Siemens Galvanometer

Siemens Galvanometer

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Description (Brief)
Round wooden base 8” in diameter; made in three pieces and set on three leveling screws; apparatus pivoted and revolving on base; slate disc, 6 1/2” in diameter and graduated, 0 to 140, on each side “A & B”, with German silver bridge wire set in the edge; movable arm carrying sliding contact with bridge wire; suspended astatic needle enclosed in round glass case 3” in diameter; 5 binding post connections, marked “I II III IV V”, and three resistance coils marked, “10, 100, 1000.” Marked, “Siemens Brothers, London, No. 780.” Suspension fibre missing. This form of galvanometer was introduced into this country about 1870 and for ten or fifteen years was extensively used in testing telegraph lines, etc., et.,. Exhibition label: "This instrument was used extensively as a sine galvanometer and as a Wheatstone bridge in testing early telegraph lines."
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
Galvanometer
Other Terms
Galvanometer; Measuring Devices
date made
ca 1870
maker
Siemens Brothers & Co., Ltd.
ID Number
EM.209870
catalog number
209870
accession number
37861
Credit Line
from Michigan Central Railroad Co.
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Work and Industry: Electricity
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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