Wallace-Farmer direct current generator
date: label: date made
content: 1875
name: label: maker
content: Wallace & Sons
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: According to Schroeder this specimen dates from 1875. Accession papers date this dynamo from 1877 or 1878. Schroeder also claims that this was the first commercial dynamo used in the U.S. for arc lighting. W. J. Hammer, in his short biography of Wallace, illustrates an arc light machine exhibited at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876 used to furnish current for lighting at the Exposition. However, that machine does not appear identical to this specimen. The armature consists of a number of bobbins connected together in an endless ring. Each bobbin is connected to a commutator bar. There are two sets of bobbins, commutators and field poles which can be connected in series, or to separate circuits. Brushes are missing from this specimen. Reference: Henry Schroeder, History of Electric Light, pages 34-35.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from General Electric Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.181726
label: catalog number
content: 181726
label: accession number
content: 33185
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Generator
label: Object Name
content: Dynamo
label: Object Name
content: electrical generator
label: Object Name
content: dynamo
label: Other Terms
content: Generator; Dynamo; Motors and Generators
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 in x 11 in x 23 in; 33.02 cm x 27.94 cm x 58.42 cm