When I was a kid at school (that was quite a long time ago) I found a book in the library called “The Boy Electrician” which I pretty much had out continuously from the school library from that point onwards. It had loads of really dodgy projects in it like DIY X-ray machines and various other high voltage devices. One of the devices was a spark coil and a Jacob’s ladder effect. I duly got myself a used neon sign transformer and improvised a Jacob’s ladder on top of a chest of drawers with tape and wire.
Fast forward a few years when I had finished my electrical apprenticeship and had money to buy better toys, I bought the biggest neon transformer I could find in Glasgow. A FART (yeah) 10kV 50mA unit. I built a new Jacobs ladder with proper hardware and was not happy with the critical nature of the gap at the base. I reasoned that introducing a third central electrode with current limiting could improve the initial arc distance by ionising the air with a thin trigger spark. It worked a treat, and since the original effect had a biblically themed name I added a new one for the electrode by calling it a Gabriel electrode (After the “arc” angel Gabriel).
My Jacobs ladder was used on various TV productions in Scottish studios. I left the BBC test sticker on it because it’s quite amusing that something like a Jacob’s ladder could even be tested for electrical safety. I bet they had a long discussion about that one.
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