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Wimshurst machine
Electrostatic generator / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Wimshurst machine or Wimshurst influence machine is an electrostatic generator, a machine for generating high voltages developed between 1880 and 1883 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832–1903). [citation needed]
![]() | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (January 2016) |
Quick Facts Type, Inventor ...
![]() Wimshurst machine with two Leyden jars | |
Type | electrostatic generator |
---|---|
Inventor | James Wimshurst |
Inception | c. 1880 |
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/WimshurstElectricMachine.jpg/320px-WimshurstElectricMachine.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Side_view_of_homemade_12%22_Quadruple_Bonetti_Electrostatic_Generator_%28Sector-less_Wimshurst_Machine%29.jpg/640px-Side_view_of_homemade_12%22_Quadruple_Bonetti_Electrostatic_Generator_%28Sector-less_Wimshurst_Machine%29.jpg)
It has a distinctive appearance with two large contra-rotating discs mounted in a vertical plane, two crossed bars with metallic brushes, and a spark gap formed by two metal spheres.