Well Here goes...

My name is Jason Petrou and I am a student from North London. I will not say my age, because some people believe that experience only comes with age... I believe otherwise. Some of my friends refer to me as the local electrical hazard but to tell you the truth I am a very safe coiler...

Tesla Coils are the brainchild of a Serbian/American inventor named Nicola Tesla. He is responsible for the development of devices such as AC power, flourescent lighting tubes and of course his famous Tesla Coil. He first came up with the design for his 'resonant transformer' in the late 1920's, just after the first world war. From then on he developed his ideas and despite his low income developed a number of different types of coil. His most succesful, and last coil he ever built is the classical mushroom shape that we can see today.

I would like to state that safety is the first priority of a coiler, while producing the biggest sparks and streamers is the second... usually :)

Only three people have been directly killed by tesla coils: Henry L Transtrom - Electrocuted while working on a stage and using a large Tesla coil. He inadvertently allowed a power arc to go from his body to some metal framing that was part of the stage backdrop. Graduate student intern working at McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis. A Tesla coil was being used to test aircraft parts against the effects of
lightening. The person got too close to the tank circuit and either bushed up against it or a spark left the circuit and struck him. He never regained a heartbeat despite excellent CPR and paramedic responses.An unsupervised 14 month old boy wandered into the poorly made AC line wiring of a Tesla coil. He was found some time later but could not be resuscitated.

TESLA COILS ARE FED WITH HIGH VOLTAGES OF UP TO 40,000 VOLTS A.C. AND CAN PRODUCE VOLTAGES OVER A MILLION VOLTS . THEY ARE POTENTIALLY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF ONE SHOULD ONLY BE CARRIED OUT BY A COMPENTANT AND RESPONSIBLE PERSON.