Common Terms

[alfa88]

There are some terms that get used that just seem to bother me. I get the concept it's just the labels that stick in my craw.
#1: Flyback transformer. What make it any different from any other transformer?
#2 Crowbar. Okay, maybe I'm not so clear on that one.
#3 Bootup/ Boot strap. Where did that term get started?

I hope I'm not the only one with this semantics hangup.

 

[Resqueline]

Juts some thoughts here, I don't know if these are related to the origin though.
1: Think of it as tensioning a spring or a rubber band and then releasing it.
2: Brute force.
3: Strapping a boot - the strap goes back & forth (almost to its origin) thus reinforcing the action.

 

[duke37]

1. In the days of yore when there were scanning TVs, the spot traversed the screen from one side to the other and then had to flyback to the start side again. In order to do this rapidly a large voltage was needed at the scan coils. A special transformer was necessary to provide this high voltage and also the EHT voltage.

2. It is said that electrified railways using the third rail system could have the supply cut off in an emergency by shorting the rails, so tripping the supply. I think that this could be very exciting. The term is now used for tripping a SCR across a power supply if the voltage is too high, so blowing a fuse and protecting the load.

3. Lifting oneself up by your bootstraps is a very old term meaning to raise oneself without external help. Early computers had no permanent memory and the first instructions were input with switches which then enabled the computer to read an input device to load a program.

 

[alfa88]

Terms

Thanks. I can wrap my mind around these explanations although I think one would need a mighty big crowbar to trip a 3rd rail fuse. Having worked at said electrified rail system I can attest that there is a heck of alot of potential there.
.A bit off topic is the term they use for a section of running rail in a crossover called a frog. I never got an explanation I was happy with.. They just don't look like flattened out frogs to me.

 

[jackorocko]

.A bit off topic is the term they use for a section of running rail in a crossover called a frog

I actually see how they consider that, makes sense to me as I can see a frog laying there.