Who is Online

We have 31 guests and no members online


 

Notes:

 

The 33 kV Explosion

This resulted from a balloon experiment.  

Peter had saved up to buy a very large rubber balloon which he had filled with town (producer) gas from an outlet the laundry using a pump.  This gas still had a considerable hydrogen component, along with carbon monoxide, unlike today's heavier natural gas.  But having no suitable string he decided to use the copper wire from an old radio transformer that I had previously broken open.  

I had quite a number of these and every now and then took one apart as a source of wire of various gauges; particularly for our homemade telephone system to Colin next door;  for radio aerials; for winding coils for buzzers; rewinding my burnt-out Mechano motor and so on.  

Copper wire of a gauge thick enough to restrain a large balloon comes from the low voltage windings on such a transformer.  It's quite heavy and the balloon hadn't risen a lot higher than the trees , maybe 60 feet (20m) or so, when it wouldn't go higher.  

That's when I discovered my little brother repeating Benjamin Franklin's famous lightening experiment; holding the end of a 60 foot lightening conductor in the back garden.  Several people have been killed trying to repeat this experiment (read more).

I claim to protect him from being fried; he claims out of sibling maliciousness; I reached above his head and rapidly bending and straightening the wire (as one does) broke it.   

The balloon then rose ponderously; higher and higher; at the same time being carried by a light breeze in the direction of Pennant Hills Road and the railway cutting.  

The trailing wire cleared the house; then hovered over the cars and trucks on the main road.  But continuing to drift westwards there was no chance that it would clear the high voltage power lines running between the road and the railway.  

A spectacular two second display of sputtering sparks and sheets of blue green flame ensued, as the dangling copper wire first struck, then fell across the high voltage lines; was vapourised; and became plasma.

 

The noise was remarkable too; very loud.  Then everything electrical stopped.

 

The local grid protection breakers kicked-in and the power went off for a minute or two.   Then just as quickly everything returned to normal.  

 


thornleigh 33kv
It's amazing - those 33kV wires are still there the same as ever - but the streetlight has changed.  And the road is twice as wide.
The railway cutting is beyond the fence.

 

Householders called out by the noise returned indoors to continue what ever they had been doing.   All except our father, who was working from home.   He circled the house and finding us acting nonchalantly; in other words suspiciously;  demanded to know: 'what have you done this time!'   Why immediately assume it was us?  

Remarkably he was then more concerned about possible subsequent safety issues: remnants of wire dangling from power-lines; or the ongoing path of a balloon trailing copper wire.  But everything had gone; the balloon exploded and the wire vaporised!   I don't recall any punishment at all.

That night all the mercury arc street lights on the main road were off.  The 33kV had been shorted down to the adjacent street wiring and the fuses protecting every ballast in that section had blown.  

Innocent little Peter asked the team that came to replace them what might have caused it?  One bloke said: 'could've been a tree branch or lightening...'  Peter said: 'what are you doing with the broken ones - can I have one'  The bloke said: 'Go for it!'   So we took several bulbs and at least one ballast.

So that's how for many years later we had a brilliant blueish street light high on the side of our house (we just replaced the fuse); enabling us to work on our cars in the garden after dark.

 

 


 

Comments (too long for below)

 

Hi Richard,

Great article. I tried to post the following comment in reply but your side advised me the comment was too long.

Bought back many memories and good laughs. I agree that we boys had a devil may care attitude toward experimentation. You may recall another Pennant Hills local Paul Cordony (Cordony hairdressers), blew off part of his hand building a pipe rocket launcher. The reaction was fear of getting into trouble rather than concern for his hand.

Post boxes did not fare well from constant youthful terrorist attacks from tuppeny bungers.

I had two 1932 plymouths. One capable of driving and one for spare parts. Before my licence of course. All repairs and alterations tested out on the public roads.

In part, my frustration with the teachers led me to depart Thornleigh, with my well earned bag of marbles won down by the dusty bell post, to five train stops away, Marist Brothers Eastwood. I found Catholicism as incomprehensible as I did with the Thornleigh scripture class. When my teacher (a marist brother) suggested we are all made in the image of God, and I asked if God was a monkey, I was immediately branded a rebel. Earned me six of the best as well. I now realise that maybe I was forward thinking.

I have often wondered what path my life would have taken if I would have been encouraged to pursue maths rather than to be sidelined to give everyone equal airtime. I am however actually very happy the way things turned out for me.

For me, sport played an important role. Team sports, being a desire to be accepted, and wanting to contribute better than my mates, spurred me on. It also formed lessons that I unwittingly adopted later for business.

I think the teachers actually did us a favour in that my determination to achieve was greater for not wanting to accept the norm. The fact that I was constantly reminded that I was a wog (not by the teachers) added to an unconscious desire to do better. The day to day quest to find challenges, and its associated mischief, left no time to contemplate self pity.  It was a very healthy and uncomplicated time of my life and one I think back on fondly.

Cheers

Leslie

 

 

 

No comments

Travel

Italy

 

 

 

 

A decade ago, in 2005, I was in Venice for my sixtieth birthday.  It was a very pleasant evening involving an excellent restaurant and an operatic recital to follow.  This trip we'd be in Italy a bit earlier as I'd intended to spend my next significant birthday in Berlin.

The trip started out as planned.  A week in London then a flight to Sicily for a few days followed by the overnight boat to Napoli (Naples).  I particularly wanted to visit Pompeii because way back in 1975 my original attempt to see it was thwarted by a series of mishaps, that to avoid distracting from the present tale I won't go into.

Read more: Italy

Fiction, Recollections & News

Now I am seventy

 On the occasion of an afternoon tea to mark this significant milestone...

 

When I was one, I was just begun;
When I was two, I was nearly new;
When I was Three, I was hardly me;
*
*
*

But then I was sixty, and as clever as clever;
Wouldn't it be nice to stay sixty for ever and ever?

(With apologies to AA Milne)

 

Hang on!  Now I'm seventy?  How did that happen? 

Read more: Now I am seventy

Opinions and Philosophy

Renewable Electricity

 

 

As the energy is essentially free, renewable electricity costs, like those of nuclear electricity, are almost entirely dependent on the up-front construction costs and the method of financing these.  Minimising the initial investment, relative to the expected energy yield, is critical to commercial viability.  But revenue is also dependent on when, and where, the energy can be delivered to meet the demand patterns of energy consumers.

For example, if it requires four times the capital investment in equipment to extract one megawatt hour (1 MWh) of useable electricity from sunlight, as compared to extracting it from wind, engineers need to find ways of quartering the cost of solar capture and conversion equipment; or increasing the energy converted to electricity fourfold; to make solar directly competitive.

Read more: Renewable Electricity

Terms of Use

Terms of Use                                                                    Copyright