Abstract
A BOOK from the pen of Mr. Hobart invariably commands respectful attention and, we may add, is invariably pleasant reading. The volume before us is no exception, and moreover presents the results of Mr. Hobart's wide experience—that is to say, within the range of subjects taken up in this volume—with great conciseness. Perhaps one of the most valuable parts of the book is that labelled “Introductory,” which occupies the first eleven pages. The last nine of these pages constitute a survey of the development of the “static” transformer, and the survey is, to the engineer whose recollections carry him back over the period covered, freshingly interesting, and to the student it is full of instruction. Beginning with reference to the pioneer investigations of other workers, to which student and engineer alike are exhorted to give heed, Mr. Hobart culls from his own past experience and recollections incidents which illustrate in the most striking way what is really a typical sample of the commercial development of a scientific piece of apparatus. No better example than Mr. Hobart's experience with wattmeters could be given to impress students with the way in which difficulties should be met and with the way in which, when so met, they lead invariably to progress. We cannot leave this excellent part of the book, all too brief as it is, without expressing hearty approval of the statement that “the subject of transformer design cannot be covered by the enunciation of rules, formulae and constants, but that the designing of a transformer … will for many years continue to afford ample scope for careful thought and work.”
The Design of Static Transformers.
By H. M. Hobart. Pp. xv + 174. (London: Constable & co., Ltd., 1911.) Price 6s. net.
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The Design of Static Transformers . Nature 89, 475 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/089475a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/089475a0