The invention of the electric motor 1800-

1854
A short history of electric motors - Part 1
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Doppelbauer

Summary
With the invention of the battery (Allessandro Volta, 1800), the generation of a magnetic field
from electric current (Hans Christian Oersted, 1820) and the electromagnet (William
Sturgeon, 1825) the foundation for building electric motors was laid. At that time it was still
open whether electric motors should be rotating or reciprocating machines, i.e. simulate a
plunger rod of a steam engine.
Worldwide, many inventors worked in parallel on this task - it was a "fashion" problem. New
phenomena were discovered almost daily. Inventions in the field of electrical science and its
applications were in the air.
Often the inventors knew nothing about each other and developed similar solutions
independently. National histories are shaped accordingly until present day. The following is
an attempt to provide a comprehensive and neutral picture.
The first rotating device driven by electromagnetism was built by the Englishman Peter
Barlow in 1822 (Barlow's Wheel).
After many other more or less successful attempts with relatively weak rotating and
reciprocating apparatus the German-speaking Prussian Moritz Jacobi created the first real
rotating electric motor in May 1834 that actually developed a remarkable mechanical output
power. His motor set a world record which was improved only four years later in September
1838 by Jacobi himself. His second motor was powerful enough to drive a boat with 14
people across a wide river. It was not until 1839/40 that other developers worldwide managed
to build motors of similar and later also of higher performance.
Already in 1833 the German Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz published an article about the law
of reciprocity of the magneto-electric and electromagnetic phenomena, i.e. the reversibility
of electric generator and motor. In 1838 he provided a detailed description of his
experiments with a Pixii-generator that he operated as a motor.
In 1835 the two Dutchmen Sibrandus Stratingh and Christopher Becker built an electric
motor that powered a small model car. This is the first known practical application of an
electric motor. In February 1837 the first patent for an electric motor was granted to the US-
american Thomas Davenport.
However, all the early developments by Jacobi, Stratingh, Davenport and others eventually
did not lead to the electric motors we know today.
The DC motor was not created from these engines, but rather from the development of
power generators (dynamometers). The foundations were laid by William Ritchie and
Hippolyte Pixii in 1832 with the invention of the commutator and, most importantly, by
Werner Siemens in 1856 with the Double-T-anchor and by his chief engineer, Friedrich
Hefner-Alteneck, in 1872 with the drum armature. DC motors still have a dominant market
position today in the low power (below 1 kW) and low voltage (below 60 V) range.
The years 1885 until 1889 saw the invention of the three-phase electric power system
which is the basis for modern electrical power transmission and advanced electric motors. A
single inventor for the three-phase power system can not be named. There are several more or
less well known names who were all deeply involved in the inventions (Bradley, Dolivo-
Dobrowolsky, Ferraris, Haselwander, Tesla and Wenstrm).

Today, the three-phase synchronous motor is used mostly in highly dynamic applications
(for example in robots) and in electric cars. It was developed first by Friedrich August
Haselwander in 1887.

The highly successful three-phase cage induction motor was built first by Michael Dolivo-
Dobrowolsky in 1889. Today, this is the most frequently produced machine in the power
range of 1 kW and above.

Timetable 1800 - 1834: First experiments with

electromagnetical devices
For the first time Allessandro Volta (Italian) produces a continuous electrical power (as
1800 opposed to a spark or static electricity) from a stack of silver and zinc plates.

Hans Christian Oersted (Denish) finds the generation of a magnetic field by electric
1820 currents by observation of the deflection of a compass needle. This was the first time a
mechanical movement was caused by an electric current.

1820 Andr-Marie Ampre (French) invents the cylindric coil (solenoid).

1821 Michael Faraday (British) creates

two experiments for the
demonstration of electromagnetic
rotation. A vertically suspended wire
moves in a circular orbit around a
magnet.

Rotating wire by Faraday, 1821

Photo courtesy of Division of Work & Industry,
 National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution

Peter Barlow (British) invents a

1822 spinning wheel (Barlow's wheel =
unipolar machine).

Barlow's wheel, 1822

Philosophical Magazine, 1822, vol. 59

William Sturgeon (British) invents

1825- the electromagnet, a coil of wires
1826 with an iron core to enhance the
magnetic field.

First electromagnet by Sturgeon, 1825

Transactions of the Society for the
Encouragement of the Arts, Manufacturers and
Commerce, 1824, vol. 43, pl. 3
 Istvan (nyos) Jedlik (Hungarian)
invents the first rotary machine with
electromagnets and a commutator.
However, Jedlik publicly reported
his invention only decades later and
the actual invention date is uncertain.

Still many Hungarians believe Jedlik

has invented the electric motors. A Rotary device by Jedlik, 1827/28
functional model of his apparatus is Photo: Wikipedia
displayed at the art museum in
1827-
Budapest.
1828
Although this could actually be the
first electric motor it has to be
realized that this device had no
influence on further development of
electric machines. Jedlik's invention
remained hidden for a long time and
was not pursued by the inventor. The
field of electrical engineering owes
Jedlik nothing.
Jedlik's electric car, 1827/28
Photo: Wikipedia

Johann Michael Ekling,

mechanic in Vienna, builds a
motor according to the plans
and ideas of Prof. Andreas von
Baumgartner (Austrian
physicist; since 1823 Professor
of Physics and Applied
before
Mathematics in Vienna).
1830
This apparatus was aquired in
1830 by the University of
Innsbruck for the price of 50 fl
c.m. The year of construction is
Baumgartner's Engine, built by Ekling, before 1830
unknown, but must have been
Photo courtesy of the University of Innsbruck,
before 1830 as the date of
Museum of Experimental Physics, Ao. Univ. Prof.
purchase is proven.
Mag. Dr. Armin Denoth.

1831 Michael Faraday (British) discovers and investigates electromagnetic induction, i.e.
the generation of an electric current due to a varying magnetic field (the reversal of
 Oersted's discovery). Faraday lays the foundation for the development of the electric
generator.

Joseph Henry (US-American) finds the

induction law independent of Faraday
and builds a small magnetic rocker. He
describes it as a "philosophical toy".

In an article for the english

1831
Philosophical Magazine, in 1838
Englishman F. Watkins acknowledges
Henry's device in detail and calls it the
first electric motor ever known. This Henry's magnetic rocker, 1831
view extends to present day mainly in American Journal of Science, 1831, vol. 20, p.
British literature. 342

Savatore dal Negro (Italian) builds a device

that can lift 60 grams in one second by 5
centimeters and hence develops nearly 30
mW mechanical power.

