The Legal Definitions behind the differences

Original Author : Murlach / Date : 2005-11-14 02:00
 

This is a little bit more about Roughtrader's article; the legal definitions in the USA for differences between the three types, that will fill in some missing puzzle pieces. I've included summary of some actual definitions from state and federal sources.

They ARE very similar machines: they all had their origins based on Tesla’s disruptive discharge coil patent of 1896. Because they are based on that design they will light noble gas tubes, but other types of transformers will also do that and Tesla didn’t invent that capability. But there are enough differences between the devices to warrant separate definitions in the US.

Violet rays: Subject to US FDA regulations. Legal for sale as medical collectibles only. Antique quack medical device based upon a patented disruptive discharge coil design that utilizes radiofrequency radiation between the frequencies of 400-500 kilohertz to excite primarily argon that then produces a purple glow in a glass electrode.

High Frequency: Subject to FDA regulations, and individual state cosmetic and aesthetic licensing regulations. In most states legal to sell to anyone, but can only be used by licensed aestheticians. Some states illegal to sell except to licensed aestheticians.
Solid state device or UL listed grounded electrical coil device that excites gases in a glass electrode for the purpose of providing oxygenating and antibacterial properties to the face.

Violet wand: Free from FDA regulations (so far), legal in all US states to sell, buy, and use. An electrical BDSM apparatus that passes current through noble gas in a glass electrode by means of a transformer for the purpose of facilitating human sexual pleasure.

Some of the actual construction differences have been discussed, but here’s -why- the differences in their constructions make them just different enough to be treated and regulated differently by law in the USA:

Violet rays are illegal to manufacture in the US since 1954 after the 1951 lawsuit as stated. Most companies had already stopped production because of WWII, but by 1954 all remaining manufacturers were forced to cease production and the FDA called for remaining product to be seized. Master Electric company was the defendant in that lawsuit, but subsequent to the lawsuit the FDA did allow them to continue to manufacture a 2nd generation (single piece ungrounded unit) violet ray as a High Frequency beauty device.

But there's another chapter in that story.... in 1997 there were new FDA definitions for the construction and use of a High Frequency cosmetic device…. The Master Electric product then fell outside the parameters that the FDA would allow in a cosmetic High Frequency device and the FDA overturned their 1954 decision and forced Master to cease any remaining production.

In the past few years both New Jersey and New York have both considered enacting state regulations that would make it also illegal to –sell-- violet rays within their states. It further might interest US readers to note that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection used one of our OWN Guild member's findings members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3cw3z/ during their 2004 review over violet ray devices regarding their ultraviolet and radiofrequency levels, so thanks to that, violet rays remain legal to buy or sell as collectibles in New Jersey.

High Frequency devices on the other hand, are defined in the US with vastly different parameters than a violet ray. They are not allowed to have anywhere NEAR the output that violet ray machines had, and they also must be grounded (unlike violet rays), UL listed, and don’t produce the interference that Violet Rays do. The FDA allows their sale and use as a cosmetic device, but they are also subject to individual state cosmetic licensing regulations. These are mostly solid state since they are subject to seizure if they come too close to a violet ray construction or output.

Where do violet wands fit in? They have thus far escaped FDA or US state regulations because they are …just….different enough than violet ray devices. That 2nd last remaining US company manufacturing violet rays in 1951 was Bleadon Dun. Bleadon Dun escaped the FDA ruling in 1954 because they changed their design as well as grounding the open circuit. These BD (Bleadon Dun) 10s were marketed as leak testers by ETP. This change in the design was good for the kinky folk, since the construction of all modern “Violet wands” in the US are based upon this last Bleadon Dun modification and an additional modification in the design is still made beyond the BD-10 to make it a violet wand. With this last design change, a violet wand coil construction is several modifications away from being identical to Tesla’s original disruptive discharge coil design (violet ray coil) and so because they aren’t strictly violet ray machines by definition or construction, violet wands fell out of the scope of existing federal and state regulations. Thus they still remain legal to use, buy, manufacture, sell unlike violet rays. (so far, anyway.)

Just goes to show you what type of red tape and legalese we have in the USA! Three similar devices regulated completely differently.

Tags: Wands | Rays | Coils | Violet Ray

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About Tesla coils, violet rays, violet wands, and high frequency devices

Original Author : Roughtrader / Date : 2005-09-19 10:36

There are three categories of devices that on the surface, look to be almost the same thing. That is, all three types are used as transformers to excite noble gas-filled glass tubes. This article discusses differences in their contruction and uses and sets forth definitions for the three types of devices.

The grand daddy of them all, invented before 1900, is a Tesla coil construction. Nikolas Tesla was your typical mad genius whose inventions still affect us today. PBS called Tesla the "Master of Lightning" and he was. Several of his patents affect violet wand technology.

There were two patents in 1896, which affect our concerns: a device for producing ozone and a method for regulating a High Frequency apparatus.
The basis for all three devices under discussion (violet ray, violet wand, high frequency) is a modified coil of Tesla's invention in slightly different constructions. None of Tesla's patents are -exactly- like the violet wand construction we know today, but several of them provide the basis.

Tesla's inventions were being patented during a time when many other scientific discoveries were being made. One of these were the discoveries with noble gasses, our beloved friends argon and neon. Passing electricity through noble gasses excites them and causes them to glow because they are very stable electrically. This discovery was made by Georges Claude. He was the first to pass electricity through a sealed tube containing neon gas and invented the first neon lamp.

Nobody knows who first put together a coil of Tesla's design, and Georges Claudes invention, using it to light an argon gas filled tube and called it a violet ray, because so many similar things were occurring at the same time; a renaissance of electricity and discovery that included many many inventors such as Edison and the Curies and radio, Crooke's tubes, electricity, X-rays, and even early plastics, zippers, and air conditioners.

