ElectricMuseum.com

Links & Resources

cfbrush — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:21:16 +0000

The Turn Of the Century Electrotherapy Museum

Fascinating site run by Jeff Behary devoted to all kinds of old electrotherapy devices.

The Boston Museum Of Science

If you are ever in Boston you must visit BMOS. This museum house the world’s largest air insulated Van De Graaff generator and they demonstrate it daily in their Theater Of Electricity. [...]

American Electric / Thomson-Houston

cfbrush — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:14:10 +0000

In the late 1870′s Professors Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston began experimenting with and patenting improvements on existing arc lamp and dynamo designs. In 1880 after being approached by a group of businessmen from New Britain CT, Thomson & Houston agreed to the formation of a company that would engage in the commercial manufacture of [...]

Brush Arc Lamps

cfbrush — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:08:50 +0000

Philadelphia 1878

“Miniature moons on carbon points, held captive in glass globes” A description of the “wonder of 1878″: an installation of Brush arc lamps in the window of Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

Cleveland Ohio 1879

“Thousands of people gathered…and as the light shot around and through the Park a shout was raised. [...]

Adams-Bagnall Arc Lamps

cfbrush — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:10:44 +0000

The Adams-Bagnall Company was formed in the mid 1890′s by employees of the Brush/Swan incandescent plant who left Brush after the company was taken over by Thomson-Houston. If you look at photographs of city streets in the early 1900′s you will more than likely see an Adams-Bagnall lamp like those below. [...]

General Electric Arc Lamps

cfbrush — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:23:36 +0000

by Charles Brush

The General Electric Company was formed in 1892. It was the result of a meger between the Edison General electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Company, which themselves incorporated several other companies. The late 1880′s had been a period of fragmentation and widespread patent disputes that were threatening the industry as a whole. Just [...]

Lifter

cfbrush — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:59:07 +0000

High Voltage “Lifter”

Electrostatic lifters are fascinating devices that have become popular construction projects for experimenters all over the world. NASA’s recent patent on a type of lifter design has spurred further interest in these devices.

What is a lifter?

The basic device merely consists of a lightweight (typically balsa wood) frame, to which is [...]

Electric light before Edison??

cfbrush — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:34:41 +0000

By Charles Brush

Yes, there were electric lights powered by central stations before Edison’s! Carbon arc lamps saw extensive use throughout the USA and the world from the late 1870s on. Due to their intense light they were not that practical for lighting small interior spaces. However even after the advent of the incandescent [...]

Jacob’s Ladder

cfbrush — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:05:40 +0000

If you’ve ever seen a Frankenstein movie you have probably seen a Jabcobs Ladder or “climbing arc”. The familiar “Bzzzzzzzzzzz….snap!” sound is a staple of old horror movies.

So how do they work? First two conductive metal rods are positioned in a rough “V” shape with a slight space between them at the base. A sufficient [...]

Lightning & Atmospheric Electricity

cfbrush — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:05:11 +0000

Few natural phenomenon inspire the wonder and awe that thunder and lightning do. Since mankind’s earliest days lightning has been regarded as something supernatural, and it is only relatively recently that a greater understanding has evolved of the mechanisms that cause lightning. Lightning is the most visible manifestation of the continuous action of the global [...]

The Tesla Coil

cfbrush — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:39:43 +0000

Nikola Tesla invented the the Tesla Coil near the end of the 19th century. A Tesla Coil is a pulsed air-core resonant transformer capable of creating enormous voltages and huge discharges. It achieves its high voltages through resonant rise as opposed to merely primary/secondary turns ratio as in conventional transformers. Tesla eventually evolved his design [...]