Saxton-type magneto generator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1834
name: label: maker
content: Lukens, Isaiah
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Michael Faraday’s discovery that one could produce electricity from magnets was the basis of magneto-electric machines. Hippolyte Pixii, a scientific instrument maker in Paris, was the first to succeed in this endeavor. Joseph Saxton (1799-1873), an American mechanic then working in London, was the second. Writing in his notebook on DEC. 6, 1832, Saxton described a “Plan for a Magneto Electric Machine.” Three weeks later, he “finished an Electromagnetic Apparatus.” In theory, the Saxton machine was the same as the Pixii. In practice, it was more efficient. While Pixii rotated the magnet and kept the coils steady, Saxton kept the magnet in place and rotated the coils.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Saxton sent a description of his magneto-electric machines to Isaiah Lukens, the Philadelphia clockmaker with whom he had worked some years before, and asked him to make machines for American men of science. Lukens made at least eight of these machines. Seven were sold in and around Philadelphia. One went to the University of Virginia where Robert M. Patterson (a Philadelphia native) was teaching natural philosophy. This is that instrument.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Ref: J. Saxton, “Description of a Revolving Keeper Magnet, for producing Electrical Currents,” <i>Journal of the Franklin Institute</i> 8 (1834): 155-156.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from the University of Virginia, Department of Physics
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.323358
label: catalog number
content: 323358
label: accession number
content: 251562
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Capacitor, Variable
label: Object Name
content: condenser
label: Object Name
content: magneto generator
label: Other Terms
content: Capacitor, Variable; Components; Radio and Television; Radio and Television
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 18 in x 9 in; 38.1 cm x 45.72 cm x 22.86 cm