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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Cylinder electrostatic machine for medical use, made by G. Adams, Fleet Street, London, 1792, with T-shaped prime conductor, discharging (Lane) electrometer for prime conductor, glass-legged stool, Leyden jar, discharger with glass handle, large and small brass clamps, small double Leyden jar, and miscellaneous other parts including broken remnants. It was owned and used by Dr George Fletcher, M.D., who practiced for 42 years at Chesterfield, and was given to the Museum by his youngest and last surviving child, Mrs. Mary Anne Nodder, in 1889.
Glass cylinder electrostatic machine on wooden (probably mahogany) base with rubbing pad on glass support and wooden handle
T-shaped metal prime conductor on wooden (probably mahogany) base and glass support, with removable row of metal spikes and removable brass discharging sphere
T-shaped metal prime conductor in wooden base
Components, component
Electrometers, Discharging Lane electrometer for fitting to prime conductor
Removable spikes from T-shaped metal prime conductor
Leyden jar of special type, called a 'medical bottle', as it is actually one small jar inside another.
Bottles, Leyden jar, 'medical bottle' type
Insulating stool, wooden top (probably mahogany) on glass legs. In remarkably good shape.
Discharger, glass handle with straight brass rod ending in brass ball
Large brass clamp
Discharging Lane electrometer for fitting to prime conductor. Mounts into a small hole on the top. The balls and the rod between them are not original, but were made in 1955 to complete the unit.
Small brass clamp
Double Leyden jar (two small Leyden jars that can be joined base to base)
Two spherical conductors coated with tinfoil
Two copper covered discs and one zinc disc, probably electrodes, for a cylinder electrostatic machine, by George Adams, Fleet Street, London, England, 1780
Copper covered disc, one of two, probably an electrode, for a cylinder electrostatic machine, by George Adams, Fleet Street, London, England, 1780
Copper covered disc, one of two, probably an electrode, for a cylinder electrostatic machine, by George Adams, Fleet Street, London, England, 1780
Zinc disc, probably an electrode, for a cylinder electrostatic machine, by George Adams, Fleet Street, London, England, 1780
Remnants from broken Leyden jar, including its discharging electrometer (the jar that broke, according to the tech file sometime before 1953, was the larger medical bottle in the early photos), and miscellaneous small parts including containers for amalgam (some with amalgam inside), empty glass bottle formerly holding mercury, wire on spools, two pieces of wire that may be part of smaller Leyden jar, bits of red wax or plasticene probably used as electrical insulation; squarish copper-covered electrode with remnants of red insulation, bent metal spike, bullet-shaped wooden (?) point.
Glass curved discharger, from cylinder electrostatic machine for medical use, made by G. Adams, Fleet Street, London, 1792
Short chain from accessories for cylinder electrostatic machine for medical use, made by G. Adams, Fleet Street, London, 1792
