Charles Grafton Page
Charles Grafton Page (born January 25, 1812 in Salem , Massachusetts , † May 5, 1868 in Washington, DC ) was an American inventor in the field of electrical engineering .
Life
Charles Grafton Page earned a degree in science from Harvard University in 1832 , then studied medicine in Boston . From 1836 to 1841 he practiced as a doctor, first in his hometown Salem, from 1838 in Virginia , in addition he undertook electrical engineering experiments. In 1841 he gave up the medical profession and was appointed as one of two chief examiners at the United States Patent Office in Washington DC. In 1842 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . He held the office of chief auditor until 1852, then again from 1861 until his death. In 1863 Union troops destroyed his laboratory in Washington during the Civil War , after which Page stopped his experiments.
meaning
1836, five years after the discovery of electromagnetic induction by Michael Faraday invented Charles Grafton Page, the first with high-voltage powered induction coil. Their technology became the basis for numerous ignitions in automotive engineering in the 20th century. In 1838 he constructed an electromagnetic motor with a crank drive , one of the first electric motors in the history of technology. His other inventions include the trip-free circuit breaker , a moving-coil galvanometer and a double helix for induction magnetism . In the 1840s he constructed technical equipment for Morse code telegraphy .
Page began building a locomotive powered by two electric motors near Washington DC in 1850 with a government grant of $ 20,000. The 15 kW crank drive motors basically consisted of two coils each with a bar anchor embedded in them. This was moved back and forth by switching on the coils alternately like in a piston steam engine. This oscillating ( English reciprocating ) movement was transferred to the drive wheels of a three-axle car with a connecting rod. The engines were fed by a huge, 50-element battery that brought the car to a weight of 12 tons. During the test run on April 29, 1851, this locomotive briefly reached a speed of 31 km / h, but insulation burned out and battery elements breaking under the vibrations meant that the journey had to be stopped after 40 minutes well before the destination. It was the second electric locomotive that was tested in the open air on a real railway line. Robert Davidson had previously tested his “Galvani” machine, which worked on principles similar to Page's vehicle, on rails in Scotland in 1842. Earlier designs of electrically powered rail vehicles by Thomas Davenport ( Vermont 1835) and Johann Philipp Wagner ( Frankfurt am Main 1840) did not get beyond the status of models tested under laboratory conditions.
Charles Grafton Page was co-editor of the American Polytechnic Journal , he wrote about 40 papers (mostly essays) on electrical engineering topics. In 2006 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame .
Book publications
- Electricity vs. Steam (together with Thomas Hart Benton). Towers, Washington, 1849
- Psychomancy Spirit-Rappings and Table-Tippings. Appleton, New York 1853
- History of Induction. The American Claim to the Induction Coil and its Electrostatic Developments. Intelligencer Printing House, Washington 1867
literature
- Robert C. Post: Physics, Patents and Politics. A Biography of Charles Grafton Page. Science History Publications, New York 1976, ISBN 0-88202-046-3
See also
Web links
- Charles Grafton Page in the National Inventors Hall of Fame (English)
- Overview of the life and work (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Page, Charles Grafton |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American inventor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 25, 1812 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Salem , Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 5, 1868 |
| Place of death | Washington, DC |