Marvels of Scientific Invention: An Interesting Account in Non-Technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-Date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and Many Other Recent Discoveries of ScienceCorbin, Thomas W.
Science
Marvels of Scientific Invention: An Interesting Account in Non-Technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-Date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and Many Other Recent Discoveries of Science
Corbin, Thomas W.
Inventions
The task of watching the rocking to and fro of the spot of light was
found to be too nerve-racking for the telegraph operators, and so Lord
Kelvin improved upon his galvanometer in two ways. He first of all
managed to give it greater turning-power, so that, actuated by the same
current, the new instrument would work much more strongly than the older
one. Then he utilised this added power to move a pen whereby the signals
were recorded automatically upon a piece of paper. The new instrument is
known as the Siphon Recorder.
The added power was obtained by turning the instrument inside out, as it
were, making the coil the moving part and the permanent magnet the fixed
part. This enabled him to employ a very powerful permanent magnet in
place of the minute one made of watch-spring. The interaction of two
magnets is the result of their combined strength, and that of the coil
being limited by the strength of the minute current the only way to
increase the combined power of the two was to substitute a large
powerful magnet for the small magnetised watch-spring. This large magnet
would, of course, have been too heavy to swing easily and therefore the
positions had to be reversed.
So now we have two types of galvanometer, both due originally to the
inventions of Lord Kelvin. For some purposes the Thomson type (his name
was Thomson before he became Lord Kelvin) are still used, but in a
slightly elaborated form. Its sensitiveness is such that a current of a
thousandth of a micro-ampere will move the spot of light appreciably.
And when one comes to consider that a micro-ampere is a millionth part
of an ampere this is perfectly astounding.
But there is a more wonderful story still to come, of an instrument
which can detect a millionth of a micro-ampere, or one millionth of a
millionth of an ampere. It is not generally known that we are all
possessors of an electric generator in the form of the human heart, but
it is so, and Professor Einthoven, of Leyden, wishing to investigate
these currents from the heart, found himself in need of a galvanometer
exceeding in sensitiveness anything then known. Even the tiny needles or
coils with their minute mirrors have some weight and so possess in an
appreciable degree the property of inertia, in virtue of which they are
loath to start movement and, having started, are reluctant to stop. This
inertia, it is easy to see, militates against the accurate recording of
rapid variations in minute currents, so the energetic Professor set
about devising a new galvanometer which should answer his purpose. This
is known as the "String Galvanometer."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account