patent model, electric whaling apparatus, US #8843
date: label: date made
content: 1852
name: label: maker
content: Sonnenburg, Albert
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Model to accompany US Patent #8843, "Electric Whaling Apparatus," issued 30 March 1852 to Albert Sonnenburg and Philipp Rechten of Bremen, Germany, assigned to Christian A, Hainaken of the US. The device provided for electrifying a harpoon that would conduct the current to the struck whale. Magneto generator, hand cranked. The device has four wooden horseshoe magnets which are in a fixed position. Between the magnets is a rotary unit on which are mounted four coils of wire. By turning a shaft, the rotary unit would rotate and move the coils across the face of the magnets. Slip rings pick off the generated voltage and pass it to the terminals outside the box. Unit is housed within two nested wooden boxes.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.336747
label: catalog number
content: 336747
label: accession number
content: 1978.1077
label: patent number
content: 8843
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Electric Whaling Apparatus
label: Object Name
content: whaling apparatus
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 cm x 22 cm x 47 cm; 8 11/16 in x 8 11/16 in x 18 1/2 in