A sepia-toned photograph of Edison tinkering around in his laboratory. Dressed in a fancy, old-fashioned   suit, he stands behind a long table with a vintage chemistry set, and behind him are shelves of various chemicals in small glass bottles.

 

Most people think of Thomas Edison as the man who invented the lightbulb (actually, he didn’t invent the first lightbulb, he invented the technology that helped bring it to the masses). Some people know that Edison’s inventions helped to build America’s economy during the Industrial Revolution. Fewer people know that Thomas Edison’s inventions and legacy reach beyond      simply bringing electricity into every home in the United States and many places in the world -which was a great accomplishment already! 

 

Edison was always working. As a kid, he sold newspapers. Then he worked for the railroad. He finally found his groove as a telegrapher, where he could experiment with telegraph technology, which turned him on to electrical science. In his spare time, he developed an unrestricted style of thinking and inquiry, proving things to himself through objective examination and experimentation.

His first invention, in 1869, was an improved stock ticker called the Universal Stock Printer, which synchronized several stock tickers’ transactions. The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company was so impressed, they paid him $40,000 for the rights. With this success, he quit his work as a telegrapher to devote himself full time to inventing. He then developed the phonograph, the first method for recording sound using tin-coated cylinders with two needles; one needle was for recording sound and the other for playback. The phonograph brought him worldwide fame, especially when the device was used by the U.S. Army to bring music to the troops overseas during World War I.

A view of downtown Los Angeles at night. The city is aglow with electrical light all the way to the horizon line.

 

As mentioned above, what brought (and still brings) Edison worldwide fame is his contribution to “electrifying” the world. Edison was driven to perfect a commercially practical, efficient incandescent lightbulb following English inventor Humphry Davy’s invention of the first early electric arc lamp in the early 1800s. Other scientists had worked to perfect electric light bulbs or tubes using a vacuum but were unsuccessful in their attempts. Some of these early bulbs had flaws like an extremely short life, or they were too expensive to produce, which made them difficult to apply their use on a large commercial scale. Edison understood that in order to keep the thickness of the copper wire needed to connect electric lights economically manageable, he would have to develop a lamp that would draw a low amount of current. This meant the lamp would have to have a high resistance. After many experiments, first with carbon filaments and then with platinum and other metals, Edison returned to a carbon filament. The first successful test was on October 22, 1879. The bulb lasted 13.5 hours. Edison continued to improve this design, filed for the U.S. patent (which was later granted) for an electric lamp using “a carbon filament or strip, coiled and connected to platina contact wires.” This was the first commercially practical incandescent light.

Edison essentially changed the way the world looks (and the way we see it!), but aside from lighting up our homes and streets, he also contributed to almost every other facet of modern life. Edison spent considerable time in his New Jersey-based industrial research lab where he developed his lesser known, although still impressively important, inventions, including the motion picture camera and the alkaline storage battery. Edison became the first person to project a motion picture. He held the world’s first motion picture screening at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall in New York City. Also, as the automobile industry began to grow, Edison worked on developing a suitable storage battery that could power an electric car.

Edison’s lesser known inventions range from the tattoo gun(!), a fruit dehydration method, and even a voting machine! Edison invented the predecessor of the tattoo gun: the pneumatic stencil pen. He filed for a patent for a method to preserve fruits, vegetables, or other organic substances in a glass vessel. The vessel was filled with the items to be preserved, and then all the air was sucked out of the bottle with an air pump. The vessel tube was sealed with another piece of glass. Edison even invented wax paper! He also researched and built fireproof homes made of concrete, which even included furniture made of concrete. Not all of his inventions caught on right away, in fact many were outright rejected. His very first patent was for an electrical voting machine meant to count congressional votes. However, this machine was before its time and was rejected, at the time, by Congress, only to adopt the method years later with a machine made by another scientist.

An outside view of the Corefficient manufacturing plant: a blue glass entrance, a white building with the blue Corefficient logo, and the parking lot.

 

Corefficient: Think Like Edison

An energy innovator must experiment. Through constant experimentation and evolution, we at Corefficient have searched for and found the highest-grade materials and machines. We took the time to research and determine the best product tests to use before our product is eventually sold and delivered. We also believe that our commitment to the environment and energy conservation makes us a trailblazing company.

Corefficient is committed to offering the most efficient wound cores in the industry, with DG c ores built to customer specifications on our TRANCO and AEM Unicore brand machines — whether single phase or three phase designs. Our TRANCO lines are able to handle material from 3.0 up to 10.5 inches wide, and a thickness of .007 to .014 inches. Our AEM lines are able to handle material from 1.18 up to 16.7 inches wide, and a thickness of 0.007 to 0.014 inches.

As a Corefficient’s transformer core customer, you will benefit from the following:

  • a continuous flow annealing furnace
  • TRANCO and AEM core forming machines
  • GEORG high speed cutting lines
  • state-of-the-art material testing laboratory

As efficiency regulations have become stricter, demand has increased for conventional, grain-oriented, and high permeability electrical steels. Worldwide strategic sourcing has thus become fundamental. To meet these demands, Coefficient has secured sourcing for conventional CRGO, HiNB, and Laser Scribed materials, among others.

At Corefficient, we believe the path to being the most efficient transformer core manufacturer begins and ends with testing. Unlike our competition, we provide our customers with state-of-the-art electrical steel core services by testing our cores throughout the manufacturing process, from raw material testing and inspection, to interim processes, to a final test. All results are recorded for each individual serialized core.

Here are the types of tests we run:

  • Epstein testing
  • single sheet testing
  • Franklin testing
  • dimensional testing

We are able to meet our customers’ needs in a timely manner, either as logs or fully assembled cores, with our high-speed, fully automated precision cutting and stacking lines. To further enhance our position in the market, we will provide a frame with your transformer core, whether designed and supplied by Corefficient or the customer.

A magazine ad featuring an image of transformer cores with the words, “Your source for DG wound cores: extensive manufacturing capacity, roller hearth annealing furnace, quality and testing” and Corefficient’s official blue inverted triangle logo with a bright orange lightning bolt and circular brush stroke. In larger blue text below it reads “AEM Unicore, TRANCO, ISO Certified, DOE, ASTM, and NRCAN.”

Corefficient is committed to offer the most efficient wound cores in the industry. At Corefficient, we value the environment, and, as a leader in the energy industry, we are committed to the conservation of energy and preserving our environment. A successful business thrives on challenges. Environmental awareness has led Corefficient to innovate green transformer cores. Our understanding of the current environmental challenge has allowed us to grow in a direction of efficiency and minimization of energy losses during electrical transferal with energy efficient cores. We focus on constructing transformer cores with reduced energy loss that improve efficiency while reducing costs. Our testing has more purpose than simply good products. Our assembled core electrical testing and special electrical product testing tests for energy loss and other environmental concerns. Finally, our quality control laboratories within the production plants result in higher efficiency materials.

All electricity must go through transformers, and the best way to reduce transformer energy loss is to choose the right energy efficient core.

About Corefficient

Corefficient is a transformer core manufacturing company that is dedicated to energy efficiency. Corefficient manufactures high quality mitre cut cores and distributed gap cores that meet critical efficiency regulations. We have in-house annealing, testing, and finishing equipment and personnel to ensure product performance and durability. We offer in-house extensive testing services, including Epstein testing, Franklin testing, single sheet testing, and more.

Visit Corefficient’s website today: https://corefficientsrl.com/. Contact us through our website or connect with our North American sales engineer by phone: 1 (704) 236-2510.