Very Interesting Dual Output Magneto Electric Machine from Brad

HI Jeff.
Here are some pictures of my Magneto.
I'll tell you as much as I know.
Looks like the original owner was in England, as there is a label.
It made its way to Israel and the person I purchased it from said it was handed down through generations.
It looks like it has a brass brush or points, as from what I have seen in the pictures, the others look like spring steel.
The corners of the armature rotor are round, some are square. The area where the handle is stored is squared off.
And you can see the 2 terminals, one on each left hand corner. The original output terminal is on the left side but now its on the front left with the DC terminal on the left side the the other terminal is in the same right side.
Also the label says DC or AC, but its faded but I can barely see it.
It is in very good condition, either someone refinished the case or it was stored well.

Brad

Very interesting, Brad.  This machine is too early for the term "AC" - the second current quoted is "TO AND FRO CURRENT",  
which is very interesting!  I have to ask other collectors if they have any similar machines.  At least for me, this is really cool!

The brass handles are definitely modern and not original.















  
Ari Davis patent, 01 August 1854; George Washington Fairbanks

Davis & Kidder were Ari Davis and Walter Kidder, not Daniel Davis and Jerome Kidder as many believe.  (Thanks to Dean Currier's book for that fact!).
The actual instrument maker who made them was George Washington Fairbanks, seen above and elsewhere on this site in a younger photo(with a small bio:)

(VIII) George Washington Fairbanks, son of Joel Fairbanks (7), born in New Boston, New Hampshire, March 28. 1828, died in Lynn, Massachusetts, November 27, 1884. He was educated in the public schools of his native town. He was apprenticed to a harness maker, but disliking the trade he ran away and shipped as a sailor on a sailing vessel. In 1849 he was appointed a messenger in the library of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and attended lectures in the Institution several years. He made meteorological observations under the direction of Professor Joseph Henry, then secretary of the Institution. In November, 1851, he went to New York. He was a skillful mechanic both in metals and wood, and he became associated with an inventor named Ari Davis in making magneto-electric machines, which become a recognized necessity for the physical laboratories of schools and colleges, and were employed quite extensively by physicians and in the United States hospitals in nervous diseases ; though at this time the manufacture of electric appliances was in its infancy, and were often little more than fashionable toys. Ari Davis sold his patent-right to a Dr. Kidder who sold to William Burnap, for whom Mr. Fairbanks made the machines in Lowell, Massachusetts, and in New York City, for a number of years, with constantly increasing demands, in medical practice, and the arts. In 1861 Mr. Fairbanks removed to Lynn, and there purchased a dwelling house with a large lot of land on Lewis street, which is still occupied by his wife and daughters. He still worked at the old trade in New York City, and again located there for a time between 1867 and 1871, but finally returned to Lynn for a permanent residence in 1871, and there for a time manufactured the machines in his own name. He had also worked as a shoe-cutter and a carpenter in Lynn, at intervals while his business was unsettled. Several years before his death he retired from active life. He died November 27, 1884. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias order, which commended his genial and amiable qualities in resolutions at his death; he was independent in politics, and connected with no church.

He married, at Washington, February 26, 1852, Jane Clark, born at Pictou, Nova Scotia. June, 1826, daughter of David and Marjorie (McIntosh) Clark. Children: 1. George Augustus, born in New York City, January 21, 1853, died there September 17, 1853. 2. Abbie Loetta, mentioned below. 3. William Henry, born November 16, 1860, in New York City, died in Lynn, May 22, 1864.




Thanks for sharing, Brad.  Let me see what I can find!




(C) Jeff Behary , 2012