Corbetts electrostatic machine was a hand operated device built in 1810 by Thomas Corbett, a physician and botanist belonging to the Shaker community, to generate and store static electricity for medical use. It worked by rotating a glass cylinder against a silk pad to build up an electric charge, which a metal comb then collected and stored in a Leyden jar, an early form of capacitor, so that the accumulated charge could be delivered to a patient. Corbett built the machine specifically to treat rheumatism by administering electric shocks, and the sensation it produced has been compared to the static shock of touching a doorknob after walking across a carpet in dry weather.
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