Unknown electrical transformer discovered in Kosovo

originally posted by: EartOccupant
a reply to: SlapMonkey

Thanks for the info!

You might find this interesting, But i warn you, its very far out and highly speculative.

Watch at own risk!

I have a couple of rocks like that, one is shaped like a heart that has been trimmed, the inside of the rock where it looks like it is cut matches a cows heart that I compared it to where it that I cut about the same way. It looks like a chicken heart from the roasting chickens. It may be a permineralized heart but I have no way of telling. When you wet it it gets bright red. It could be cinnabar, but that would have to have been brought here from across the country.

So, I just have a cool rock that changes color to red when wet and it also stinks when wet.

a reply to: rickymouse

Well the guy in the YouTube did sent it to independent laboratories and dit get positive DNA responsies....

It's mind blowing... and if you watch more of his videos.. wait for it... wait.... there will be: Giants! and i mean GIANT GIANTS.

I'm still on the fence, but i do keep one eye open!



Anyway, back to our little transformer.

It looks like a toroidal coil wrapped around a ceramic? insulator. A toroidal core has all the magnetic field inside the toroid, so that leaves two immediate possibilities: an inductor or a transformer. An inductor doesn't make a lot of sense; that is an extremely inefficient method of winding an inductor. A transformer has issues, too. The way it has collapsed from the side tells me there was a soft core, possibly even an air core. That makes any use as a transformer very inefficient as well. Even just a rough iron core would have increased the efficiency by a couple orders of magnitude.

The voltage used in the visible coil couldn't have been very high, because of the spacing of the windings and what appears to not be very high-strength insulation. But that central insulator seems to indicate the opposite: high voltage.

The holes might be mounting holes; they appear to have what could have once been threads in them. Their very existence, however, indicates that this was a manufactured device, not something that got embedded into a rock over time. The entire encasement also appears to have some symmetry, adding to the presumption of a manufactured housing.

The only reasonable useage for this that I can come up with is that it was used to create high voltage inside the ceramic center, for what purpose I do not know.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: SlapMonkey

Not if it was embedded slowly in secreted lime stone or coral growth.

Theres this hammer they fond in a cave embedded in limestone, too.... somewhere.

Yeah, but not being a geologist by any stretch of the imagination, that still does not appear to be the product of calcification/secreted limestone or coral growth. Plus, given the place that it was found, I don't think that coral growth around a relatively modern electrical object would be a possibility. The area, according to the video, does have caves and whatnot nearby, so I suppose that limestone is a possibility, but I don't think that it's probable.

As for the hammer, I know which one you're talking about. There was also this "fossil hat," but anyone who understands the basics of mineralization knows that this was just a hat that got calcified over time in highly mineralized water, and that's it's not a fossil. I actually sat through an Answers In Genesis presentation about Creationism (not because I believed, but I wanted to see how they would argue the case), and they used this hat as "proof" that fossils can happen within decades and that it doesn't take millions of years. At that assertion, I audibly chuckled and everyone looked at me--it was awkward.

In any event, it took 50 years of calcification to cover the hat in a relatively thin layer of minerals...how long would it take to cover that electrical device in such a thick layer, while also leaving the fine grooves of the object unfilled?

a reply to: EartOccupant

Damn...couldn't make it past about 4 minutes into that video.

Some things just are not worth entertaining, but I appreciate the video, as I had seen them during my searches but didn't click on them. Now I know that I do not have to

a reply to: rickymouse

What pictures?

a reply to: EartOccupant

This story is from March 2017, i.e. 8 months old. How long do you think it would have taken to have this mystery solved?

a reply to: surnamename57

LOL... as with all of these... never!

They disappear after being handed over to "experts"

It's a toroid coil variable resistor to regulate AC current output. It has 4 threaded holes for mounting, a movable ceramic center that has a conductive wiper mounted to it that swipes the top of the coils that are exposed. They come in various sizes to accommodate current requirements. It is very common and still used even today.

I'll leave it to others to speculate about the rock.

www.resistorguide.com...



What is a rheostat?

A rotary rheostat from the sideA rheostat is a variable resistor which is used to control current. They are able to vary the resistance in a circuit without interruption. The construction is very similar to the construction of a potentiometers. It uses only two connections, even when 3 terminals (as in a potentiometer) are present. The first connection is made to one end of the resistive element and the other connection to the wiper (sliding contact). In contrast to potentiometers, rheostats have to carry a significant current. Therefore they are mostly constructed as wire wound resistors. Resistive wire is wound around an insulating ceramic core and the wiper slides over the windings.



