Early 1800s

[gar]

170801-0909 EDT

It is the early 1800s.

How would you insulate a copper wire so that you could make a coil for an electromagnetic (telegraph sounder), or the very fine wire for a galvanometer?

Same time period. How would you make a voltage variable supply to conduct experiments on conductivity?

How did early galvanometers work? Where did the magnetic field come from? What effect did hob nail shoes have on the galvanometer?

What was an electrometer?

.

 

[electrofelon]

It is fun to think about all these early obstacles. I do know that gutta percha was an early insulation used in the first undsea cables.

 

[Jraef]

1) Boiled tung oil, from the seeds of the Tung tree imported from South China and Indo-China (Vietnam Nam, Laos and Cambodia).

2) Carbon piles clamped under variable pressure, invented by Lynn Bradley of Allen-Bradley fame (Allen was a medical doctor who funded the company in the early years). That was later developed into what we now know as the potentiometer/rheostat. May have come later though, I'm not sure when in the 1800s he came up with that.

3) 4) not sure, but the hobnail thing sounds interesting for sure.

 

[K8MHZ]

170801-0909 EDT

It is the early 1800s.

How would you insulate a copper wire so that you could make a coil for an electromagnetic (telegraph sounder), or the very fine wire for a galvanometer?

Same time period. How would you make a voltage variable supply to conduct experiments on conductivity?

How did early galvanometers work? Where did the magnetic field come from? What effect did hob nail shoes have on the galvanometer?

What was an electrometer?

.

The telegraph sounder wasn't invented until 1850.

A telegraph sounder is an antique electromechanical device used as a receiver on electrical telegraph lines during the 19th century. It was invented by Alfred Vail after 1850 to replace the previous receiving device, the cumbersome Morse register^[1] and was the first practical application of the electromagnet.

 

[K8MHZ]

History of insulation.

In the early 1800s galvanometers could be constructed with the fine gauges of silk-covered copper or silver wires produced for decorative purposes, but when Faraday was making his classic electrical experiments in 1831 he needed a sturdier gauge of copper wire. Bare copper wire was available in many diameters for mechanical applications, but coils for electromagnetic investigations had to be insulated with string and calico. It was soon realized that the cotton-covered springy iron wire then used to hold out the brims of ladies' bonnets showed how copper wire might be similarly wrapped to provide a flexible insulation. The simple manual machines used by the bonnet-wire makers were readily adapted and improved, and a six-head version was built by William Henley. This craftsman's vision of the growing importance of insulated copper wire was abundantly justified, and he built up a large—but poorly organised—empire in the wire and cable trade. Henley's original multiple-head wrapping machine has been located in the Science Museum, London, and the associated silk-covered copper wire subjected to physical, chemical, and electrical testing. For comparison, the electrical conductivity of the ‘mechanical grade’ copper wire used by Faraday has also been determined.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00033790110117476

 

[al hildenbrand]

[Laughing Out Loud]

What effect did hob nail shoes have on the galvanometer?

[/Laughing Out Loud]

It is like trying to "know" Dark Energy today. There was soooo much basic theory that had not yet been figured out and physically demonstrated as fact, then, that the mind of the Early 1800s electrical person would have been as informed as we are today about Dark Energy.

 

[ggunn]

I do know that gutta percha was an early insulation used in the first undersea cables.

Fish guts?

 

[hbiss]

Fish guts?

:lol:

Funny this should come up. I just finished a root canal yesterday and the endodontist, making conversation, remarked that she was packing the canals with gutta percha and that its been around for 100 years. I was in no position at the time to coherently mention that I remember it was also used for insulation in underwater cables.

-Hal

 

[Fulthrotl]

:lol:

Funny this should come up. I just finished a root canal yesterday and the endodontist, making conversation, remarked that she was packing the canals with gutta percha and that its been around for 100 years. I was in no position at the time to coherently mention that I remember it was also used for insulation in underwater cables.

-Hal

not to derail the thread, but i never could figure out why some dentists like to chat
while they work......:?

 

[hbiss]

I know. It does seem to be pretty one sided.

-Hal

 

[petersonra]

not to derail the thread, but i never could figure out why some dentists like to chat
while they work......:?

perhaps it is the only time they get to talk.

 

[Jraef]

perhaps it is the only time they get to talk.

Most of them are married, so it stands to reason that it's the only time they get to talk, AND NOBODY CORRECTS THEM! :angel:

 

[kwired]

Most of them are married, so it stands to reason that it's the only time they get to talk, AND NOBODY CORRECTS THEM! :angel:

Sort of beat me to it, but married or not, they won't get much talk back telling them they are wrong.

 

[kwired]

early 1800's there would have been very few people that knew much about "lectricity" in the first place.

Blacksmith's were the modern engineers of the time.

 

[Jraef]

early 1800's there would have been very few people that knew much about "lectricity" in the first place.

Blacksmith's were the modern engineers of the time.

Very true. I started an apprenticeship to be a Farrier (horse shoe blacksmith) when I was 16. My mentor was amazing in what he could fabricate with a forge, a hammer and enough time. He didn't even have a welder because as he put it, that was for "cheaters" who didn't know how to properly work a forge. We traveled around to stables, farms and ranches, he would fabricate anything people needed, on the spot using scrap or old horseshoes. I once watched him make a replacement wheel for a barn door, the type that ran on a track. The wheel needed a V-groove down the middle of it and had to be smooth so it would roll easily, because the door weighed over500 lbs. He forged it out of some scrap black iron pipe and of course, horse shoe pieces, then filed the groove smooth by hand and eye, it worked perfectly. Took him over 6 hours however, so you just had to learn not to be in a hurry.

 

[junkhound]

Made some enameled copper wire when a kid from an old book.

Dissolve beetle wings in alcohol, dip and dry.

Read a number of years later that one of the tricks of Stradivarius was the type beetle he used for making violin varnishes vs just using common shellac (also from bugs).

 

[Phil Corso]

We have 7 dentists in our extended family! I've observed that the nine males talk, and the 2 females listen!

Phil Corso

 

[gar]

170802-1214 EDT

The following Wiki discussion on the Electric Telegraph is quite interesting in several historical electrical aspects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph

.

 

[grich]

1) ... Carbon piles clamped under variable pressure, invented by Lynn Bradley of Allen-Bradley fame...

I have in my garage a PU-7/AP motor generator set used to provide 400Hz power for aircraft radar sets in WW2. It has a carbon-pile voltage regulator. The current through the carbon pile is controlled by pressure from a solenoid pressing on the stack of carbon buttons.

 

[Sahib]

What was an electrometer?

.

It is for measuring charge. It has two metal leafs which separate when the charge is passed to them.