Leyden Jar from RMS Carpathia

Description:

Leyden jars were essential for storing electrical charges used by the earliest wireless radios used aboard ocean liners. Shortly after RMS Carpathia's rescue of Titanic survivors, the ship visited Boston, Massachusetts. Marconi Wireless Radio employee Harry Cheetham boarded Carpathia to service the radio, which had been damaged during the Titanic operations. He replaced these two Leyden jars. One is intact and the other is broken, but fortunately the broken one shows how the jars were constructed inside to store and relay an electrical charge. Cheetham kept these artifacts as Titanic souvenirs, and donated them to the Smithsonian in 1930.

Date Made: ca 1910

Maker: Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd.

Location: Currently not on view

See more items in: Work and Industry: Electricity, Communications, Transportation, Titanic

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: from Harry R. Chetham

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: EM.310242.01Catalog Number: 310242.01Accession Number: 113406

Object Name: Leyden jarcondensercapacitorOther Terms: Leyden jar; Electrostatic Devices

Physical Description: glass (overall material)wood (overall material)foil (overall material)copper (overall material)Measurements: overall: 11 1/4 in x 3 7/8 in; 28.575 cm x 9.8425 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-34c7-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_709730

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