Hollington & Kyprianou

An invisible force field has been experienced as a by-product of a particular industrial process in a 3M manufacturing plant in the south eastern United States. This occurred in August 1980 at its polypropylene plant around a large film-slitting machine with usually a temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit with a relative humidity of 75-80%.

David Swenson of 3M Electrical Specialties Division in Austin, Texas was called in to investigate the problems with contamination of wide web film as it was being run at high speed, converted (split) into "film jumbos" with a width of 3' x 5' for coating with adhesive to make tape.
The Polypropylene web was 21 feet across – with the film running from one roller up 20 feet to another roller; across 15 feet to a third roller; down 20 feet to a splitter; and was then wound onto two rolls. It formed a huge dynamic "tent". Swenson was there to measure the static electricity inside the web tent . As he approached the tent, his static field meter recorded a 200kV @ 12" The amount of static electricity was in the Mega volt range. The force that engaged him inside the tent was invisible and impenetrable, certainly making him unable to move further forward.
This was Coulomb's Forces - the law of static attraction and repulsion - Static Electricity can cause some very strange and often difficult to explain phenomena. It is easily controlled if a commitment is made. This nuisance can be reduced to a non-nuisance level by proper analysis and installation of suitable equipment, at a very low cost.

To get rid of the effects at the plant an induction static eliminator was installed across the web at the unwind. The static electricity was immediately reduced throughout the process to less than 50kV (from MV's). It was then possible to make measurements in the rest of the area. Additional induction units were also installed at the jumbo wind-up areas, which resulted in less than 5kV at conclusion.