RankingsPrimerArbiterPhysicistMathematicianContrarianQESites logClaimsSourcesResearch notes

IEEE Xplore (AIEE papers by Steinmetz), 2026-10-08

Investigator (STEP I), project Steinmentz-Charles. Abstract pages only (full text is paywalled; not downloaded; no login attempted).

Searched

Found

1. Steinmetz, "Frequency Conversion by Third Class Conductor and Mechanism of the Arcing Ground and Other Cumulative Surges", Trans. AIEE vol. XLII (1923), pp. 470-477, DOI 10.1109/T-AIEE.1923.5060887 [web: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5060887]

Abstract (quoted in part): cumulative oscillations or arcing grounds "derive their energy from the machine power of the system, and so constitute a frequency transformation, of which the mechanism has been little understood. Physically they may be derived from the typical condenser discharge by the conception of a negative resistance, in combination with a source of power, which supplies the energy given out by the negative resistance." It names "third-class conductors" (arcs, gas discharges), "in which the voltage decreases with increase of current", and says they "can be considered as a combination of a negative resistance with a source of power", able to transform "the low machine frequency into a high oscillation frequency". Bears on: claim 1 (energy comes from machine power, via frequency conversion) and claim 2 (mechanism). This is Steinmetz's last statement on the mechanism, nine years after Discharges (1914), and it uses the words "negative resistance" that the deep reader did not find in Discharges Lectures VIII-X. The paper was presented at the AIEE convention in April 1923 (program in Journal of the AIEE, April 1923, listed as "Third Class Conductors and Mechanism of Arcing Ground"; see 2026-10-08-worldradiohistory.md). His working notes for it survive (Schenectady County Historical Society, Box 5 folder 30e, 23 March 1922; see 2026-10-08-schenectady-historical.md).

2. Steinmetz, "Instability of Electric Circuits", Proc. AIEE vol. 33 no. 1 (January 1914), pp. 13-29, DOI 10.1109/PAIEE.1914.6661036 [web: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6661036]

Abstract: three types of instability: (1) transients from readjustment of stored energy; (2) unstable electrical equilibrium, "the condition in which the effect of a cause increases the cause" (arc on constant potential, induction motor in certain speed ranges); (3) "Permanent instability resulting from a combination of circuit constants which can not co-exist", illustrated by the arcing ground, hunting of synchronous converters, "continuous and cumulative oscillations". "It is shown that such phenomena require an energy supply resulting from a lag of the effect behind the cause, or a hysteresis cycle, and frequently involve a frequency transformation." Hunting and "the mechanism of the transfer of the hunting energy from the supply power" are treated explicitly. Bears on: claim 2. This is the paper Discharges cites ("Instability of Electric Circuits", A.I.E.E. Proceedings, Jan. 1914). Note: Wikipedia cites it as Proc. AIEE XXXIII(1): 2005-2021 (1914a) and other sites as Trans. AIEE XXXII(2): 2005-2021, May 13 1913; IEEE gives pp. 13-29, Jan. 1914. Probably presented 1913 and printed in both series; not resolved.

3. "Outline of Theory of Impulse Currents", Proc. AIEE vol. XXXV no. 1 (1916), pp. 1-31, DOI 10.1109/PAIEE.1916.6590573 [web]

Abstract: from "the integral of the general differential equation of the electric circuit" all current types follow as special cases; three main classes by the time exponent b: alternating currents (b imaginary, "the useful currents"), impulse currents (b real, "which may be called harmful currents"), and as limit b = 0 the continuous current in a circuit with distributed constants. Bears on claim 3 (same classification as Transient book Section IV).

4. "Lightning Phenomena in Electric Circuits", Proc. AIEE vol. XXVI (1907), pp. 401-423 [web]

Abstract opens with the history of the word lightning: first cloud and cloud-to-ground discharges, then induced disturbances during thunderstorms, so that "lightning then came to mean all the effects of atmospheric electricity". Full text not seen. Bears on claim 5 background (the Transient book's cloud hypothesis cites a 1907 NELA paper "Lightning and Lightning Protection"; whether this AIEE paper also states the rain-drop series-capacity idea is unknown).

5. "Overdamped Condenser Oscillations", Journal of the AIEE vol. XLIII (1924), pp. 126-130 (posthumous) [web]

Abstract: a condenser with leakage conductance g discharging into r and L can be oscillatory even when r > sqrt(4L/C); condition given as (r/L - g/C) < ..., "only when r, L, C, and g are constant". Bears on claim 3 (r/L against g/C, the distortion constant m). The working notes, May 1923, are in SCHS Box 5 folder 31a.

Not reached

Full texts (paywalled). The 1913/1914 discussion of "Instability of Electric Circuits" by other engineers (would show how peers received the lag/hysteresis mechanism).