Edison type "Z" direct current dynamo
date: label: Date made
content: about 1881
name: label: maker
content: Edison Electric Co.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: An Edison Z-type generator of bi-polar construction, rated for 60 sixteen-candlepower incandescent lamps (52 amps at 110 volts), made about 1881. Markings: "D18" on top block; metal tag: "4E-107"; "No. 861" stamped on pedestal. "Edison Machine Works, builders. [Goerck Street] New York. U.S.A. A no 306." Colloquially known as a "Long-legged (or "Long-waisted" ) Mary Ann" dynamo. Base of painted black metal with 2 green cloth-covered coils supporting circuit box. A drum-type armature has two commutator areas on the shaft with a rocker-arm assembly normally holding four strip brushes. One brush is missing. A switch arrangement on a top wooden cross-piece permits the field magnets to be shunted by the armature for self-excitation, or the use of a separate exciter. A wheel for belt coupling is provided on the armature shaft. Pedestals support the armature axis.
label: Description
content: A redesigned generator proved a key component in Thomas Edison's new lighting system. After succeeding in the lab, Edison's team made several generator types for different sized installations. All produced direct current. This unit is a "Z" type made to power 60 light bulbs of sixteen-candlepower each. The total power output is 5720 watts.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: Exhibition
content: Lighting a Revolution
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from the University of Minnesota, thru Paul A. Cartwright
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.320572
label: catalog number
content: 320572
label: accession number
content: 241557
objectType: label: Object Name
content: generator, direct current
label: Object Name
content: electrical generator
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 69 1/2 in x 29 in x 46 1/4 in; 176.53 cm x 73.66 cm x 117.475 cm