Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

January 2003 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the January 2003 issue, Vol. 56, no. 1, © 2003 Barks Publications, Inc. See also January 2003 Table of Contents and Previous issues 

• Editor's Comment Perspective on current and upcoming issues, by Horace B. Barks, Editor and Publisher This month - Business standards and ethics in 2003 ... EA's annual 5-year Index of Articles ... What's coming in the February EA ... On our website, more information ... 

• 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: Does coreplate undergo any long-term aging?...  Does belt ratio change require a larger motor? ... How stable is efficiency over time? ... What's 'common' about common mode voltage? ...Circuit voltage:  Is 2,300 versus 2,400 significant? ... Hub load not a widely recognized term ... What limits apply to phase voltage unbalance ... Does motor shaft stress limit starting duty? ... How to add cooling coils to vertical motor bearing ...     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 Neil Tinker of Rotating Machines Service about back-to-back d-c testing ... Comments about the Maytag plant closing (EA December 2002) from Haig Stepanian, Monsanto Corp.., Muscatine, Iowa, and C.A. Bahr, Sohn Manufacturing Inc., Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin ... Augie Hand, Loveland Colorado about a review of Electric Motor Maintenance and Troubleshooting in the September EA ...Jerry Corkran, Cooper Power Systems, Waukesha, WI, about dry-type tranformers in the October EA ... and kind words from J. Edward Jenkins of Jenkins Electric Co, Charlotte, North Carolina ... 

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

• Business Briefs Business news and announcements, including facility briefs, financial briefs, certification achievements, and distribution news.  This month Minarik acquires Northwest Power Products ... Emerson names two new distributors:  Illinois Electric Works of Granite City, IL, and Electric Motor Shop of Wake Forest and Rocky Mount, N.C.  ... Motion Industries opens Pennsylvania branch ... DynaMotors awarded U. S. Department of Energy grant ... New thermostat Thermo-O-Disc plant opens in China ...  Certification  Briefs  - Chromalox earns ISO 9001 certification for its LaVergne, Tennessee operation ... Kingsbury, Inc., receives ISO 9001/2000 certification from Lloyd's Reister Quality Assurance ... Magnetic Shield Corporation has been registered to ISO 9001/2000 ... Osram Sylvania's Electronic Control Systems Division certified to ISO 9001/2000... Edited by Kevin Jones, EA Senior 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: Electrical Manufacturing and Coil Winding Conference seeks success stories ... The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute honors five leaders ... New benefits for Professional Electrical Apparatus Recycler League (PEARL) members ... Call for papers for the Adhesive and Sealant Council's 2003 Spring Convention ... Association People:  Thomas E. Bettcher, David R. Pannier, Schott Boxer, and Daniel W. Holmes, Jr., of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute ... David Alley honored by the Electrical Generating Systems Association ... Dr. Shoei Kataoka receives 2002 Lord Kelvin Award from the International Electrotechnical Commission ... Edited by the EA staff

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 

• 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 ... Motion Control:  multi-day courses on fluid power, electrical equipment troubleshooting, PLC's and bearings ... Power quality:  Battery management training and UPS power protection systems course by Solidstate Controls, Inc. ...Plant maintenance:  SKF USA, Inc. courses to improve machine maintenance and management ... Joliet Junior College courses in industrial maintenance technology ...Repair and management:  EASA courses on motor maintenance and business management ... Electrical testing:  AVO International Training Institute courses in electrical maintenance, safety and telecommunications ... Infrared thermography:  Academy of Infrared Thermography courses to prepare for infrared certification ... courses by Snell Infrared ... HVAC/R:  Veterans may be reimbursed for taking the North American Technician Excellence (NATE) test of residential and light commercial HVAC/R equipment installation and service ... Edited by Stacy L. Whitman 

  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 January 2003 through September 2004 ... Edited by Stacy L. Whitman

• Standards briefs This month: NEMA announces outlet box guidance ... American National Standards Institute seeks comment on fiber optic cable ... New publications from the International Electrotechnical Commission ... Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers publishes surge protection standards for low voltage systems ... Final action on American National Standards Institute standards ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• 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.

• Names and Faces This month - Gary Gray of P.D. George Co ... Terry King of Baldor Electric Co ... Teresa Ramirez, Julie Lindberg and Diane Gross of Stahlin Non-Metallic Enclosures ... Priscilla J. Soliday of Penn-Union Corp ... Steve Giordano of Cleveland Motion Controls ...  Edited by Stacy L. Whitman.

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month: "Rotating machine's common problem"  Dreh- und Torsionsschwingungen in Elektromotoren ... Vibrations et oscillations de couple dans les moteurs électriques ...  Vibración y Oscilación Torsional en los Motores Eléctricos... 

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - Diabetes:  a disease that needs to be taken seriously - Once a death sentence, it is still a serious health hazard, but controllable ...   By Richard B. Elsberry, EA Contributing Editor

• Accounting for management  This issue:  Interpreting financial statements - How to use income statements and balance sheets as quick snapshots of a business's financial health  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 - "The metal must have crystallized" - The appearance of a crystal-like surface where metal has fractured is no proof of crystallization  by Richard L. Nailen, P.E., EA Engineering Editor 

• 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 

• 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.

• Deaths  

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