Very interesting, indeed, I did not know this all.
Thank you very much.
Am 15.11.2011 22:54, schrieb Jed Rothwell:
Peter Heckert <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
wrote:
Rossis demonstrations are as if Edison had drilled a pinhole in a
box, put the bulb in and demonstrated that light came out of the
pinhole. "Sorry I cannot show you more, unless you give me a
million after succesful demonstration".
On the contrary, Edison's strategy resembled Rossi's. He did
demonstrations with goal of impressing the public and causing a
tremendous buzz. His demonstrations looked impressive to the public
but they proved nothing. The scientific establishment did not believe him.
You have to understand, Incandescent lights had been around for 20
years. Scientists knew they were possible. They did not think Edison
had really solved the problem he said he would, which was
"subdividing" lights in the terminology of the day. (In modern terms,
putting them in parallel.) Many experts had tried to do this, and
failed. His investors also wondered and worried that he had not really
succeeded. Edison did not bother to try to convince the know-it-all
scientists. He aimed instead to wow the public by putting on displays
of lights, that might actually have been in series, for all anyone
could tell.
Quoting various sources I wrote:
When Edison was developing the incandescent light, he hung lights
outside the Menlo Park laboratory and turned them on every evening.
People came from miles around to see. Extra evening trains from New
York had to be scheduled to accommodate the crowds. This did not stop
the inevitable attacks by the establishment. A distinguished professor
called the light bulb "a conspicuous failure, trumpeted as a wonderful
success. A fraud upon the public." The Scientific American published a
letter saying it would be, "almost a public calamity if Mr. Edison
should employ his great talent on such a puerility." Edison did not
sway the establishment at first, but he enlisted broad public support.
. . .
http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/RothwellJcomparison.pdf
He also did a series of demonstrations that failed spectacularly, not
unlike Rossi's. The failure was even spectacular because Edison
accidentally set fire to the furniture in his house. His wife hustled
the investors into the next room for lunch.
Inventing new technology is never easy, and it never goes according to
plan. People who think Rossi and Defkalion are faking or fooling
around because they are late and their devices produce only 470 kW
instead of 1 MW know nothing about history, and nothing about
technology. "Only 470 kW" is an incredible thing to say in the context
of cold fusion. That is ~469,900 W more than the second best
experiments in history.
I did never critizize that he only showed 470 kW.
I critizize that he did not demonstrate the temperature and the airflow
at the dissipators.
That he did not document the oil consumption under witnesses.
That he did not release the steam into the air at the end of the demo,
making it undoubtedly clear, there are really very large
amounts of steam.
Or even better, he could have used an open boiler and vaporized the
water visibly and undoubtedly.
Peter
