Davenport electric motor, US patent #132
date: label: date made
content: ca 1837
name: label: associated person
content: Davenport
label: maker
content: Davenport
label: maker
content: Davenport, Thomas
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Model to accompany US patent number 132, "Electric Motor, issued to Thomas Davenport, 25 February 1837. This is the first US patent issued for an electric motor. No extant markings. The patent claims: "Applying magnetic and electromagnetic power as a moving principle for machinery in the manner above described, or in any other substantially the same in principle". Wooden base, 9 by 14 in., supported on four curved legs, carrying a circular frame, in which there are four rough electro-magnets, painted red, made to revolve within a ring of steel magnets. The steel magnets in the ring are crescent-shaped can be lifted out of the frame. Reference: W. James King, Development of Electrical Technology in the 19th Century (Smithsonian Institution, 1962), 264.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This model was made by Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport (1802-1851) as a replacement for his original patent model. The original was destroyed in the 1836 fire at the US Patent Office. Davenport may have incorporated improvements in this model that are not reflected in the patent drawings.
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.252644
label: catalog number
content: 252644
label: accession number
content: 49064
label: patent number
content: 132
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Electric Motor
label: Object Name
content: motor
label: Object Name
content: electric motor
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: Electric Motor; Electromagnetic Devices
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 15 in x 10 in x 15 in; 38.1 cm x 25.4 cm x 38.1 cm