But somebody did arrange a modified Tesla's coil with Claude's lamp and create the first 'violet ray device' that was marketed to cure every health problem imaginable. Because it was not strictly one of Tesla's patented designs, the combination and modified devices was reproduced by any number of companies wanting to get on the bandwagon; American companies like Renulife and Violetta, and the Canadian Fitzgerald company. There was an early one on exhibit in the Palace of Electricity at the St. Louis Expo in 1904.

Violet ray devices are not strictly Tesla's coils for the main reason that the primary and secondary are reversed from Tesla's construction. Thus a violet ray device is a second generation device.

We'll skip ahead 70+ years. Now there are no more violet ray manufacturers in the USA. For reasons of war supply, the Depression and the lawsuit against violet ray companies for their false medical claims, the last US manufacturer of violet ray devices has finally closed down.

But along the way, someone has modified the original coil configuration a little more and tried to re-market a modern violet ray device for alternative medical therapies. They are shut down by the FDA. And later someone else has modified it a little more.

Now we have a third generation device: a violet wand. The differences between Tesla's original coil, again the primary and secondary are reversed. The difference between a violet wand and its parent a violet ray are in the coil construction in that where a violet ray device constructed the primary/secondary separate from the resonator coil, the violet wand construction houses them together. But the basic difference in the coil construction, is that it puts one nesting inside the other! We have a single one-piece unit that has a decidely different purpose. No more alternative or quack medical...we're out to have fun.

There's a cousin to the violet wand at this generation level; a high frequency device. Originally, high frequency devices also had a one-piece construction, but that is no more. This branch of the family goes back to the violet ray device as well, and are still used for cosmetic purposes. MOST of them are solid state now, using electronics rather than electrical coil combinations to transform electricity.

All three devices still excite noble-gas filled glass tubes called 'electrodes', though they are not 'quite' electrodes'. (The metal in them actually is the electrode.) The electrodes can be pretty much interchangeable if you have the right size. But they too are diverging in small modifications from the original violet ray electrodes.

So, here are summaries of the differences and similarities.

Violet ray device. Antique Quack medical device based on a disruptive discharge coil combination in which the primary/secondary is constructed to house separately from the resonator and the primary/secondary are in series. The capacitor is always of a rolled waxed paper construction. No longer made anywhere in the US, though European violet ray devices are still made (since Europe didn't experience the infamous lawsuit).) Violet ray devices will always have the two-part separate construction. Many of the US violet rays can be used like violet wands, because they have high outputs that the kink users are looking for. Some states have specific regulations regarding their use and sale based upon the FDA ruling. European violet ray devices vary widely in output and many of them are too light for 'playing', especially when used with their settings for US current.

Violet wand: Modern disruptive discharge coil combination in which the primary/secondary is nested and constructed to house in tandem with the resonator coil, producing a one-piece device. The capacitor is of varying materials. Legal to buy, sell and use in every state of the US.

High Frequency device: Electrical transformer either solid state (or some coil combinations remain) used in the cosmetic industry to produce ozone to stimulate and oxygenate skin. Little to no output sensation.

'Bastard or transitional devices'. Late-model violet rays with a one-piece construction in which the original separated coil combination is modified to be in tandem. These were instrumental in getting the technology from the violet ray device to today's violet wand, but a) are no longer manufactured, b) are subject to the FDA rulings, c) and last for about 10 minutes of use.

There is also a leak detector on the market today which is used to test neon signs or other leaks. In its construction, it is the nearest almost fraternal twin to the violet wand. In fact, some violet wand -suppliers- use these leak detectors right from the company and sell them as violet wands, since their appearance is identical to many violet wands on the market. BUT, these are a different device than a violet wand, with a capacitor that allows for only 5 minutes of use at a time. These are the violet wands with the dreaded 'wax' core that you have heard about. (though what they are calling a 'core' is actually a capacitor'.

So, a violet wand is not a leak detector. but...it may begin as one. A violet wand will EITHER be a modified leak detector product, in which the modifications include that the capacitor is replaced with a ceramic capacitor so that it lasts for more than a few minutes (who wants 5 minutes of play?) Thus, a violet wand can begin with the leak detector product but is modified specifically to be a violet wand. Here again, is a technology in transition. Just like computers, technology of all types changes and advances in gradual steps.

OR.....and here is where the growing and transitioning technologies finally become an adult in their own right...matured at last.....a violet wand will be a wholely new constructed device manufactured by the violet wand company itself. Legal to use, own and sell in every state in the US (unlike a violet ray.) Modified coil combination that has grown from Tesla's original design, but where the primary and secondary are reversed on the circuit, lie within one another, and are housed with the resonator. AND the capacitor is a long-use capacitor from the GET-GO and it is manufactured specifically for kinky play (unlike a leak detector).. And of course, has the nice strong outputs we like (unlike a high frequency.)

Again, this is a broad technology we are discussing, with simultaneous occurences of closely-related devices sharing the same 'genes' or basic origins or basic constructions. We've got a lot of cousins, parents and children existing simultaneously which are all inter-related devices with many similarities. Some are more similar than they are different, especially where the changes are minor as the technology advances from one step to the next. It is easy to confuse them, and there are some blurred lines between them as the technologies continue to develop and diverge.

Violet ray: Subject to FDA regulations in the US in all states, some states have FCC regulations regarding violet rays
Violet wand: Not subject to FDA regulations in the US, legal to own in all states.
High Frequency: Varies by state under cosmetic licensing

But.. even while they share many similarities and some basic origins, these devices are NOT 100% identical in construction, and definitely the purposes to which the devices are used, and the end users, are extremely different for every type of device.

Tags: Coils | Rays | Wands

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