While we’re on the topic of electricity, Mr Rice wrote to point out the beautiful Wimshurst Machine recently displayed at Bristol Dorkbot by Mr Low.  Wimshurst Machines are a type of electrostatic generator, developed sometime in the 1880’s by the inventor of the same name.

Why so interesting?  Well, they combine a few of my loves and interests in Steampunk – it features beautiful but relatively simple technology (two disks rotating close to each other), was a big step forwards in understanding at the time (the Victorian era) and last but definitely not least – it can generate big purple sparks!

There’s a very indepth page here all about the technical side of the Wimshurst Machines, and of particular interest is the tutorial aspect to it – make your own!  The links page is utterly amazing too – pictures of 2m (6.7′) diameter machines that create so much voltage, that leyden jars can’t handle it and giant copper spheres were used instead!  Lovely stuff.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 10:18 pm by Tinkergirl and is filed under Steampunk Images.