He was probably inspired by Henry's

magnetic rocker and creates a similar
reciprocating machine. However, Dal
April Negro's device can produce motion by a
1832 special gear arrangement.

Dal Negro describes his experiments in a

letter of April 1832 and later in a scientific
paper Nuova Macchina lettro-magnetica
in March 1834.
His devices are stored at the Museum of the
History of Physics at the University of Padua.
Unfortunately, they are not displayed.
Dal Negro's electromagnetic pendulum,
1832
Annali delle Scienze de Regno
Lombardo-Veneto, Mrz 1834, pl. 4
 First public description of a rotating electric
machine.

The author is an anonymous letter-writer with

the initials P.M. He has now been identified
with high probability as the Irishman Frederick
Mc-Clintock from Dublin.
July
1832
Michael Faraday, the recipient of the letter on
26 July 1832. publishes it immediately. For the
first time a rotating electric machine is
described in public.

First description of a rotating electrical

machine by P.M., 1832
Philosophical Magazine, 1832, p. 161-
162

Hippolyte Pixii (French) builds the

first apparatus for generating an
alternating current out of a rotation .

The device is presented publicly in

September 1832 at a meeting of the
July
Acadmie des Sciences. His
1832
description is printed already in the
July issue of the Annales de Chimie.

Pixii improved his device in the

same year by adding a switching
device. He can now produce a
pulsating direct current.
Pixii's first DC generator, 1832/33
F. Niethammer, Ein- und Mehrphasen-Wechsel-
strom-Erzeuger, Verlag S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1906
 William Ritchie (British) reported in
March 1833 of a device that he
claimed to have built already nine
month earlier in the summer of
1832. It is a rotating
electromagnetic generator with four
rotor coils, a commutator and
brushes.
Ritchie is therefore generally
regarded as the inventor of the
1832 commutator.
At the end of his article Ritchie
describes how he was able to rotate
an electric magnet by utilization of
the magnetic field of the earth. He First DC generator with commutator, 1832/33
could raise a weight of several
ounces (50-100 grams). The
commutation was performed by two
wire ends, which ran into two
semicircular troughs of mercury.

Ritchie's revolving coil, 1833

Philosophical Trans. of the Royal Society of
London, 1833, Vol. 132, p.316, pl.7

A Dr. Schulthess gives a lecture at the Society of Engineers in Zurich in 1832, in which
Jan he describes his ideas of an electric motor. In January of 1833 he successfully
1833 demonstrated a machine before the same Zurich society.
No further details are known.
 In the autumn of 1832 William
Sturgeon builds a rotating electric
device that he publicly displays in
March 1833 in London.
March
1833 As with Jedlik there are is no definite
evidence of the date and details of his
construction. Sturgeon reported in
1836 in the first edition of his own
magazine about the invention.
Rotation device of Sturgeon, 1832
Sturgeon's Annals of Electricity, 1836/37, vol.
1

In the early years of electrical engineering it was strictly distinguished between the
magnetic-electro machines, i.e. electric generators, and electro-magnetic machines, i.e.
electric motors.

Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz (German) found the "law of reciprocity of the magneto-
electric and electromagnetic phenomena", i.e. the reversibility of electric generator and
motor.

Dec. His scientific text is recited at the end of 1833 at the St. Petersburg Academy of
1833 Sciences and published in 1834 in Poggendorff's Annalen der Physik und Chemie. His
ideas are slowly becoming commonplace, especially in 1838 after several reports of
successful reversal experiments.

Sometimes it is claimed that the reversal principle was discovered in 1861 by the Italian
Pacinotti or even only in 1873 by chance at the Vienna World Exhibition. Both claims
are false. Emil Lenz widely reported already in 1838 in Poggendorff's Annalen der
Physik und Chemie how he used a Pixii generator as a motor.
 Guiseppe Domenico Botto (Italian), a
physics professor in Turin, publishes in
July 1834 in the Geneva magazine
Bibliotheque Universelle the
description of an electric motor, on
which he works.

His device corresponds to a metronome

July
(similar to Henry's and Dal Negro's
1834
constructions), acting on the pendulum
with two electromagnets. Rotary
motion is generated via a piston rod.

A replica of the device is now on

display in the Museo Galileo in
Florence.

Rotary machine of Botto, July 1834

(Reconstruction)
Photo courtesy of Museo Galileo, Florence
 Timetable 1834 - 1837: The first real electric motors
Moritz Hermann Jacobi (German-
speaking Prussian, naturalized Russian)
starts with experiments on a horseshoe-
shaped electromagnet in early 1833 in
Knigsberg (then Prussia, now Russia).
In January 1834 he writes in a letter to
Poggendorff, editor of the Annalen der
Physik und Chemie of his successes.

He turns to the construction of an

electric motor, which he completes in
May 1834. His motor lifts a weight of
10 to 12 pounds with a speed of one
foot per second, which is equivalent to
about 15 watts of mechanical power.
In November 1834, he sends a report to
the Academy of Sciences in Paris and
publishes a detailed scientific
memoir in the spring of 1835. This
paper later earns him an honorary
doctorate from the Faculty of the
May
University of Knigsberg. His text is
1834
divided into 23 sections and was
expanded in 1837 with a further 15
sections.

Jacobi expressly claimed in the

memorandum of 1835 that he was not
the sole inventor of the electromagnetic The first real electric motor
motor. He indicates the priority of the Moritz Jacobi, Knigsberg, May 1834
inventions of Botto and Dal Negro.

However, Jacobi is undoubtedly the

first to create a usable rotating electric
motor.

A fully functional replica of his engine

is displayed at the Institute of Electric
Engineering (ETI) of the Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology (KIT) in the
Engelbert-Arnold-Strasse 5 (Building
11.10) in Karlsruhe, Germany.
 The US-American T. Edmundson
Oct.
builds an electromagnetic rotary
1834
device that resembles a water wheel.

Electromagnetic wheel by Edmundson

American Journal of Science, 1834, vol. 26, p.
205

In December 1833 the blacksmith

Thomas Davenport (American)
purchases a solenoid directly from
Joseph Henry and begins
experiments together with Orange
Smalley (American) in a workshop
in Forestdale, Vermont.

In July 1834 the two men create

their first rotary machine. They
improve the device in several steps
1834- before they publicly demonstrate it
1835 in December 1834 for the first time.

