Franklin's electrostatic machine

Large cylinder frictional electrical machine, said to have belonged to Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Horizontal cylinder turned directly by a simple crank handle. Cushion and prime conductor each originally supported on insulating stands on opposite sides of cylinder, but stand for the cushion is missing. Simple construction, no maker marked, 1760-1790. See part records.

Details

Category:: Electricity and Magnetism

Object Number:: 1876-39

Measurements:: overall: 1200 mm x 730 mm x 1000 mm, 15 kg

type:: electrostatic machine

credit:: Dr. Richardson

Cite this page

Rights

We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.

Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero

Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence

Using our data

Download

Download catalogue entry as json

Download manifest IIIF

Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.