Reconstruction of Joseph Henry's Original Oscillating Electromagnet Motor

ID: MAH-24976A or 24,976-A or 16,188

Creator: Unknown

Form/Genre: Object

Date: c. 1830s

Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 11-006

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Summary

Reconstruction of Joseph Henry's original oscillating electromagnet motor, which he had first constructed at Princeton University in the 1830s. The motor was a simple device whose moving part was a straight electromagnet rocking on a horizontal axis. Henry, who would later become the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, believed his machine was important as the first demonstration of continuous motion produced by magnetic attraction and repulsion.

Subject

Henry, Joseph 1797-1878

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

N.M.A.H. Cat. No. 244,904.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 11-006

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

c. 1830s

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Scientific apparatus and instruments
  • Secretaries
  • Inventions
  • Science
  • Motors
  • Electromagnets
  • Historical models
  • Magnets
  • Electromagnetism

Place

United States

Form/Genre

  • Object
  • Negative

ID Number

MAH-24976A or 24,976-A or 16,188

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and White; Size: 4w x 5h; Type of Image: Object; Medium: Negative

Full Record

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