In the following year Davenport

separates from Smalley.
First motor of Davenport from his first patent
In the summer of 1835 Davenport application in June 1835
travels to Washington, D.C., to
demonstrate his machine before the
patent office and have it registered.
Due to lack of money, however, he
has to return home without success.
 Francis Watkins (British) creates an
electrical "toy" with which he can bring
several magnetic needles to rotation. He
describes the apparatus in a paper for
the Philosophical Magazine.

He admits to being inspired by the

Aug. electro-magnetic machine (generator)
1835 by Joseph Saxton, which is on display
in a public gallery in London since
August 1833.

Watkins can be counted among the first

who understood the principle of
Watkin's toy, 1835
reversal of motor and generator.
Philosophical Magazine, 1835, vol. 7, p. 112

Sibrandus Stratingh and Christopher

Becker (Dutch) build a small (30 x 25
cm), electrically driven three-wheeled
vehicle of about 3 kg in weight. It can
drive roughly 15 to 20 minutes on a
table until the battery is empty.
1835
Stratingh and Becker publish a report
of their success in the same year.
Stratingh knew the work of Jacobi and
wanted to build a real electric car in
1840, which he never succeeded.
Electric model car by Stratingh and Becker,
1835

Johann Philipp Wagner (German) presents an electric motor at the Stiftungsfest of the
Sencken-bergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft. His apparatus is similar to the
device that Stratingh and Becker created. It can run for about 10 mins until the battery
is empty.
May
1836
Wagner holds his construction a secret and so there are reports on the demonstration,
but no drawings of the machine. In subsequent years, Wagner developes his engine
further and publicly demonstrates improved versions.
 Davenport has been further improving
his devices. In 1836 he finds a new
partner in Ransom Cook and moves to
Saratoga Springs, New York to further
develop his motors. With the help of
Cook he builds a model for the patent
office.
On January 24, 1837, Davenport files
his caveat in Washington and
on February 5, 1837, he gets the first
U.S. patent for an electric
motor: "Improvement in propelling
machinery by magnetism and
electromagnetism".

His model motor is now on display in

the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington, DC.

Davenport's patented design uses four

rotating electromagnets that are
switched by a commutator, and ring-
1836 shaped fixed permanent magnets made
1837 of soft iron.

An improved motor, which he presents

in August 1837, has 6 inches in
diameter, rotates at about 1,000
revolutions per minute and can lift a
200 pound weight one foot in one Davenport's patented motor, February 1837
minute. This corresponds to a power of
4.5 W.

Davenport continuously improved his

designs in the following years.

Together with Edwin Williams of New

York and his partner Ransom Cook,
Davenport forms a joint capital stock
association on March 3, 1837.
However, Williams fails to sell enough
of the stocks and the whole undertaking
collapses just one year later.

Thomas Davenport Inventor of the electric motor?

There are several texts of dripping pathos in US-American literature that celebrate Thomas
Davenport as inventor of the electric motor. This assertion is based on the undisputed fact that
Davenport was the first American who created a useable electric motor and also the first to
receive a patent for such a device in the beginning of 1837.

Davenport, however, was far from being the first to build an electric motor. In Europe
(especially in England, Italy and Prussia) technology was already much advanced. Already in
summer 1834, three years before the patent, Moritz Jacobi presented a motor that was three
times more powerful than an improved machine, which Davenport had developed in the
months after his patent application. In addition, Davenport's motor was running faster than
Jacobi's. So the output torque of Davenport's motor, the decisive factor in the comparison of
electric machines, was only about one tenth of Jacobi's three years earlier design.

In 1835, shortly after Jacobi's motor, the two Dutchmen Strating and Becker already
presented a first practical application by driving a small electric model car.

In the years following Davenport's patent the advancement of Jacobi hardly diminished. At
the same time when Jacobi demonstrated his next machine in the fall of 1838, a motor that
was capable of 300 W output power and could drive a boat occupied with 14 people across a
wide river, Davenport showed a tiny model train.

Davenport's motor is not remarkable in a historical context. His construction is not a

substantial improvement of other contemporary designs.

Over the years, Davenport manufactured quite a number of machines. But unlike Werner
Siemens, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison, he was not the founder of an important
company. And unlike Nikola Tesla, for example, Thomas Davenport was never able to sell
nor license his patent.

Davenport did not receive the patent on the electric motor as such but only on his special
design features. In the years from 1837 to 1866 about 100 patents on electric motors were
granted to other inventors in England alone. After Davenport redesigned his motor already
during 1837 his patent became practically worthless.

Davenport is the honor of being the first of thousands of engineers who received a patent for
an electric motor. But he is neither their inventor nor did his designs have had any significant
influence on the further development of electric motors.
Timetable 1838 - 1854: Stronger motors, new applications

Watkins publishes an extensive article

Febr. in the Philosophical Magazine where
1838 he presents his motor.

Watkin's motor, February 1838

Philosophical Magazine, 1838, vol. 12, pl. 4

In August, 1838, a tiny

model train with one of
Aug. Davenport's motors is
1838 displayed in London. It
moves at 3 mph.

Davenport's model train, 1838

Photo courtesy of the Division of Work & Industry,
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian
Institution
 Jacobi moves to St. Petersburg in
August 1838 at request of the Russian
Tsar. He was accepted at the St.
Petersburg Academy of Sciences and
generously supported by the Tsar in his
further work on electric motors.

On 13 September 1838, Jacobi

demonstrates for the first time on the
river Neva an about 8 m long,
electrically powered boat with paddle
wheels.
Sept.
The zinc batteries have 320 pairs of
1838
plates and weighed 200 kg. They are
placed along the two side walls of the
vessel. The motor produces between 1/5
and 1/4 hp power (300 W), the boat
travels with 2,5 km / h over a 7.5 km
long route. It can carry more than a Improved motor of Jacobi, 1838
dozen passengers. Jacobi drives around
for days on the river Neva.
Contemporary newspaper articles state
that after two to three months of
operation the zinc consumption was 24
pounds.

Charles G. Page (American)

starts a lifelong occupation with
electric motors.

Over the next 20 years, Page is

researching to find better, more
powerful machines. His engines
were sold via catalog in the U.S.
and reached a high level of
1838 public awareness.

