Cattle Prod Question

[old_coot88]

Memory fails me, but what was the name of the tool we used to call the 'cattle prod'? It was standard equipment for 'cleaning' every rebuilt CRT prior to installation. It was a hand-held, AC-operated high voltage probe that put out probably 40 KV or so of AC. You'd apply the "business end" of the Prod to the CRT base pins, and any loose particles inside would incandesce and fly around until they all 'stuck' somewhere and all the sparking ceased.

[jr_tech]

Oudin coil:

https://www.amazon.com/Oudin-Coil-Te...rds=tesla+coil

jr

[old_coot88]

Yuppers. That's it. Thanks

[dtvmcdonald]

I've used many of the coils in the picture in the URL. I own two of them.

I've never ever heard them called Oudin coils. They are always called Tesla coils.

The pictured one is barely over the edge of being dangerous.

[Ed in Tx]

I have one of those! Have one as a "souvenir". We called them Tesla coils too. Was used to check the seal between the glass manifold and tubulation on the image converter tubes at Varo where I worked in the '70s. After mounting a row (12) of unprocessed tubes, we would then pull a vacuum and check for leaks with the Tesla coil, bake out overnight and process the next day.

[Notimetolooz]

That device could also be called a type of induction coil.
They were popular decades ago as quack medical devices, usually with a set of
gas discharge attachments.
Now they are sold as "personal fun" devices, aka "Violet Wands".

[zeno]

On some early Zenith CC2 17 & 19" sets focus would vary. Factory told us to
lay set on its face, pull CRT socket & ground the focus pin.
Fire up set & listen for the snaps. Had a hand full of them & worked
every time. They were all new sets under warranty.

73 Zeno
LFOD !

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Notimetolooz

That device could also be called a type of induction coil.
They were popular decades ago as quack medical devices, usually with a set of
gas discharge attachments.
Now they are sold as "personal fun" devices, aka "Violet Wands".

I saw two of them in use. One of them in a neon sign shop, to demonstrate the way a neon sign should look.
The second one was at a CRT rebuilder, used to check duds if still under vacuum.
I thought it was a form of VanDegrafe generator.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Notimetolooz

That device could also be called a type of induction coil.
They were popular decades ago as quack medical devices, usually with a set of
gas discharge attachments.
Now they are sold as "personal fun" devices, aka "Violet Wands".

I've got a violet ray quack medical coil. You can take a bolt and machine a point onto an end to have a tip less delicate than the glass tubes they normally use for tips.

I'm probably going to start using it on my ceiling soon...we got some type of small varmints up there waking me up at weird hours of the night and they are ignoring the mouse traps...I figure if they chew in one spot long enough for me to pin point them (which they have before) and I can zap them through the drywall, then if they survive (they probably will, but I don't really want them to) they won't be back anytime soon.

[Kevin Kuehn]

If you want a close encounter just leave some peanut butter and cheese snacks on your bed. No need to burn holes through the ceiling.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

If you want a close encounter just leave some peanut butter and cheese snacks on your bed. No need to burn holes through the ceiling.

They aren't even touching the cheese and jelly on the traps in the attic... Haven't seen them indoors on the second floor ever. The ground floor occasionally and the basement less occasionally (back in late fall I was able to catch one by hand in a cup and dump it out down the block).

If it were up to me we'd have a pet cat again....Never had mice in all the years we kept cats except for within a couple years of old age/illness claiming our felines (and when we moved ginger from the florida house to the apartment and the house suddenly had rats).

If ma didn't insist on feeding the squirrels, birds and rabbits on the back porch the mice would probably be hungry enough to eat from the traps.

[Penthode]

Many years ago working at Varian TWT manufacture, we used a similar high DC voltage (50kv low current) for rounding sharp edges in the electron gun. It was affectionately called the "balls knocker".

It was a great tool for practical jokes: in the factory dealing with extremely high voltages all the time, we were encouraged to wear thick rubber sole shoes. With the rubber insulator dielectric, the balls knocker would capacitively provide us a 50kv charge. On dry winter days we could walk 200 feet across the factory floor to the offices and give the office staff quite a jolt.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by dtvmcdonald

I've never ever heard them called Oudin coils. They are always called Tesla coils.

Doesn't a true Tesla coil need the capacitance of a top load (big smooth sphere) for resonating the secondary? Or maybe 'tesla coil' is sometimes used in a colloquial sense.

[Notimetolooz]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Doesn't a true Tesla coil need the capacitance of a top load (big smooth sphere) for resonating the secondary? Or maybe 'tesla coil' is sometimes used in a colloquial sense.

I don't think the type of thing you are talking about is technically a Tesla coil, but there is some overlap of terms. Tesla coils don't have iron cores. I think what you are talking about has adjustable vibrator contacts and a iron core step up transformer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_coil

[old_coot88]

Yeah, our cattle prod device was more like an an automotive ignition coil on steroids, with a built-in mechanical interrupter.