Thomson-Houston direct current generator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1884
label: date made
content: ca. 1880
name: label: maker
content: Thomson-Houston Electric Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: No extant maker's markings. This machine has a spherical frame, with the interior sections of the field magnets cup-shaped so as to fit the armature closely. The armature consists of three wires, joined together at one end and attached to a three part commutator at the other. In 1880 Elihu Thomson conducted an experiment in a pattern shop at New Britain, Connecticut whereby this dynamo was used to power a motor (catalog number 181719), which in turn ran machinery. Brushes are missing. The voltage regulator is not original to this unit. Reference: Woodbury, Beloved Scientist, page 113; MacLaren, Rise of the Electrical Industry in the 19th Century, pages 116, 121.
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 General Electric Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.181720
label: catalog number
content: 181720
label: accession number
content: 33185
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electrical generator
label: Object Name
content: dynamo
label: Other Terms
content: Generator, D. C. Thomson-Houston, ca. 1880; Generator; Motors and Generators
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 17 in x 26 1/2 in x 31 in; 43.18 cm x 67.31 cm x 78.74 cm