In early years, many inventors of

electric motors mimic steam
engines with an oscillating
(reciprocating) piston. Page also
builds such a machine (see right), First motor of Page, 1838
but then turns to rotating devices. American Journal of Science, 1838, vol. 35, p.
264
 On 8 August Jacobi tests an improved electric motor with three-to four-fold the
mechanical performance of his second machine of 1838 (about 1 kW). His boat is now
reaching 4 km/h. A key factor for his success is the improved zinc-platinum battery
according to William Robert Grove, which he has made himself.
Aug.
1839 In October 1841 Jacobi demonstrates once again a further improved motor, which,
however, is only slightly superior to the model from 1839. This is the last electric motor
Jacobi ever builds. He now turns to the theory of electric motors and later moves on to
other electric phenomena.

Robert Davidson (Scottish) also

developed electric motors since
1837. He made several drives for a
lathe and model vehicles.

In 1839 Davidson manages the

construction of the first electrically
1837- powered car.

1842 In September 1842, he makes trial

runs with a 5-ton, 4.8 m long
locomotive on the railway line from
First electric locomotive by Davidson, 1839
Edinburgh to Glasgow. Its engine
From T. du Moncel, Electricity as a Motive
makes about 1 hp (0.74 kW) and
Power, London, 1883, fig. 32
reaches a speed of 4 mph (6.4 km /
h).

In subsequent years, a flood of patents on electromagnetic machines begins - about 100 in

England alone between 1837 and 1866.

Among the inventors who deal with electric motors are: James Joule (English, ab 1838),
William Taylor (English, ab 1838), Uriah Clarke (ab 1840), Thomas Wright (ab 1840),
Wheatstone (English, ab 1841), de Harlem (ab 1841), P. Elias (US-American, ab 1842), G.
Froment (French, ab 1844), Moses G. Farmer (US-American, ab 1846), G. Q. Colton (US-
American, ab 1847), Hjorth (ab 1849), Thomas Hall (US-American, ab 1850), T. C. Avery
(ab 1851), Sren Hjorth (Danish, ab 1851), Du Moncel (French, ab 1851), Mari Davy
(French, ab 1855), Pacinotti (Italien, ab 1861)
and others.
Initially there is a contest between oscillating (reciprocating) and rotary machines. Later, the
oscillating machines disappear completely from view.

A fundamental problem of the early electric motors is that the electric current from the
galvanic elements (zinc batteries) is far too expensive to compete with steam engines. R.
Hunt reported in 1850 in the British Philosophical Magazine that the electrical power even
under the best conditions is 25 times more expensive than a steam engine. Only with the
ongoing development of the electric generator (dynamo) the situation is beginning to change.

On 18 January, 1840, the first edition of Davenport's new newspaper, Electro Magnet
1840 and Mechanics Intelligencer, is released. The printing press is driven by two of his own
motors. The motors do supposedly about 2 hp, which is about 1.5 kW.

On the initiative of Wagner, the German Confederation under the leadership of Prussia,
Bavaria and Austria, sets a prize of 100,000 Gulden in 1841 for the construction of an
electrical machine whose power is cheaper than that of horses, steam, or human power.

Of course, this price attracts other inventors, who start working on an electric motor in
parallel to Wagner's efforts. Among them are Mr Karl Ludwig Althans from Bckeburg
close to Minden, Emil Sthrer from Leipzig, Emil Groos from Karlsruhe and Peter
1841- Bauer from Nuremberg. In particular, Sthrer designs a remarkable machine in 1843.

1844 In examining the final Wagnerian machine in May and June 1844 in Frankfurt am
Main, the federal Commission determined a power of only 50 watts. The zinc
consumption is so high that horse, steam and manpower is considerably cheaper.
Because of this failure the price is withheld from Wagner and he falls from grace.

Without a powerful electric generator this competition could not be won, and for such a
generator mankind had to wait another 25 years.

Page boosts its motors from 8 to 20 HP power.

1851 With two engines, he drives a 10-ton locomotive with a top speed of 30 km/h. He
travels the route from Washington to Bladenburg in 19 minutes.

1854 Another, 12-ton locomotive of Page is traveling on the route from Baltimore to Ohio.
 Timtable 1856 - 1873: From the invention of the dynamo
to the dc motor

Werner Siemens (German) builds an

electric generator with a double-T
armature winding. He is the first one to
place a winding into slots.

This invention marks a turning point in

the design of electrical machines. All
previous designs disappear from the
market during the following decades.
To date, almost all electric motors are
built with windings in slots.
1856

In 1856, Siemens produces around 50

such devices for the Bavarian railways.
The first machines are designed to
deliver pulses for telegraphs and are
operated by hand. They do not supply
continuous electrical energy.

Siemens double-T armature winding

Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik 101 (1857)
Taf. II

James Clark Maxwell (British) summarizes all the current knowledge of

1861- electromagnetism in four fundamental equations. These equations are still valid today
1864 and fully describe the theory of electrical engineering.

1866- Siemens develops the dynamo-electric machine based on the double-T armature.
1867 Finally, a powerful electric generator is available and the advent of electricity begins.
 The Siemens double-T armature has the
disadvantage of producing a pulsating
direct current.

Znobe Thophil Gramme (Belgium)

solves the problem by the invention of
the anchor ring, which produces a
1871 smooth DC voltage. In subsequent years,
Gramme's machines are in strong
competition Siemens' double-T armature
machines.

Gramme's construction, however, is no

longer used today.
Gramme's anchor ring, 1871
Photo: Wikipedia

Friedrich von Hefner-

Alteneck (German), a close associate
of Werner Siemens, starts development
of the anchor drum motor.

He wraps wire around a cylinder-

1872- shaped anchor. This improves the
1875 double-T anchor machine, which can
now also produce a smooth DC voltage.

In 1875, he reduces the problem of

eddy currents by using iron wires Siemens' drum armature, app. 1872
instead of solid iron for the magnetic (sliced model)
core. Photo: Science Museum, London

Auguste Pellerin (Franzose) proposes to subdivide the iron core into several separate,
1873 mutually insulated steel sheets in order to avoid eddy current losses. He does not,
however, pursue his idea any further.

With Ritchie's commutator, the drum armature of Siemens and Hefner Alteneck and the
lamination of the magnetic circuit all important design features of modern electric DC motors
are known.

The future DC motor does not emerge from the developments of Jedlik, Jacobi, Davenport,
Davidson, Page or other early inventors, whose designs are ultimately proven to be inferior,
but from Siemens's dynamo machine.
J. Zoellner writes in 1885: "The history of electromagnetic motors ends in its childhood, or
rather, goes along with the history of the dynamo."

