lithograph, "Usine d'Électricté"
Datelate 19th Century
Inventory Number1998-1-1109
ClassificationEtching
Subject
Maker
Librairie Hachette & Cie
Publisher
Imprimerie Dufrenoy
fl. 1887 - 1895
Artist
P. Ferat
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensionsin matte: 0.5 x 62.3 x 51 cm (3/16 x 24 1/2 x 20 1/16 in.)
DescriptionEtching, grainy with visible strokes.
An electric power station (usine d'électricité) is depicted in this etching. In the room is an electric generator, a table with two electric lights on it, a circular hanging electric lamp, a series of electrical devices fastened to the wall on the left, and a cabinet in the rear with wood paneling on the bottom half and windows in the top half. Also present in the room are seven men, two women, and two children.
The electric generator is tinted blue. The generator consists of two main assemblies. The first is a mechanical power source that rotates a large drive wheel, which sits in the rear cabinet. This wheel is connected, via a brown belt, to the rotating assembly on a platform in the foreground, which contains the armature and the field. One of the men, in a gray jacket, is gesturing to the generator while in conversation with a man in a brown jacket and top hat.
Exposed wires are strung around the room to connect all of the electrical devices to the generator. A man in a brown jacket is picking up one of the lamps on the table while speaking to a woman in a brown dress. Another man is looking at the light. Two men in the background are looking up, possibly at the hanging lamp. A family of four is gathered by the assembly on the left, a control board mounted on the wall and connected to the electrical instruments on the wall above. The woman is placing something connected to the board in her ears, and one of the children is touching what appears to be a switch on the wall.
An electric power station (usine d'électricité) is depicted in this etching. In the room is an electric generator, a table with two electric lights on it, a circular hanging electric lamp, a series of electrical devices fastened to the wall on the left, and a cabinet in the rear with wood paneling on the bottom half and windows in the top half. Also present in the room are seven men, two women, and two children.
The electric generator is tinted blue. The generator consists of two main assemblies. The first is a mechanical power source that rotates a large drive wheel, which sits in the rear cabinet. This wheel is connected, via a brown belt, to the rotating assembly on a platform in the foreground, which contains the armature and the field. One of the men, in a gray jacket, is gesturing to the generator while in conversation with a man in a brown jacket and top hat.
Exposed wires are strung around the room to connect all of the electrical devices to the generator. A man in a brown jacket is picking up one of the lamps on the table while speaking to a woman in a brown dress. Another man is looking at the light. Two men in the background are looking up, possibly at the hanging lamp. A family of four is gathered by the assembly on the left, a control board mounted on the wall and connected to the electrical instruments on the wall above. The woman is placing something connected to the board in her ears, and one of the children is touching what appears to be a switch on the wall.
Signedbelow etching: Librairie HACHETTE & C^ie. Imp. Dufrenoy, rue du Montparnasse, 49;
on etching on base of generator: P. FERAT
Inscribedabove etching: NOTIONS INDUSTRIELLES Enseignement par les yeux PL. 9;
below etching: USINE D'ÉLECTRICITÉ;
lower-right corner: 75—;
on back: 11-14-25, Set of 38 / MADE IN FRANCE / [own ow] 131
FunctionThis room appears to be more than a power station, based on the visitors it appears to receive (families, for instance). It may also be part of an exhibit, similar, but on a smaller scale, to those at world's fairs at the time. For a picture of an assembly of electric motors at an exposition in Munich, see Thomas Commerford Martin and Joseph Wetzler, The Electric Motor and its Applications (W.J. Johnston, 1886): 32, available here. The exhibit depicted in the book is of a larger scale than that in the print here.
George Cruikshank
Date: dated 1817
Accessories: slip of paper containing brief commentary
Object number: 1998-1-1095
French
Date: early 19th Century
Object number: 1998-1-1112
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
W & R Chambers
Date: 1860-1900
Accessories: rectangular and round wood stretchers
Object number: 1998-1-1432b
John Sartain
Date: print made 1941-1992
Object number: 1998-1-0944b
John Sartain
Date: print made 1941-1992
Accessories: 1 magazine page, 1 bio page (stored with print)
Object number: 1998-1-0944a
Institute of Radio Engineers, Inc.
Date: 1929-1954
Accessories: large acid-free portfolio
Object number: WJ0655
John Sartain
Date: print made 1941-1992
Accessories: wood frame, painted black
Object number: 1998-1-0944c
Date: 1890-1930
Object number: RS0505
Clemens Kohl
Date: after 1780
Object number: 1998-1-1105
Date: 1890-1930
Object number: RS0501
W & A. K. Johnston, Ltd.
Date: c. 1872
Accessories: rectangular and round wood stretchers
Object number: 2008-1-0308b