English Mechanic and World of Science No. 1716, 11 February 1898

English Mechanic and World of Science No. 1716, 11 February 1898, featuring letter, 'A 13 1/4 in. Spark Induction Coil' by Russell J Reynolds and his father John Reynolds (pp 598-599)

Russell John Reynolds (1880-1964) was an internationally renowned radiographer and specialist in the field of cineradiography or moving image X-ray films. While still at school, he – with the assistance of his GP father John Reynolds – constructed a fully functioning X-ray machine just months after German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen first described the ‘new type of ray’ in late 1895.

Keen amateurs in Britain were quick to replicate Röntgen’s spectacular experiments using a combination of shop bought and home-made equipment. Fifteen-year-old Russell was particularly well-placed, being the son of a medical doctor and family friend of physicist William Crookes, inventor of the Crookes tube (the early electrical discharge tube used to produce the first X-rays).

John and Russell constructed one of the core components of their machine – the spark induction coil – themselves, documenting the process in this published account. The English Mechanic was a popular science magazine pitched at technology enthusiasts, issued weekly from 1865 to 1926.