Timetable 1885 - 1893: The three-phase system and the

induction motor

Nikola Tesla (Croatian, naturalized US-American) already thinks about a multi-phase

voltage system while studying in Graz / Austria in 1882.
He emigrates to America in 1884 and launches a small company and development
laboratory in 1886 in New York.

Meanwhile, the Italian professor Ferraris is successful in building a small two-phase

induction motor in 1885 (see below).
Tesla knows nothing of Ferraris' induction motor and reinvents it shortly thereafter.
He also builds a series of functional models.

Tesla falls out with its investors in 1886 and must now make his living as a laborer for
the next two years, while he continues to work on his inventions.

In 1887 Tesla files his first patents for a two-phase AC system with four electric
power lines, which consists of a generator, a transmission system and a multi-phase
motor.

George Westinghouse becomes aware of Tesla in May 1888 due to his remarkable
1882-
speech in Pittsburgh to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. He buys his
1889
more than 40 patents for $ 1 million. In addition, Westinghouse hires Tesla as a
consultant for his company.

Tesla still fails to recognize the advantages of three-phase voltage systems. During his
work at Westinghouse, he concentrates on two-phase and single-phase induction
machines with relatively high frequencies (125 Hz and 133 Hz).

Ultimately, he fails to build a reliable induction motor and leaves Pittsburgh and the
Westinghouse Company dissatisfied in 1889. Westinghouse thereafter stops all
developments of induction motors.

Only after the German AEG company with Dolivo-Dobrovolsky's machines (see
below) proves that reliable three-phase induction motors can be built, Westinghouse
restarts its own developments of three-phase motors in 1892.

These efforts are successful already in 1893 - however, without the involvement of
Tesla, who had turned to other topics.
 Galileo Ferraris (Italian) builds the
first induction motor. Like Tesla, he
uses two phases.

However, Ferrari believes incorrectly

1885
that such motors can never exceed an
efficiency of 50%. He therefore loses
interest and does not continue to
develop his machines. Schematic drawing of Ferraris' first induction
motor
from his patent application, 1885

Charles Schenk Bradley (US-

American) has been experimenting
with multi-phase generators already
before the publication of Ferraris'
work.
1887-
1889
In 1887/88 he is granted several US-
patents on this subject. At first on two-
phase and later also on three-phase
systems. But Bradley never puts his Bradley's induction motor
inventions into practical use. from his patent application, 1887

Friedrich
August Haselwander (German) from
Offenburg/Baden is the first one to
come up with the idea to use a three-
phase alternating voltage and current
system in July 1887.
1887-
He builds the first three-phase
1888
synchronous generator with salient
poles. However, the German Post
(postal authority) prohibits the
operation of his machine for fear of
disturbances of telegraph lines.
Haselwander's patent applications fail
as well.
Haselwander's synchronous motor, 1887
 Michael Dolivo-Dobrowolsky (Russi
an, naturalized Swiss), chief
electrician at the AEG company in
Berlin, builds on the basic ideas of
Tesla and Ferraris and improves them
considerably.

1889- He designs the three-phase cage

1891 induction motor, which is still widely
used today. In the beginning of 1889,
his first motor is running properly.

Later, Dolivo-Dobrovolsky also

invents the three-phase slip ring
induction motor with starting
resistors.

Dolivo-Dobrowolsky's first three-phase cage-

induction motor, 1889
Illustration from ETZ, 1917 [9]

In a British patent of April 1889

Jonas Wenstrm (Swedish) describes
all components of a three-phase
electrical power system.

In 1890 he builds a three-phase

generator. Three years later, in 1893,
1889- the first 13 km long AC power
1893 transmission system is installed in
Sweden.

Wenstrm probably knew nothing

about the other participants although
they were ahead of him by one or two
years. Sketch from Wenstrm's patent application,
1890

Energy Transmission
Dobrovolsky is the first one to realize that a three-phase system connected in star or delta
requires just three power lines and thus is less expensive than even a two-phase system
(which uses four lines).
In August 1889 he receives a patent on the invention of the three-legged three-phase
transformer. This is the beginning of the world wide success of the three-phase alternating
current system.

Under the leadership of Dolivo-Dobrowolsky and together with the Maschinenfabrik

Oerlikon and its chief engineer Charles E.L. Brown, the AEG builds the first three-phase
electric power transmission line in 1891 over 175 km from Lauffen (river Neckar) to
Frankfurt am Main, which later reached a remarkable efficiency of 96%. The line could
deliver up to 220 kW output power and was operated at voltages up to 25 kV.

Five years later in late 1896, the first U.S. american electric power line is inaugurated. Built
by Tesla and Westinghouse it leads from the Niagara Falls to Buffalo, NY over a distance of
22 miles (35 km). This line is also a three-phase system, which Tesla has learned to
appreciate in the meantime. However, three individual single-phase transformers were used at
both ends of the line as the advantageous three-legged transformer construction had been
patented by Dobrovolsky. The Niagara Falls line can deliver an output power up to 750 kW at
voltages up to 11 kV.

Literature
[1] G. Neidhfer, Michael von Dolivo-Dobrowolsky und der Drehstrom, Geschichte der
Elektrotechnik Band 19, VDE Verlag Berlin, 2004

[2] K. Jger (Hrsg.), Alles bewegt sich, Geschichte der Elektrotechnik Band 16, VDE Verlag
Berlin, 1998

[3] H. Lindner, Elektromagnetismus als Triebkraft im zweiten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts,
Dissertation TU Berlin, 1986

[4] O. Mahr, Die Entstehung der Dynamomaschine, Geschichtliche Einzeldarstellungen aus

der Elektrotechnik, VDE, Verlag Julius Springer, 1941

[5] B. Bowers, Die Frhgeschichte des Elektromotors, Philips Technische Rundschau, 35.
Jahrgang, 1975/76, Nr. 4, S. 85-104

[6] A. Imhof, Die ersten Elektromotoren, Bulletin des SEV Elektrotechnik, 70(1979)23, Seite
1241-1246

[7] T. Davenport, Improvement in propelling machinery by magnetism and electro-

magnetism, United Stated Patent Office Patent No. 132, February 25, 1837
[8] J. Zllner, Die elektromagnetischen Apparate, Buch der Erfindungen, Gewerbe und
Industrien, Band 2, S. 360 380, Verlag Otto Spamer, Berlin/Leipzig, 1885

