Electrical Apparatus
The Magazine of Electrical &
Electronic Application & Maintenance

August 2004 Columns and Departments

Items in columns and departments from the August 2004 issue, Vol. 57, no. 8, © 2004 Barks Publications, Inc. See also  August 2004 Table of Contents and Previous issues 

• Editor's Comment Perspective on current and upcoming issues.  In this issue: The sun is shining brighter on solar installations ... EASA show's attendance declines shouldn't be interpreted as an economic barometer ... Joe Buresch retires, but Cy carries on ... by Horace B. Barks, Executive Editor

Cy, the egotistical proprietor of Cy's Super Service, has been making his monthly appearance in the pages of Electrical Apparatus since October 1978. Like some of us, he appears to be getting grouchier and heavier, but there is no doubt that he is still in charge, as his antics have been portrayed by Cartoonist Joe Buresch.

Now Joe, a professional comic artist whose nationally known work once included the newspaper syndicated single panel cartoon Dinah Mite, has decided to retire his pen and his drawing board.  In October, a new artist will take over Cy's Super Service, a company that has remained a successful business despite the boss's sometimes outrageous behavior.  We will miss Joe's good work, but we have his assurance that his successor will keep Cy the same boss EA readers tell us they love to hate.  - HB

• 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: Will circuit voltage drop prevent motor starting?  ... Sizing a transformer for motor starting ... Reused motor shaft may mask a larger problem ... What is an overload time constant? ... Be careful when testing individual stator coils .. Why the diagona slot in large brushes? ... How to check actual brake torque ... What hipot voltage for a short-time test? ... Don't use grout as the primary machine support ... Speed-up versus slowdown: Why does vibration differ?  ...   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  - Some differences over cable voltage ratings, from Larry Wiliams, Contractor, Artesia, New Mexico and Robert A. Porlick, P.E., Porlick Poliquin Samara Engineering, Inc., South Miami, Florida ... Kind words, from E. Miara, Superintendent Maintenance and Repair, Highland Carbide Tool, Pittsburgh, PA

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

• EA reader at ease  ... Stories featuring unusual or interesting avocational interests of our readers. In this issue ..  An all-star line-up:  The Ice Cream Dugout is a home run with the fans in North Windham, Maine.  Troy Lock, a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan who serves as vice president of sales and marketing for Spring Point Solutions (specializing in software for the electric motor repair industry), owns and operates a baseball-themed ice cream shop with his wife Tammy.   By Joseph S. Hoff, EA Special Features Editor. Click here for more photos.

  Do you know someone working in the electrical aftermarket with a hobby or interest that could be featured in "EA reader at ease"? Tell us who they are, what they do, and how we can contact them to find out more about their special passions. Send your suggestions to Electrical Apparatus, 400 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 900, Chicago, III. 60611; (312) 321-9440; Fax (312) 321-1288; e-mail eamagazine@barks.com .

• Trade associations,  professional societies and government activities  News of non-profit  government, and other organizations serving the electrical mechanical industries.  This issue: The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute urges its members to invite congressmen to tour their manufacturing facilities ... ARI announces a new website, www.ari.org/cert ... the American Society of Safety Engineers forms an Ecuador section ... Refrigeration Service Engineers Society  holds an educational session on U.S. - Canadian regulatory and phase-out guidelines for R-22 refrigerants ... National Association of Electrical Distributors estimates sales increases for 2004 ...  Edited by the EA staff

  Note:  the 2004 EMBR lists contact information for more than 140 associations ... Update or add your listing to the 2005 EMBR.

• Business briefs  In this issue: GE Energy to buy transformer services from S.D. Myers, Inc. ... Lincoln Electric finalizes purchase of three welding businesses in China ... Emerson Electric acquires telecom busienss from Marconi Corp. ... Berger Lahr GmbH of Lahr, Germany enters into cooperative manufacturing agreement with Highway Holdings of Hong Kong ... Fluke Corp creates Educational Partnership OProgram to offer product discounts and educactional material to classroom instrucotrs - http://support.fluke.com/educators ... Baldor Electric creates finance subsidiary, Baldor Power Finance, Inc. ... Post Glover Resistors expands its transit business by incorporating the Transit Division of Cressal Resistors Ltd. ... Honeywell cacquires low-voltage wire supplier Geneis Cable Systems LLC ... Animatics Corp prevails in patent infringement case against Quicksilver Controls ... MagneTek appoints CompTech Sales, Inc., as sales rep for power control products ... Power Measurement appoints Control Logic as authorized distributor ...   Certification briefs  John C. Dolph recertifies compy to ISO 9001:2000  ...Edited by Kevin Jones

