Discussion on “calculation of sudden short-circuit phenomena of alternators,” (Diamant), San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 17, 1915. (see proceedings for September, 1915)

F. D. Newbury: It is really surprising, as the author points out, how little thorough work has been done by American engineers on this subject. While Boucherot´s paper was presented in 1911, in 1912 and even in 1913 the practise of engineers in this country was decidedly loose; for example, there was no distinction made between the maximum possible short-circuit current or the value of short-circuit current in the special case of a symmetrical wave. In my own experience, it was an open question in 1912, whether the important value was the maximum possible short-circuit current, occurring when the alternator was short-circuited at the zero point of the voltage wave, or whether the symmetrical wave was the one to consider in practical problems.