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electric spark ignitor
electric spark ignitor

electric spark ignitor

Date1800-1850
Inventory NumberDW0049
ClassificationIgnitor
Subject
    Cultural Region
      Dimensions11.1 × 24.5 × 11.5 cm (4 3/8 × 9 5/8 × 4 1/2 in.)
      Material
        DescriptionRectangular wooden base supporting a decorative urn-shaped stand in which passes a brass hook that was connected to an electrostatic machine. That hook is itself linked to another brass rod passing through a wood stopper and terminating into a pointed shaft. The latter is set inside a glass tube nested on a rectangular platform. Another pointed rod was most likely set in the opening of the glass tube (missing here). Connected to an electrostatic machine, this device was used to generate sparks inside the glass tube.
        Signedunsigned
        ProvenanceDavid Wheatland purchased from Alain Brieux, Paris, December 1965 (lot 24).
        electric battery ignitor
        French
        Date: circa 1880
        Object number: DW0060
        box of assorted electric light bulbs
        Sylvania
        Date: late 19th-early 20th Century
        Object number: RS0368
        Voss influence machine
        Thomas Hall
        Date: circa 1890
        Accessories: pulley rope
        Object number: 1997-1-1423
        Ruhmkorff electrostatic machine
        L. Luizard
        Date: 1890-1920
        Object number: DW0301
        electrostatic machine
        French
        Date: 1840-1860
        Object number: DW0838
        The first image in this series represents a giant, double-plate electrostatic generator, which …
        John Cuthbertson
        Date: 1770-1815
        Accessories: brown storage box, descriptive tag, thin strip of paper in box with the inscription "lucernal microscope" in David P. Wheatland's handwriting (which refers to figs. 47-48 and 51 in this series), page from the book "Old Science and Medicine" with a photographic copy of the first print from this series, entitled "The Large Electric Machine at Haarlem."
        Object number: 1998-1-1087
        Kinraide coil
        Thomas Burton Kinraide
        Date: circa 1900
        Accessories: condensers (VT4811b)
        Object number: VT4811a
        plate electrical machine
        English
        Date: circa 1820
        Accessories: wooden case brass frame with points glass arm handle broken glass (in package)
        Object number: DW0504
        large Champion bulb in electric light socket
        Champion Radio Works
        Date: 1940-1960
        Object number: 2008-1-0013
        box of miscellaneous parts
        American
        Date: 1850-1900
        Object number: 1998-1-0924
        colored etching, "The Golden Remedy—Or Electrical Panacea"
        George Cruikshank
        Date: dated 1817
        Accessories: slip of paper containing brief commentary
        Object number: 1998-1-1095
        cylinder electrical machine
        Benjamin Martin
        Date: circa 1766
        Accessories: rope cord belt glass globe conducting pad in folder: photographs, page containing description, history, and discussion of design, note from Ebenezer Gay regarding conservation work, excerpt from David Pingree Wheatland and I. Bernard Cohen, A Catalogue of Some Early Scientific Instruments at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1949), woodcut with picture of instrument from B. Martin, Young Gentleman and Lady's Philosophy (1759): 139. X-ray images of parts of the machine can be found in C1-A7.
        Object number: 0013