Volume 2

Fragments of science : a series of detached essays, addresses, and reviews / by John Tyndall.

  • John Tyndall
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fragments of science : a series of detached essays, addresses, and reviews / by John Tyndall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    443/508 (page 431)
    to turn our machine, and it is this employment of our cheapest fuel, rendered possible by Faraday's discovery, which opens out to us the prospect of being able to apply the electric light to public use. In ] 866 a great step in the intensification of induced currents, and the consequent augmentation of the magneto-electric light, was taken by Mr. Henry Wilde. It fell to my lot to report upon them to the Eoyal Society, but before doing so I took the trouble of going to Manchester to witness Mr, Wilde's experiments. He operated in this way: starting from a small machine like that worked in your presence a moment ago, he employed its current to excite an electro-magnet of a peculiar shape, between whose poles rotated a Siemens armature; - from this armature currents were obtained vastly stronger than those generated by the small magneto-electric machine. These currents might have been immediately employed to produce the electric light; but instead of this they were conducted round a second electro-magnet of vast size, between whose poles rotated a Siemens armature of corresponding dimensions. Three armatures therefore were involved in this series of operations: first, the armature of the small magneto- electric machine; secondly, the armature of the first electro-magnet, which was of considerable size ; and, thirdly, the armature of the second electro-magnet,' which was of vast dimensions. With the currents drawn from this third armature, Mr. Wilde obtained etiects, both as regards heat and light, enormously transcending those previously known.^ ' Page and Moigno had previously shown that the magneto- electnc current could produce powerful electro-magnets. ^ actW frisVrTtV'r'^'^' *^%'^^i^-P^-al Trans- was bripflT.r ^'a ^y^P^^^o'i regarding Wildes machine was briefly expressed m a report to the Elder Brethren of Se