[9] M. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Aus der Geschichte des Drehstroms, ETZ Elektrotechnische

Zeitschrift, Bd. 38 (1917), Heft 26, S. 341-344, Heft 27, S. 354-357, Heft 28, S- 366-369 und
Heft 29, S. 376-377

[10] F. Hillebrand, Zur Geschichte des Drehstroms, ETZ-A Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift,

Ausgabe A Bd. 80 (1959) Heft 13, Seite 409-421 und Heft 14, Seite 453-461

[11] M.H. Jacobi, Mmoire sur lApplication de llectro-Magntisme au Mouvement des

Machines, Potsdam, Spring 1835

[12] T.D. Visser, Smalley-Davenport Shop Forestdale,

Vermont, http://www.uvm.edu/~histpres/SD/hist.html, 1995

[13] W.J. King, The development of electrical technology in the 19th century. Part 1: The
electrochemical cell and the electromagnet, Bulletin of the United States National Museum,
228(1962), S. 231 271

[14] J. Abele, G. Mener, Technikgeschichte Der Tesla Motor, Deutsches Museum, 1995

[15] B. Silliman, Notice of the Electro-Magnetic Machine of Mr. Thomas Davenport, of

Brandon, near Rutland, Vermont, American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. 32, July 1837,
Appendix, p. 1-8

[16] P. Hempel, Deutschsprachige Physiker im alten St. Petersburg: Georg Parrot, Emil Lenz
und Moritz Jacobi im Kontext von Wissenschaft und Politik, Oldenbourg
Wissenschaftsverlag, 1999

[17] W.R. Davenport, J. Hartness, Biography of Thomas Davenport, the Brandon Blacksmith:
Inventor of the Electric Motor, Kessinger Publishing, 2010 (Faksimile Reprint)

[18] The Mechanics' Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal and Gazette, London; Ausgabe
1837, S. 159, 160, 404, 405; Ausgabe 1838, S. 115, 322, 323, 426-428, 441, 442; Ausgabe
1840, S. 407-408; Ausgabe 1852, S. 22-25

[19] Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 24, Issue 5, Nov. 1837, S. 340-343

[20] F. Watkins, On Magneto-electric Induction, Philosophical Magazine and Journal of

Science, London and Edinburgh, Vol. 7, August 1835, S. 107-113

[21] F. Watkins, On Electro-magnetic Motive Machines, Philosophical Magazine and Journal

of Science, London and Edinburgh, Vol. 12, Februar 1838, S. 190-196

[22] C.G. Page, Magneto-Electric and Electro-Magnetic Apparatus and Experiments,

American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. 35, January 1839, p. 252-268

[23] W. Siemens, ber eine neue Konstruktion magneto-elektrischer Maschinen,

Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Ausgabe 101, 1857, S. 271-274
[24] F.L. Pope, The Inventors of the electric motor, The Electrical Engineer, Vol. XI, 1891,
No. 140, S. 1-5 und No. 141, S. 33-39

[25] M.H. Jacobi, Notiz ber Elektromagnete, Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie,
Ausgabe 31, 1834, S. 367-368

[26] J.C. Poggendorff, Jacobi's Commutator, Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie,
Ausgabe 36, 1835 , S. 366-369

[27] M.H. Jacobi, Ueber die Principien der elektro-magnetischen Maschinen, Poggendorffs
Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Ausgabe 51, 1840, S. 358-372

[28] C.Th. Moncel, F. Geraldy, Electricity as a motive power, E.&F.N.Spon, London, 16,
Charing Cross., 1883

[29] M.H. Jacobi, On the application of electro-magnetism to the moving of machines, The
Annals of Electricity, Magnetism & Chemistry, Vol. 1, July 1837, S. 408 ff. and Vol. 1,
October 1837, S. 419 ff.

[30] W. Sturgeon, His electro-magnetic engine, The Annals of Electricity, Magnetism &
Chemistry, Vol. 1, October 1836, S. 76 ff.

[31] E. Lenz, Ueber die Bestimmung der Richtung der durch elektrodynamische Vertheilung
erregten galvanischen Strme, Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Ausgabe 31,
1834, S. 483-494

[32] E. Lenz, Ueber die Beziehung zwischen elektromagnetischen und magneto-elektrischen

Strmen, Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Ausgabe 44, 1838, S.347-349

https://www.siemens.com/history/en/news/1057_dynamoelectric_principles.htm

http://lpsa.swarthmore.edu/Analogs/ElectricalMechanicalAnalogs.html
 Electric Universe
The Esoteric Origin of the Word
ELECTRICITY
..
I have prepared this paper for certain friends who have
expressed an interest in this line of research and have come
to similar conclusions that have brought us together... It is
my hope that this and subsequent papers will help them on
their path of understanding. Anyone else who reads this is
more than welcome to share in the knowledge and
contribute. This is a work in progress and will cover many
'connections' so bear with me as I develop this section -
Zorgon
Etymology of Electricity
In physics the term quantity of electricity refers to the quantity of electric
charge. It is designated by the letter Q and in the SI system is measured in
derived units called coulombs.

Pre-English Origins
The New Latin adjective electricus, originally meaning 'of amber', was first
used to refer to amber's attractive properties by William Gilbert in his 1600
text De Magnete. The term came from the classical Latin electrum, amber,
from the Greek (elektron), amber.[1]The origin of the Greek word is
unknown, but there is speculation that it might have come from a Phoenician
word elkrn, meaning 'shining light'. The letter Q was used for electric
charge instead of the letter E because the letter was already used to represent
the electron.

Entry into English

The word electric was first used by Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to describe
materials like amber that attracted other objects.[2][3] The first usage of the
English word electricity is ascribed to Sir Thomas Browne in his 1646 work,
Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

Again, The concretion of Ice will not endure a dry attrition without liquation;
for if it be rubbed long with a cloth, it melteth. But Crystal will calefie unto
electricity; that is, a power to attract strawes and light bodies, and convert the
needle freely placed
Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1st edition, p. 51[4]

In this context, an "Electrick" or "Electrick body" was a non-conductor, or

an object capable of attracting "light bodies" (like bits of paper) when excited
by friction; a piece of amber is "an Electrick", while a piece of iron is not.
"Electricity", then, was simply the property of behaving like an electric, in the
same way that "elasticity" is the property of behaving like an elastic.[5]
("Electric" continued to be used as a noun until at least 1913.)[6]

It was not until later that the definition shifted to refer to the cause of the
attraction instead of the property of being attractive.[7][5]

Charge, in the electrical sense, was first used in 1767.[8]

The term quantity of electricity was once common in scientific publications. It

appears frequently in the writings of Franklin, Faraday, Maxwell, Millikan,
and J. J. Thomson, and was even occasionally used by Einstein.

