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.