Home-made Electrical ApparatusMorgan, Alfred Powell
Science
Home-made Electrical Apparatus
Morgan, Alfred Powell
Electric apparatus and appliances -- Amateurs' manuals
If a sewing needle is connected to one of the discharge rods of a static
machine and the point of the needle is presented to the flame of the
candle while the machine is in operation, the flame will be repelled
just as if a breeze or current of air were issuing from the needle. This
is caused by the "brush" discharge which takes place whenever high
voltage electricity has a chance to escape from a sharp point or edge.
The brush discharge will be much more marked if the condensers or Leyden
Jars are not connected to the discharge rods. The "electric breeze" can
be felt if the point of the needle is brought near to the side of the
face. It is necessary that the needle and the wire connecting it to the
static machine be very carefully insulated from all surrounding objects
which might dissipate the electricity before it has an opportunity to
escape from the needle point.
[Illustration: FIG. 193.—An Electric Breeze.]
A STATIC MOTOR.
This is a motor operated by the electricity from a static machine. It
does not possess any appreciable amount of power and must be very
carefully built and balanced in order to operate.
It consists of four celluloid "ping-pong" balls, B, B, B, B, covered
with tinfoil and mounted on opposite ends of two wooden spokes. The
balls should be at right angles to each other as shown in the
illustration. The spokes pass through a cork. The cork is mounted on a
wire spoke or knitting needle passing through its centre and supported
in small notches in the top of two upright wooden bearings. The device
must be very carefully balanced so that the slightest impulse will cause
it to spin and so that there will not be any dead centre.
The upright bearings are mounted on a wooden base. Two other tinfoil
covered balls A, A, are supported on glass or rubber insulating rods at
opposite ends of the base on a level with the axle and in such a
position that the balls B, B, B, B, almost touch A and A as they swing
past.
[Illustration: FIG. 194.—The Static Motor.]
Connect A and A each to one discharger rod on the Wimshurst machine.
Start the machine and give the axle of the static motor a twist. As the
balls B, B go past A and A they will receive a charge of electricity
which will cause them to repel each other until they have swung past the
other ball on the opposite side and discharge their electricity in
return for a charge of the opposite sign.
Any of the Following
Practical Books
*will be sent At Once, Post-paid on receipt of price.*
_There is very little danger of losing currency in a letter if the
following directions are observed:_
Cut a circular hole the diameter of
the coin in a piece of cardboard, of
sufficient size to fit closely in the
envelope. The cardboard should
be no thicker than the coin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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