Museo Galileo
italiano
previous
Virtual Museum
Clarke medical magneto-electrical machine
    • Setting:
      Room XVIII
    • Inventor:
      Edward Marmaduke Clarke
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Date:
      second half 19th cent.
    • Materials:
      gilt brass, steel
    • Dimensions:
      total height 142 mm, base magnet 210x85 mm
    • Inventory:
      3547
    • Clarke medical magneto-electrical machine (Inv. 3547)

Magneto-electric generator operating in an altogether similar manner to the machine invented by Edward Marmaduke Clarke (inv. 515). A horseshoe permanent magnet on gilded feet carries two ivory bobbins with windings of silk-covered wire. The bobbins were rotated near the magnet poles by means of a gilded pulley wheel. This compact and easily transportable device was used for electrotherapy, and the current was applied to the patient by means of two electrodes.