Horace B. Barks, Editor and Publisher This month - A plant closes and with it 1,600 jobs ... All things considered, it coud have been worse ... Your new EMBR is here ... Coming in January, our Annual Five Year Index of Articles ... 

• 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: Corrosion - can paint lead to other problems? ... What is a dry contact? ... Does motor voltage govern output power? ... Are commercial duty motors different? ... Why insulate laminations on both sides? ... Motor heating depends on RMS, not average, loading ... How important are magnet wire defects? ... Why should windings fail moreoften on a-c hipot? ... Is there an international alignment tolerance? ... How to test d-c motor efficiency ..    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  In this issue ... A letter from Gale Stollsteimer of Reuland Electric Co., Howell, Michigan, re: motor radiation effects...

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: A new partnership Motor Resource Center ... California's Antelope Valley Community College gets high-tech HVAC/R labs ... EASA 2003 show theme, "Get Ahead of the Curve" ... Minnesota and Indiana adopt 2002 NFPA 70, National Electrical Code ...Association People:  Archie W. Dunham of ConocoPhillips and National Association of Manufacturers ... Robert White honored by IEEE Power Electronics Society ... Refrigeration Service Engineers Society officers James R. Casey, Kenneth Bachner, Streeter B. Turner, Ronald J. McCarthy, Jerry L. Richey, Loren Shuck and Paul L. Winberry ... John R. Reid of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America ... 

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 

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including facility briefs, financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month GE buys global field measurement company ... Conneaut Industries honored for training ... Del Power consolidates high-voltage operation ... Longo leads U. S. Robot Pumps sales ... GE Supply moves its national sales center ... Distributor Briefs:  KJ Electric awarded with statewide access of Eaton Cutler-Hammer  product lines ... Trester Hoist and Equipment awarded distributorship for Budgit hoists and products ... Financial Briefs:  Emerson's earnings up, sales slightly down ... Edited by Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor

• Standards briefs This month: Submersible pump testing added to standard by Hydraulic Institute ... ANSI adopts two NFPA revisions ... International Electrotechnical Commission publishes numerous documents  ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• 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: Electrical distribution - Doble Engineering Co seminar re: transformer design, operation and maintenance ... Power quality:  Battery management training and UPS power protection systems course by Solidstate Controls, Inc. ...Plant maintenance:  Joliet Junior College courses in industrial maintenance technology ... New Standard Institute courses on maintenance planning and project management ... Predictive maintenance:  Schenck Trebel Corp. fundamentals of balancing seminar ...   Repair and management:  EASA courses on motor maintenance and business management ... Motors and drives:  Baldor Electric workshop and courses on H-type controls and understanding motor fundamentals ... Electrical testing:  AVO International Training Institute courses in electrical maintenance, safety and telecommunications ... Infrared thermography:  Flir Systems seminars on thermal imaging systems ... Academy of Infrared Thermography courses to prepare for infrared certification ... courses by Snell Infrared ... certification courses by the Infrared Training Center ... Safety:  Courses in plant safety and health from the National Safety Council  ...  

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

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

• 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, Let's Solve Your Problem - Volume III.

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month: "What is the 'grounding path' and how good is it?"   Wie gut ist der Erdungspfad? ... Le chemin de mise à la terre - Est-il de bonne qualité? ... El Trayecto de la Puesta a Tierra - ¿Qué Tal Bueno Es? ... 

• Names and Faces This month - John Gersic and Joe Werman of Patchogue Electric Motors ... Neil Jenkins of Kingsbury, Inc. ... William A. Hindle, Art Salander, and William K. Bennett of HindlePower, Inc. ..  Dodge Elkins of Magtrol ... Edited by Stacy L. Whitman.

• Deaths  This month - Thomas Schuetz, Owner, A-1 Electric, Park Hills and Florence Kentucky 

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - Seeing clearly again in the workplace - For the farsighted, a new option without glasses, contact lenses or surgery ...   By Richard B. Elsberry, EA Contributing Editor

• Accounting for management  This issue:  Key performance indicators for service shops - How's business?  Here are certain factors that can answer that question exactly   By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor and author of the newly published book, Steps to a Successful Service Shop.

• 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.

• Product briefs Photos and announcements of  circuit interrupters .... drives and inverters ... safety products ... power transmission rotating shaft/coupling guards ... measuring equipment ... software ... switching devices ... test instruments ... tools ...and more  ... Edited by the EA Staff.

• Puzzles   Puzzles you and your colleagues can solve for fun and, if your answers are correct, for recognition in Electrical Apparatus.   This month a new kind of puzzle, BRAINTRAINERS ... Answers to September's Housing Development Puzzle and featured winners:  John Steffl, Madison-Kepp Corporation and John Warden, Warden Electric Co. (both "first" with two tying responses)... Marius Andreica, Northwest Magnet ... Al DeLay, Ram Motors & Controls ... Donna L. Jennings, Kaman Industrial Technologies Corp ... Bernie Kleinselbeck, MEC Inc., ... Jack Lopes, NSTAR Electric ... CoryWood, Extruded Metals, Inc.   ...    by Lillian Nielsen, Special Correspondent 

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

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

  "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. 

• 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) ...

• Direct and Current Breaking news of interest to the industry, from The Editors of Electrical Apparatus. This issue - As the economy tightens, so does credit ... Terrorism insurance legislation ... ... Three-day weekends on the rise ... postal rates may not go up in 2004 ... poorly designed software can drive one crazy ... for the kitchen that has everything, the $8,000 multimedia refrigerator ...  

• 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.

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