However, over the last hundred years the term "electricity" has been used by
electric utility companies and the general public in a non-scientific way. Today
the vast majority of publications no longer refer to electricity as meaning
electric charge. Instead they speak of electricity as electromagnetic energy.
The definition has drifted even further, and many authors now use the word
"electricity" to mean electric current (amperes), energy flow (watts), electrical
potential (volts), or electric force. Others refer to any electrical phenomena as
kinds of electricity.

These multiple definitions are probably the reason that Quantity of Electricity
has fallen into disfavor among scientists. Physics textbooks no longer define
Quantity of Electricity or Flow of Electricity. Quantity of Electricity is now
regarded as an archaic usage, and it has slowly been replaced by the terms
charge of electricity, then quantity of electric charge, and today simply
charge. Since the term electricity has increasingly become corrupted by
contradictions and unscientific definitions, today's experts instead use the
term charge to remove any possible confusion.

Conceptual problems
The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific
concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for
suggestions.(December 2007) ED. Note: I left this Wikipedia note in place as I think it
make give significant insight as to who may have written it. - Z

However, new problems arise when we attempt to fix earlier problems by

replacing the term "electricity" with the term "charge." Older scientific
papers still exist, and their authors constantly discuss quantities of electricity
and flows of electricity (meaning charge and current respectively.) Those
historical authors know that their readers understand just one definition: the
term electricity means charge and nothing else. Modern students who read
physics papers from periods prior to 1930 (approx.) should make a continuous
effort to remain aware of this issue. If historical physicists discuss quantities
of "electricity" implying "electric charge," yet the modern reader assumes
they're speaking of electrical energy, the writings of those physicists will be
quite difficult to understand.

Another problem arises because the population of physicists abandoned the

term "electricity" without much public discussion and perhaps without much
awareness on the part of their community. By silently altering the meaning of
common and heavily-used terms, the scientific community caused an immense
confusion on the part of the public. Whereas in the past the question "What is
electricity?" was more or less easily answered, today the question itself has
become meaningless. Is electricity a form of energy? Is electricity the same as
electric charge? Is electricity nothing but a class of phenomena? Should we
measure the quantity of electricity in coulombs, or should we instead use
amperes, joules, or watts, or even volts? Physics texts and reference books
supply no solid answer, since physicists have gradually abandoned electricity
as a scientific term.

And yet Quantity of Electricity still persists in its original definition in many
contemporary references. For example, in the modern SI units of physics, the
coulomb is defined both as the unit of electric charge and also the unit
quantity of electricity. Encyclopdia Britannica defines the coulomb as the
unit quantity of electricity. The Merriam-Webster dictionary, in definition 1a,
defines electricity as charge. And until the late 1980s, the glossary in the CRC
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics used the term "quantity of electricity" in
place of "electric charge" in most of its definitions. Chemistry students will be
familiar with Faraday's discovery that a unit quantity of electricity, when
passed through an electrolysis cell, liberates a certain number of atoms of
metal or gas. Under these definitions, electricity is not a form of energy.

References
1. electric, adj. and n., Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Revision Mar. 2008

2. electric, adj. and n., Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Revision Mar. 2008

3. Bacon F, "Physiological Remains", before 1626, in Baconiana (1679)

4. Equivalent text in Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 6th edition (1672), p. 53

 5. a b Niels H. de V. Heathcote (December 1967). "The early meaning of
electricity: Some Pseudodoxia Epidemica - I". Annals of Science 23 (4): pp.
261275. doi:10.1080/00033796700203316.

6. Definition of "electric" Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828

and 1913 editions].

7. Definition of "electricity" Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary,

1828 and 1913 editions].

8. etymonline listing for "charge"

External links
What is electricity?

CRC Handbook

Merriam-Webster: Electricity

Britannica: Coulomb

Britannica: Electric Charge

Google: define Electricity

Sir Francis Bacon

o First used the word electric

o Wrote Rosicrucian Book

Sir Thomas Browne

o The first usage of the English word electricity is ascribed to Sir
Thomas Browne in his 1646 work, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

Benjamin Franklin
o Famous Kite experiment

o Rosicruican

o Founder of USA - See Child's Own Loses

Amber Electric
...
The Greeks called amber "elektron" (which may come from a Phoenician word
for the sun, meaning "golden"). They noticed its power to attract small bits of
ash when rubbed with a cloth. This is static electricity, and the word "electricity"
comes from "elektron" or amber. Source: Amber Minerals

In ancient times, amber was carried by travellers for protection, and in the Far
East, amber is the symbol of courage. Asian cultures regard amber as the 'soul
of the tiger'; Egyptians placed a piece of amber in the casket of a loved one to
ensure the body would forever remain whole. Early physicians prescribed amber
for headaches, heart problems, arthritis and a variety of other ailments.

It is reported in a number of books that the earliest occurrence of worked amber

by man dates back to 7,000 BC and was discovered in West Zealand, Denmark.
It was found in an ancient bog in a remarkable state of preservation as you can
see in this external site picture, thanks no doubt to the anaerobic environment in
which it had either been placed or fallen. The find is a pendant depicting four
angular human figures and some striped patterning. Many of the Mesolithic
articles depict human figures in one form or another.

David Grimaldi in his book Amber - Window to the Past cites an earlier
occurrence however. According to Grimaldi the earliest worked pieces of amber
were discovered in Southern England, near the Cheddar/Creswell crags in an
ancient cavern called Goughs cave. The age of these beads lies between 11,000
and 9,000 years B.C. placing them in the earlier Palaeolithic. -SOURCE: A
Brief Human History of Amber

Amber and related materials (Resins) have been valued by man since the
dawn of time and have many medicainal purposes. The Vikings, Greeks, Celts,
Romans, Phoenicians, Mayans and Native Americans all valued it, traded it
and used it..

