ELECTROSTATICS NEWSLETTER          

                                                                                May/June 2002                                       No.162

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Emery Miller, a Charter Member of the ESA, passed away on April 16 at the age of 94.  I’d like to dedicate this President’s message to Emery in recognition of everything he did for the ESA over the past 30 years.   It would be no exaggeration to say that we owe much of what is the ESA to his dedicated work as a founder, one of our first Presidents, and as Secretary/Treasurer for more years than I can count. The details of Emery’s long career are included elsewhere in this newsletter, so I’d like to focus on my impressions of him as a fellow ESA member. 

When I attended my first ESA meeting in 1980, Emery was there, quietly running the show and greeting each individual at the registration table with a friendly welcome.  That year and each thereafter,  I left convinced that, regardless of who might be the current President, Emery was the organizational backbone of the ESA.  He seemed to do everything, keeping track of membership lists, dues payments, registrations, newsletters, good and welfare, outreach, and every other piece of behind-the-scenes business that you could imagine.  When I got talked into hosting a conference in Boston in 1986 as both local arrangements and technical chair (that’s the way we did things on those days – you did both things,)  Emery gave me a call, saying “Look, you just worry about the local arrangements. I’ll take care of the technical program for you.” He did, and did it well, although I got all the credit in the program.  Emery, forever modest, was not the type of individual who would usurp the limelight of the “new kid from Boston” hosting his first conference.

For those who did not know Emery well, the preceding paragraph might leave you with the impression that he was a worker bee of the ESA, content to deal only with the non-technical aspects of running the organization.  Definitely not the case.  As I learned several years later (and only from third-party chit-chat,) Emery was a gifted scientist in the field of electrostatics. He can be credited as the individual responsible for bringing the science of electrostatic spraying to its first practical realization.  He held over 20 patents in the field, and was regarded world-wide as an expert on electrostatic coating. He was one of the key scientific players in the Ransburg Corporation as it perfected a complex coating process that we now sometimes take for granted as “old hat”.

In the 1990’s, Emery dropped out of the ESA scene for many years due to personal circumstances that prevented him from attending meetings.  Last year, he was able to travel again, and we were fortunate to have him at our 2001 ESA Conference. In anticipation of this year’s conference, Emery spoke as late as one week before his passing to Bill Smart, our Newsletter Editor and a former colleague at Ransburg, to make sure that he could get a ride to Northwestern University.  How the ESA must have been as central to his life as he was to ours. Unfortunately, the 2001 meeting was the last he was able to attend. One can’t help but recall his thank  you speech to all the ESA, in which a subtle note of farewell mixed in with his insightful technical comments.  Newcomers may have wondered who was this gray-haired, sharp-as-a-tack gentleman who seemed to know the fundamentals of just about everything electrostatic.  No one could have guessed, I suspect, that he was 93 years old.  I’m sure that many old-timers took great comfort in knowing that Emery, long the force behind the ESA, was back.

As someone who (I suppose) can now be counted in the ranks of the old timers, I know that I will miss Emery. To me, he was one of the giants of electrostatics, a beacon of knowledge guiding those of us who dabbled along.  He kept the ESA together, and he set the tone that earned us our reputation as the Friendly Society.  A giant has fallen, but his legacy carries on in the ESA.

For that Friendly Society,

Mark Horenstein

ESA President

TRIGGERED SPARKS

Recently I developed a new electrostatic generator. Although hand-cranked, it will fill a large leyden jar very quickly, and a careless operator is apt to get more of a shock than was bargained for.  In other words, it works pretty well!   I showed this machine to Glenn Schmieg two weeks ago, and I am proud to say that he pronounced it to be "Elegant!"

In playing with my new toy, I've observed a phenomenon that reminded me of the time Glenn and I were demonstrating some Dirods and making sparks at the Milwaukee ESA meeting several years ago.  Conditions were (Horrors!) humid, and some sparks were shorter than what we wanted.  A finger brought close enough to either a positive or negative electrode would draw a tiny barely felt spark--but this would consistently trigger a big nasty showy spark in the apparatus where we wanted it.

The setup was really simple: The positive and negative electrodes of the static generator were connected to the leads of a large capacitor--a leyden jar will do.  The capacitor is then connected to a suitable spark gap, and in operation the setup produces a fine succession of nasty, scary sparks.  Except in humid weather.  Generally the gap has to be closed down a bit and we have to be content with smaller sparks, and sometimes it seems as if the machine is refusing to spark at all.

Enter "The finger."  Poke a finger around anywhere on the positive or negative sides of the setup, draw a tiny harmless spark, and the nasty spark hoped for promptly appears in the gap.  This works equally well with my new machine, A. D.'s Dirods, or, probably a host of other machines, too.

I have no doubt that there are many ESA members that could explain this phenomenon, but I can't. Glenn suggested I write you, seeking a response in the newsletter. Bill, If you care to print this in the newsletter, this is an invitation for those who are confident that they have an explanation to enlighten the rest of us.  Let's see if we can get a good old fashioned ESA-type discussion going!  Those needing more information can contact me privately at Static@lsol.net.

                                                                                                            Lance Jerale

FIRST - PASSAGE PROCESSES

What is this phrase?  It’s new to me, but apparently related to our beloved ES.

A recent book claims to highlight “its interrelations with electrostatics”.  Applications are promised, including neuron dynamics, diffusion limited aggregation, dynamics of spin systems, and kinetics of diffusion controlled reactions.

Anyone working in this area?  Could you provide our newsletter with a few paragraphs of discussion or a book review?

                                                                                    Glenn Schmieg