Hermann Plauson
Encyclopedia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
n engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and inventor. Plauson investigated the production of energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
and power
Power (physics)
In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
via atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity is the regular diurnal variations of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic network . The Earth's surface, the ionosphere, and the atmosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit...
.
Biography
Plauson was the director of the Fischer-Tropsch "Otto Traun Research LaboratoriesLaboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
" in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
of the 1920s. He built on Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
's idea for connecting machinery to the "wheelwork of nature". Plauson's 1540998 patent describe methods to convert
Energy conversion
Transforming energy is when the energy changes into another form.In physics, the term energy describes the capacity to produce changes within a system, without regard to limitations in transformation imposed by entropy...
alternating
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
radiant
Radiant energy
Radiant energy is the energy of electromagnetic waves. The quantity of radiant energy may be calculated by integrating radiant flux with respect to time and, like all forms of energy, its SI unit is the joule. The term is used particularly when radiation is emitted by a source into the...
static electricity
Static electricity
Static electricity refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects. The static charges remain on an object until they either bleed off to ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge. Static electricity can be contrasted with current electricity, which can be delivered...
into rectified
Rectifier
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current , which periodically reverses direction, to direct current , which flows in only one direction. The process is known as rectification...
continuous current pulses. He developed the Plauson's converter, an electrostatic generator
Electrostatic generator
An electrostatic generator, or electrostatic machine, is a mechanical device that produces static electricity, or electricity at high voltage and low continuous current...
. In 1920, Plauson published a book titled "Production and Utilization of the Atmospheric Electricity" (Gr., Gewinnung und Verwertung der Atmospharischen Elektrizitat). A copy of this book is in the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
.
It is believed that he was related to Gertrud Plauson (the exact relationship is unknown; she may be his wife).
Patents
Personal patentsAmerican - H. Plauson - "Manufacture of dispersiods, colloid powder, and masses therefrom" - H. Plauson - "Reclaiming rubber" - H. Plauson - "Process of the manufacture of Alkyl Ethers of Vinyl alcohols and homologues therefore" - G. Plauson - "Method of carrying out electrochemical reactions and apparatus for the use therein" - H. Plauson - "Conversion of atmospheric electric energy"
Other
- "Use of Beta-rays and X-rays in Synthesizing Liquid Hydro-carbons From Gaseous Compounds". GB309002, Dec. 30, 1927. Chem. Abs., vol. 24, 1930, p. 299
Company patents (Traun's Forschungs laboratorium)
- "Process and apparatus for converting static atmospheric electrical energy into dynamic electrical energy of any suitable high periodicity" - GB157263
- "Improvements in electric motors" - GB157262
- "Process of sunthesis of liquid hydrocarbons" - GB309002
External articles
- "Power from the Air". Science and Invention (Formerly Electrical ExperimenterElectrical ExperimenterThe Electrical Experimenter was a technical science magazine that was published monthly. It was first published in May 1913, as the successor to Modern Electrics, a combination of a magazine and mail-order catalog that had been published by Hugo Gernsback starting in 1908...
), Feb. 1922, no. 10. Vol IX, Whole No. 106. New York. (nuenergy.org) - "Power from the Air". Science and invention (Formerly electrical experimenter), March 1922. (nuenergy.org).