Read more www.resistorguide.com...

a reply to: SlapMonkey

The area, according to the video, does have caves and whatnot nearby, so I suppose that limestone is a possibility, but I don't think that it's probable.

"Caves in the area"?

Can't be ruled out.

a reply to: CharlesT

I like your thinking, but more likely a variable inductor than resistor. The size of the copper wires is so large as to make the overall resistance negligible, but the winding pattern (toroidal spiral) does provide inductance. Most wirewound potentiometers use extremely tiny wires internally to allow for a large resistance value. Wirewound resistors actually have two windings in opposite directions to prevent introducing unwanted inductance. This is not something new either... while single-layer wirewound resistors have been made, they have not been made for quite some time. Wirewound inductors are quite common.

In an AC control circuit, a variable inductor could easily serve the same purpose as a rheostat or potentiometer, though, since inductance is essentially resistance to AC current.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: Guyfriday

Electronics engineer here.

It IS a transformer. Although at very first glance the first photo of just the paper looked like it could be an old capacitor. But the other shots its a xformer.

Elevator guy here, and with the flexible conduit coming out of it , it looks to be some kind of current sensing transformer in case of a ground in a high voltage line. Could be just rubble from an old building that was in a creek or some sort of running water over a period of time.

a reply to: TheRedneck

I worked on electrical equipment that utilized 4 heat strip burners to cut banding material. the reostat used there had a winding that was near 32nd of an inch diameter. As I said, it depends on the application. They run from very small up to quite large. My experience with these were from 2009.

It's a reostat!

Hmmm ... neat-o. Thanks for posting.

The rock looks oddly igneous , if a relatively modern accretion ... but I'm not a geologist...

and if actually ancient, the metallic looking parts seem too -well preserved.

Maybe the pre-dinosaur metallurgists were better at making non oxidizing metals?

Dunno ... be interesting to see test results ...just in case all the alternative kooks are correct about forgotten civilizations.

But yeah, likely a modern accretion and a new addition for some young earth creationist museum.

a reply to: CharlesT

Did the burners operate on AC or DC current?

TheRedneck

This is definitely some sort of modern transformer coil, electrical motor, or motor pump device. Maybe even a heating element device for a tank, airplane or?? The close up pictures and bolt holes suggest this is some sort of motor with a magnesium/zinc/aluminum alloy surrounding case for strength and corrosion resistance. Reason I say heating element because of the middle part showing wires or heating elements obviously wrapped with what looks to be fiberglass mesh tubing. This is to protect the copper or ceramic element from coming in contact with the casing. Definitely weather worn. So with that I estimate it be 1930-40's.

Ancient Transformer?
Caves near by?

So they advance their knowledge of electricity to the point of needing transformers and they live in caves?

This is quite an interesting item, I've marked four areas on a screen grabbed picture that I think are really relevant:



1. This looks like the neck of a ceramic/clay pot or jar
2. The copper windings are very uniform, perfectly formed and exactly the same diameter, these look extruded to me.
3. The split directions give a big clue here I think, they are not in the same direction so the "stone" does not have any set grain or direction of laydown
4. The blue/green colour, the colour and irregular free form shapes suggest this is concrete that had Iron or Ferrous sulphides in the slag cement, this would normally disappear after casting if the concrete is kept dry (take ages though), however, if you look at the shape of the concrete and wear on the cleave lines, I would say this has been sitting in a water flow of some sort.

What's your thoughts?

So a couple thoughts...

First, that object is just strange enough that I think one of the first things I'd want to do is to see what a Geiger counter has to say about it.

Second, a little more context around where it was found would be good. Okay, it was found in a cave, but what's in the surrounding area around the cave? How far is the nearest industrialized area? How far is the nearest populated area? Junkyards? Etc.

Rock, regardless of type (i.e. igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, etc.), doesn't just form around an object like that without destroying most of the components shown in this object (paper, fiberglass, etc.). Consequently, whatever caused this would have to be some sort of an extraordinary event.

a reply to: EartOccupant

this is a normal transformer dumped into a bag of cement the thing even has the cement bag shape !

well thats what my money is on !