Original Parsons Three-Phase Turbo-Alternator

This was the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, the turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.

The bedplate consists of two hollow oil filled compartments used to supply oil to the bearings of the shaft train whilst it was running. The lower chamber was pressurised to force oil up to the bearings. The used hot oil drained by gravity back to the upper chamber where it could cool down and any foam, caused by the oil becoming aeriated, could dissipate before the oil was re-used and forced back up to the bearings.

This bedplate was part of the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, the turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.

These coils formed an electromagnet which produced a steady magnetic field. The generator shaft was placed in the tube beneath the coils so that it was located between the north and south poles of the magnet. The magnet field lines passed horizontally through the shaft. As the shaft rotated, the copper conductors within the shaft passed through the field lines and electricity was generated in the shaft conductors.

As each conductor passed through the 3 o’clock position the maximum current was produced flowing in one direction through the wires. At the 9 o’clock position the same maximum current was produced only this time flowing through the wires in the other direction. At the 6 and 12 o’clock positions the shaft was rotating but the conductors did not pass through any magnetic field lines and so no electricity was produced. As a result, as the shaft rotated within the electromagnetic field, alternating electricity was generated.

This electromagnet was part of the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, the turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.

This exciter was part of the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, the turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.

The generator shaft consists of copper conductors held in place by steel binding wire. The shaft was placed in the tube beneath the field coils, which formed an electromagnet. As the shaft rotated, the copper conductors within the shaft passed through the field lines of the magnet and electricity was generated in the shaft conductors.

The conductors in the shaft were arranged as three separate coils, essentially three electrical circuits separated from each other by insulation. Electricity was extracted from the rotating shaft by brushes, bundles of brass wires which rubbed on the surfaces of the shaft connected to the relevant coils. These three coils produced the three phases of the generator’s electrical power.

This was the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, this turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.

This was the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, the turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.

This was the first three-phase turbo-alternator to be put to commercial use. All modern electrical generators follow this basic design. Made by the famous C.A. Parsons and Co. at their Heaton Works in Newcastle upon Tyne, the turbo-alternator was ordered by Lord Masham for his Ackton Hall Colliery in Featherstone, Yorkshire. Its primary use was to power his coal-cutting machines. It was retired from the Colliery in 1935 and donated to the Science Museum.