From 1887. The first appliance motor ever manufactured: it was made primarily for the tailor, to run his shop's sewing machine, or you cou...
From 1887. The first appliance motor ever manufactured: it was made primarily for the tailor, to run his shop's sewing machine, or you could attach an optional fan blade for the first ever plug-in electric fan (it had no safety cage). It was originally intended for Edison's 110V DC lighting system supply, and would certainly spin fast and strong (about 1/6hp, est) at that voltage. But here it is run at only about ten percent voltage supply, to make it sedate. Carbon brushes were not quite yet invented, so you see laminated brass or bronze brushes: they are fanned stacks of very thin metal, in contact with the copper commutator. This is a classic, simple, bipolar, series-wound motor, absolutely identical in basic feature to an Edison dynamo of the era. It was stored in a cupboard, apparently, all of its life. All the surfaces are original, nothing polished or worked-over, but merely cleaned of dust and film with gojo, soft cloths and swabs. The motor was sold some two years ago. It sold at a low price, I think, about what we paid for it years and years ago: twelve bills or so. Less
