Welch magnetic demonstration device
name: label: maker
content: Welch Scientific Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A horizontal magnetic pointer (one side painted blue, the other red) mounted on a stand between a steel plate and a copper plate. May be a horizontal dip needle or a version of Ørsted’s experiment. Label reads: "The Welch Scientific Company / Welch / Established 1880 / 7300 N. Linder Avenue / Skokie, Illinois, U.S.A." Stamped under base: "[BBD? logo]" and "4222".
label: Description (Brief)
content: The modern era of electricity is usually traced to the publication of William Gilbert's book De Magnete in 1600 CE. Gilbert wrote of many experiments he conducted with lodestones and magnetized needles, and noted the similarities of some electrical and magnetic effects. About 200 years later Hans Christian Ørsted discovered that an electrical current passing through a coil would deflect a magnetic compass placed nearby. Electrical apparatus makers have produced many products over the years that allow for the demonstration of both experimenters' work. This unit, made in the mid 20th Century, is one such unit. Early models were typically hand made, often in specialty shops that catered to laboratories and scientists. This piece shows the product of an industrial manufacturer.
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: 2023.0177.37
label: accession number
content: 2023.0177
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0177.37
objectType: label: Object Name
content: magnetic demonstration
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 3/4 in x 8 1/4 in x 4 1/2 in; 19.685 cm x 20.955 cm x 11.43 cm