[SystemSafety] Bug Redux... WAS Safety Culture redux
Chuck_Petras at selinc.com
Chuck_Petras at selinc.com
Wed Mar 14 00:02:58 CET 2018
The IEEE Institute had a fun tidbit on the origin of the term "bug."
"In 1873 Edison first confronted what he later called a bug when he began
developing a quadruplex telegraph system to transmit and receive up to
four separate telegrams on a single wire simultaneously. If he succeeded,
his patron, Western Union Telegraph, would profit greatly from the
increased message capacity. The 26-year-old engineer combined diplex and
duplex circuits to send two messages in each direction using changes in
current direction and strength. The problem in this approach was the false
break in a message?s signal created by the changing polarity of the
electromagnet in the diplex circuit when the current switched direction.
"Edison worked around this by building what he later called a ?bug trap?
to isolate the unwanted break so that it wouldn?t interfere with the
meaning of the Morse-coded signal. In August 1873 he filed a patent
caveat, a form of patent application long since discontinued, which
included this solution. A year later it became part of his application for
U.S. Patent 480,567, which did not issue until 1892 due to
patent-interference claims and court cases."
[snip]
"Author and engineer Thomas Sloane standardized Edison?s terms in his 1892
Standard Electrical Dictionary. He defined a bug as '[a]ny fault or
trouble in the connections or working of electric apparatus,' with a bug
trap being a 'connection or arrangement for overcoming' said bug."
[snip]
"News of Edison?s quadruplex also encouraged German speakers to adopt the
terms ?bug? and ?bug trap? in translation. Karl Zetzsche explained in his
1890 Handbuch der Electrischen Telegraphie (Handbook of Electrical
Telegraphy) that Edison used 'neutralen und einem polarisirten Relais in
Brückenschaltung und mit Wanzenfalle in Thätigkeit,' or 'neutral and
polarized relays in a bridge circuit with a bug trap during action.' Three
years later, Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal also referred to 'Edison?s
Wanzen Falle (bug trap).'"
Did You Know? Edison Coined the Term ?Bug?,
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__theinstitute.ieee.org_tech-2Dhistory_technology-2Dhistory_did-2Dyou-2Dknow-2Dedison-2Dcoined-2Dthe-2Dterm-2Dbug&d=DwIFAw&c=zVFQZQ67ypsA9mYKSCqWmQHiVkCCaN-Gb60_N6TVnLk&r=zCwDz0h_ezUCVpbXoLT-zh0iTVdbymfdnT16kGAgelNE5W_nOFK-pESbjJCRy2gv&m=6nRQc7G_KEr-H6EQlNfNrlY3pyHSqvXgX36QSb4EJ5w&s=K8uTWD35j_dQGwuCXoavjQIp5rEV8FD2Tkf4lv1Bb2M&e=
Chuck Petras, PE**
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc
Pullman, WA 99163 USA
http://www.selinc.com
Tel: +1.509.332.1890
Cel: +1.509.991.0613
SEL Synchrophasors - A New View of the Power System <
http://synchrophasor.selinc.com>
Making Electric Power Safer, More Reliable, and More Economical (R)
** Registered in Oregon.
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