Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!decvax!tektronix!tekcrl!tekfdi!videovax!rona
From: rona@videovax.Tek.COM (Ronald K. Anderson)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: shock box
Message-ID: <4881@videovax.Tek.COM>
Date: 8 Mar 88 00:10:33 GMT
References: <307@trwind.ind.TRW.COM>
Reply-To: rona@videovax.Tek.COM (Ronald K. Anderson)
Organization: Tektronix Television Systems, Beaverton, Oregon
Lines: 41

In article <307@trwind.ind.TRW.COM> johng@trwind.UUCP (John Greene) writes:
>
>I was talking to a few people the other day about the strange things that 
>past science teachers did.  Of the the subjects was a 'shock box' that was 
>metal on two sides and had DO NOT TOUCH written all over it.  Naturally 
>someone would want to know what the big deal is and pick it up receiving a
>harmless yet eye-opening zap.
>
>Has anyone seen or built similar devices in the past?  I would like to hear 
>about the various ways to generate and trigger such a device.  The smaller the
>better.  Automobile coils are out of the question.  
>-- 
>John E. Greene    

My cousins used one on me back in '67. The front and back covers were made 
out of foil with some kind of pattern printed on them to make it look like
an innocent book. on the inside front cover was some sort of metal plate that
a magnet on the end of a metal "spring" stuck to. When you opened the book 
far enough to see what was inside, the tension on the spring ( actually a 
resilient metal bar ) overcame the magnet's attraction force to the metal
plate, and the bar would bounce off a microswitch several times before damping
out. The microswitch would complete a circuit in the primary of a small
step up transformer. The voltage impulses induced in the secondary was 
coupled to the foil covers, and the victem's hands ( arms and chest ) 
completed the circuit.

Although the current produced by a small battery and your average transformer
would probably not harm your average HEALTHY person, common sense would dictate
which friends ( enemies, cousins or ? ) to victemize. 

At the time, I didn't think it was very funny, but I did admire the cleverness
of the design. It might even have played a small part in inspiring me to 
pursue a career in electronics.

My employer takes no responsibilty for this. 

R.K.Anderson-Gibson-Kappel-Heist-Wood-Galbreath-Olson-Heinz

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