| 释义 |
transˈformer
[f. as prec. + -er1.]
1. One who or that which transforms.
1601Deacon & Walker Spirits & Divels 208 He is no creatour of substances, no transformer of natures. 1765J. Brown Chr. Jrnl. (1814) 150 Sin, horrid transformer, how hast thou changed our God! 1883J. D. Fulton Sam Hobart 18 The steam locomotive, the material transformer of the world.
2. Electr. An apparatus which transforms continuous currents from one voltage to another, or continuous into alternating currents or vice versa. (After F. transformateur (Hospitalier, 1882).) In mod. use, a static apparatus in which an alternating or pulsating current in one winding induces an alternating current in a second winding, usu. with different values of voltage and current.
1883tr. Hospitalier Mod. Applications of Electr. (ed. 2) I. 141 We designate by the term electric transformers apparatus in which electricity is no longer produced directly, but is transformed and changes its properties. 1884Electrical Rev. 26 July 64 The present transformers, those of MM. Goulard and Gibbs, are..very similar to bobbins. 1886G. Forbes in Electrician 26 Feb. 315 Induction coils used in this way have been called secondary generators or transformers. 1888S. P. Thompson Dynamo-electric Mach. 484 For transforming from high pressures to low, several kinds of apparatus are known, namely:—..Induction-coils, also called for this purpose Secondary Generators, or Transformers, or Converters. 1891Times 28 Sept. 13/6 From the transformer the currents are led to the four collecting rings of the motor, and a continuous current is taken off its commutator. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 173 A continuous current transformer is an appliance which effects a similar transformation for continuous currents, with the difference that some part of the machine must revolve. 1947R. Lee Electronic Transformers & Circuits vii. 187 Line impedance changes abruptly, and transformers may be necessary for good power transfer. 1955Sci. News Let. 15 Oct. 248/3 A transformer is a device very widely used to increase or lower the voltage of an electric current.
b. attrib., as transformer chamber, transformer house, transformer station; transformer oil, a high-grade oil with a low sludge content used to cool and insulate transformers and other electrical equipment.
1888Scribner's Mag. Aug. 196/2 The development of a radically new and very interesting system, known as the secondary or transformer system. 1891Pall Mall G. 12 Sept. 6/2 It furnishes the current for feeding 1,200 glow-lamps, partly fixed to a large frame in the transformer room, partly to a sort of signboard outside the hall. 1894Westm. Gaz. 1 May 7/2 The current is conveyed to Rome on four copper cables... Outside the Porta Pia..it enters a transformer-house, where its pressure is reduced from 5,000 to 2,000 volts. 1904Electric Club Jrnl. I. 228 By transformer oil is meant an oil in which the transformer is completely immersed, forming a homogeneous insulation. 1957E. B. Jones Instrument Technol. III. i. 19 The variable resistance at the transmitter end is immersed in transformer oil which keeps it free from dirt. 1979Electr. Rev. Internat. 7 Dec. 47/3 Transformer oil becomes highly viscous at low temperature.
Add:3. Chiefly in pl. With capital initial. A proprietary name for a type of children's toy, first manufactured in Japan, consisting of a model robot which can be transformed into another toy (as a motor vehicle, gun, etc.) by manipulating its component pieces.
1984Inc. July 19/3 In February, Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro Industries Inc. introduced the Transformers,..on their second go-round, having been marketed as Diakrons in 1983 by Takara Toys Corp. 1984Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 10 July tm260/1 The Transformers..more than meets the eye..For Toy Vehicles and Robots..First use Oct. 4, 1982. 1985New Yorker 9 Dec. 110/2 Also sent along with each robot is a description of his individual personality (‘Know Your Transformer’). 1988Trade Marks Jrnl. 9 Nov. 3262/2 Transformers..Toys, robots, all being changeable in form, but none utilising computer programs and/or transformers. 1990Sky Mag. Apr. 32 Robosaurus looks harmless enough but unfolds into a transformer toy of epic proportions. |