🚀 go-pugleaf

> I'm told (I wasn't there) that the Bates Linear Accelerator in Middleton
> Mass. was brought down (yes, the entire facility) by a stray cat which
> managed to touch both terminals on the 10 MW (that's MEGAwatts folks)
> primary transformer.  Supposedly it was quite a mess and took several
> days to get everything back up again.

This is a bit off track of computers (except that the substation fed
a computer center), but a fellow at work told the story of a snake
which crawled up the side of a transformer then continued up the
primary (32Kvolt) side terminal via the insulator.  At one 
point the snake was close enough to the terminal, and the 
transformer case (gnd potential) that an arc jumped from the 
terminal, to the snake, through the snake, and out the other end 
to the transformer base.  Cooked the snake enough to make it stick 
to the insulator.

After the breaker blew, an electrician (who was afraid of snakes, by the
way) went out into the yard (at night) to find out why the breaker blew.
According to the second-hand report, the fellow almost had an accident
when his flashlight (torch) illuminated the snake on the insulator!
                         - tom
--
internet     : mvac23!tho...@udel.edu  or  thomas...@udel.edu
uucp         : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas
Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1
Location: Newark, DE, USA                          
Quote   : Virtual Address eXtension.  Is that like a 9-digit zip code?

--
The UUCP Mailer