• Automation briefs  - the latest in products for electronics and systems applications ... In this issue:  Animatics' complete integrated motion control ... Oriental Motor USA's motors and amplifiers ... Servo Manetics, Inc's new encoders ... a plug-n-play isolted CAN controller from the Saelig Co ... Profibus Trade Organization's PROFInet Isochronous Real Time  ... 24" monitor with universal mounting from CyberResearch, Onset's multi-channel data logger ... MGE UPS Systems' fuel cell powered UPS system  ...two-pole, 30-amp power relays from Tyco Electronics .. industrial grade power supplies from Sola/Hevi-Duty ... coupling modules with relay capability from Lutze  Edited by David P. Tryling 

• Training Briefs Announcements of workshops, seminars and instructional materials, and our Training Index, listing program topics featured in Training Briefs in the past year.    In this issue: Motor and motion control from SMMA - The Motor and Motion Association - www.smma.org ... High-voltage maintenance from Dan Ninedorf - www.corona-tecnology-course.com ...Infrared thermography from the Electrical Apparatus Service Association - www.easa.com ...  Cold spray technology from The Thermal Spray Society of ASM International  - www.asminiternational.org/events ... Overcurrent protection from Cooper Bussman - www.bussman.com ... Safety seminars from Behavioral Science Technology - www.bstsolutions.com/leadingwithsafety.htm   ...Edited by Sarah E. Wittliff 

  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 September  2004 through June  2005... Edited by Sarah E. Wittliff 

• Standards briefs  In this issue: International Electrotechnical Commission offers 'look before you buy' option @ www.ice.ch ... International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission create a common database of 3500 graphical symbols used throughout technology ... The American National Standards Institute requires public comment on conduit standard ... ...  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

• Trilingual summary For our international readers, each month one featured topic is presented in French, Spanish and German. This month: Electricity from the Sun - where do we stand? - In 1988, 'solar' appeared to have a promising future.  It still does  .. by Richard L. Nailen, P.E., E.A. Engineering Editor

• Accounting for management  In this issue: Costing service   A pickup in business may signal a time to adjust prices, but doing so without first examining costs could be a mistake By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor and author of the recently published book, Steps to a Successful Service Shop.

• Safety and health in the workplace This month - Physician access fees -- A developing trend toward 'pay-per-see' health care plans  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, Let's Solve Your Problem - Volume III.

• Names and Faces ... In this issue, pictured left to right except as noted: Amy A. Huntington, Chris C. Richardson (and, not pictured, Mary Frances Cox and David Petratis) of Schneider Electric, North American Operating Division... (not pictured) Alan Somerville of KWI ... Anand M. Garde of Westinghouse Electric and the American Society for Testing and Materials ... Stephen Ache and Thomas Quinn of Aero Vironment, Inc.'s Posi Charge ... (not pictured) Jeffrey S. Greene and Chris Hertmann of Thomas & Betts Corp ... Aidan Stringfellow of Post Glover Resistors ... Dinesh Paliwal of ABB Inc.   ....Edited by Sarah E. Wittliff

• Deaths  - Obituaries of industry people.   In this issue - (at left) Jack Romanoff, Jr., who in the 1950's built the REMS Corporation into a four-state, 14-division operation.  (at right) Richard Albert Scheinert, CEO of R. Scheinert and Son, 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, electronic submissions (CD-ROM's, etc.) 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 new products ... In this issue, Circuit interrupters from Cooper Bussmann and Circuit Breaker Industries ... Drives and Inverters from Yaskawa Electric America and Oriental Motor U..A. Corp .. Interconnections from Autac, Inc., Penn Union Corp and Thomas & Betts Corp ... Measuring Equipment, from Infrared Solutions and Accumetrics Associates ... Low profile, front terminal valve regulated lead-acid battery from EnerSys ... Locking devices for electric meter sockets from Brooks Utility Products Group ... Galvanized steel core ground rods from Galvan Industries .. excess temperature alarm labels from Spirig Advanced Tech, Inc. .. Motors & Gearmotors from Baldor Electric Co. ... Test instruments from AEMC Instruments and Cal Test Electronics .. Tools from Gardner Bender, SKF USA, Inc., Klein Tools, GE Security, Seatek Co., The Eraser Co., and Ludeca, Inc. ...Edited by the EA Staff.

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

• 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. In this issue: The 30 KW Photovoltaic system at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum ... University of Missouri-Rolla and Cooper Power Systems alliance ... Fuel cells demonstrated by South west Research Institute and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers .. Windmill alternative energy blocked in New York state ... Federal Government goes into commercial publishing.. .. by the Editors

• 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. 

• Web briefs ...  Selected websites for the electromechanical specialist, annotated with details of especially valuable content  Edited by the Electrical Apparatus staff. 

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

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

• Utility Briefs   .. Edited by Kevin Jones

• EMBR update  - changes to the Electromechanical Bench Reference 2004, the annual buyers' guide that readers received with their January 2003 Electrical Apparatus.  Following publication of the directory, corrections and additions appear in subsequent issues of the magazine. 

• Braintrainers  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 

• Question of the month

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