Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!ig!uwmcsd1!dogie!uwvax!oddjob!gargoyle!att!mtune!codas!ablnc!maxwell From: maxwell@ablnc.ATT.COM (Robert Maxwell) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Free power from 'whispering wires' ?? Summary: Heard it. Keywords: power transmission Message-ID: <537@ablnc.ATT.COM> Date: 6 Jul 88 19:58:42 GMT References: <3170@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM> <5373@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> Organization: AT&T, Maitland, Florida Lines: 33 In article <5373@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, sparks@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Gaarder) writes: > In article <3170@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM> steves@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM (Steve Shellans) writes: > >If you have an AC transmission line, each wire has a > >60Hz magnetic field around it (in USA). If you place an inductor (at ground > >level) such that it is closer to one wire than the others, it seems to me > >you could draw power out of it. > > Well, you probably could. There's a story I heard once: > A transmission line somewhere crossed over a number of farmers' fields. Some > one figured out that if you wound a coil of wire around two of the towers > near the ground, you could draw power from it. Soon all the farmers in the > area were doing it, and the power company freaked out when the losses on > that line went through the roof as a result. It is said that the power > company couldn't stop the farmers, and wound up giving them free electricity > if the agreed to stop this inductive tapping. I can't verify if the story is true, but I have heard that farmers along the Columbia River tapped the power generated by the dams on the river. I was told that they used insulated wire for their fences and were able to light their homes and barns with it. The other difference in the story as I heard it was that the power company ( a U. S. Gov't corporation along the lines of TVA ) was able to stop the practice by charging the farmers with theft of the power. I think the name of the corporation was Bonneville, but I am sure that someone will correct me or give us the full name of the corporation (whether or not we really want to know.) :-) -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- R. M. Maxwell AT&T IMS | I speak for nobody- Maitland, FL ablnc!jezebel!bob | not even myself. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------