Two resin products with fame of "biblical" proportions are Frankincense and
Myrrh, two of the Magi gifts to the Christ child. Frankincense comes from 3
species of Boswellia: carteril, papyrifera, and thurifera. The finest known is
Arabian and was formerly transported by camel caravans thru Palestine and
Egypt, all the way to Greece and then Rome. Around 200 A.D., merchants were
shipping over 3,000 tons per year, most of this headed for Rome.

Myrrh comes from Commifera trees and has been used as perfume base, oils for
Hebrew annointing rituals, and for incense in cremations. As an embalming
agent, ancient Egyptians poured the concoction of resins, gums and oils into the
cranial, chest, abdominal, and pelvic cavities of bodies to be mummified. Resin
has a dehydrating as well as preservative property. Bandages were soaked in it to
wrap the bodies. Apparantly this has worked, as evidenced by the condition of
bodies found after many thousands of years. Egyptians also derived sandrac and
mastic from resins, two chemicals used in paint pigments for ceramic jars and
art on the walls of tombs.
-SOURCE: Amber: Just what is it anyway?

The above information on Amber is included as a background because its

properties of producing static electricity are the beginning of the story. Amber
has long been used as a talisman by many cultures and is worth study.

The Esoteric Connections

Sir Francis Bacon
..

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (22 January 1561 9 April 1626) was an
English philosopher, statesman, and essayist. He is also known as a catalyst of
the scientific revolution. Bacon was knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam
in 1618, and created Viscount St Alban in 1621; without heirs, both peerages
became extinct upon his death.

Sir Francis Bacon, F.R.C. (15611626) led the scientific and philosophical
thought of his day, introducing the Baconian Method of science, employing
observation and experimentation. A leader of the Rosicrucians during his
lifetime, his methods included Hermeticism, Alchemy, and esoteric studies as a
natural part of human knowledge.

The New Atlantis, a utopian work written in the last years of his life, and
published posthumously in 1627, chronicles a voyage to the island of Bensalem
(Child of Peace) off the Western coast of the Americas. The inhabitants of
the island had seemingly accomplished The Great Instauration, that is, the
regeneration and renewal of human arts and sciences encouraged by Bacon in
his many writings.

In this selection from the work, Bacon describes the ancient land of Atlantis
and its Fall. The seventeenth century text has been slightly adapted for
modern readers.

The New Atlantis - by Sir Francis Bacon, F.R.C.

The Esoteric Connections

Sir Thomas Browne
..
Sir Thomas Browne (October 19, 1605 October 19, 1682) was an English
author of varied works which disclose his wide learning in diverse fields
including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric.

Browne's writings display a deep curiosity towards the natural world,

influenced by the Scientific revolution of Baconian enquiry. A consummate
literary craftsman, Browne's works are permeated by frequent reference to
Classical and Biblical sources and to his own highly idiosyncratic personality.
His literary style varies according to genre resulting in a rich, unusual prose
that ranges from rough notebook observations to the highest baroque
eloquence.

Biography
The son of a silk merchant from Upton, Cheshire, he was born in the parish of
St Michael, Cheapside, in London on October 19, 1605. His father died while
he was still young and he was sent to school at Winchester College. In 1623
Browne went to Oxford University. He graduated from Pembroke College,
Oxford in 1626 after which he studied medicine at various Continental
universities, including Leiden, where he received an MD in 1633. He settled in
Norwich in 1637 where he practiced medicine and lived until his death in
1682.

His first well-known work bore the Latin title Religio Medici (The Religion of
a Physician). This work was circulated in manuscript among his friends, and
it caused Browne some surprise and embarrassment when an unauthorised
edition appeared in 1642, since the work contained a number of religious
speculations that might be considered unorthodox. An authorised text with
some of the controversial matter removed appeared in 1643. The expurgation
did not end the controversy; in 1645, Alexander Ross attacked Religio Medici
in his Medicus Medicatus (The Doctor, Doctored) and in fact the book was
placed upon the Papal index of forbidden reading for Catholics in the same
year. In Religio Medici Browne had confirmed his belief in the existence of
witches. It is known that in later life he attended the 1662 Bury St. Edmunds
witch trial,[1] where he was influential in the outcome of the trial.[2]

In 1646, Browne published Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or, Enquiries into Very

many Received Tenets, and commonly Presumed Truths, whose title refers to
the prevalence of false beliefs and "vulgar errors." A sceptical work that
debunks a number of legends circulating at the time in a paradoxical and
witty manner, it displays the Baconian side of Brownethe side that was
unafraid of what at the time was still called "the new learning." The book is
significant in the history of science.

Browne's last publication in his life-time,1658 was two philosophical

Discourses which are intimately related to each other; the first Hydriotaphia,
Urn Burial or a Brief Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in
Norfolk, occasioned by the discovery of some Bronze Age burials in
earthenware vessels found in Norfolk inspired Browne to meditate upon the
funerary customs of the world and the fleetingness of earthly fame and
reputation.

Urn-Burial's "twin" discourse is The Garden of Cyrus, or, The Quincunciall

Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, Artificially, Naturally, and
Mystically Considered, whose subject is the quincunx, the arrangement of five
units like the five-spot in dice, which Browne uses to demonstrate that the
Platonic forms exist throughout Nature.
1671 Knighthood to death

In 1671 King Charles II, accompanied by the Royal Court, visited Norwich.
The courtier John Evelyn, who had occasionally corresponded with Browne,
took good use of the Royal visit to call upon the learned doctor of European
fame and wrote of his visit: His whole house & garden is a paradise and
Cabinet of rarieties & that of the best collection, amongst Medails, books,
Plants, natural things.

During his visit to Norwich, King Charles II visited Browne's home. A

banquet was held in the Civic Hall St. Andrews for the Royal visit. Obliged to
honour a notable local, the name of the Mayor of Norwich was proposed to
the King for knighthood. The Mayor, however, declined the honour and
proposed the name of Browne instead.

Sir Thomas Browne died on 19 October 1682, his 77th birthday. His skull
became the subject of dispute when in 1840 his lead coffin was accidentally re-
opened by workmen. It was not re-interred until 4 July 1922 when it was
registered in the church of Saint Peter Mancroft as aged 316 years.

Literary Works
Religio Medici (1643)

Pseudodoxia Epidemica (164672)

Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial (1658)

The Garden of Cyrus (1658)

A Letter to a Friend (1656; pub. post. 1690)

Christian Morals (1670s; pub. post. 1716)

Musaeum Clausum Tract 13 from Miscellaneous Tracts first pub. post.

1684

See also Library of Sir Thomas Browne