This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseHeurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier, made by Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, London, England, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Heurtley magnifier plus two boxes, one with Wollaston wires and one with quartz fibres, Muirhead and Company Limited, Beckenham, 1919. Ex Submarine Cable Exhibition, 1950.
This instrument was invented by E S Heurtley in 1909, and was widely used until the early 1940s, particularly by the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Commercial Cable Company, to magnify feeble electrical currents received over long-distance submarine cables. The electrical currents moves very thin wires (known as 'Wollaston wire') in and out of a hot air current, causing changes in the resistance of the wires. This unbalances the mechanism inside the magnifier, and creates higher currents which could then be used to relay the signal. It became obsolete when working valve amplifiers were introduced.
Details
- Category:
- Telecommunications
- Object Number:
- 1950-278
- Materials:
- aluminium (metal), brass (copper, zinc alloy), glass, platinum (metal), quartz, silver (metal) and wood (unidentified)
- Measurements:
-
overall (Wollaston wires box): 61 mm x 320 mm x 21 mm,
overall (quartz fibres): 91 mm x 280 mm x 23 mm,
- type:
- amplifier
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- credit:
- Donated by the Western Union Telegraph Company
