Invention

Dynamo

Electrical Engineering

A dynamo is an electrical generator that produces direct current using a commutator, relying on self powering electromagnets for its stator field rather than permanent magnets. A dynamo starts itself using the small residual magnetic field left in the iron cores of those electromagnets, though a dynamo that had never been run before traditionally needed a separate battery to first excite the field. Dynamos were the first practical electrical generators able to deliver power for industry, and they underpinned later electric power devices including the electric motor, the alternating current alternator and the rotary converter.

Facts
Year
1832 1
Purpose
Energy 1
Connections

Associated With

Source Antonio Pacinotti (Wikipedia)
Source Elihu Thomson (Wikipedia)
Source Samuel Alfred Varley (Grace's Guide)
Source Zénobe Gramme (Wikipedia)

In Field

Source Dynamo (Wikipedia)

Invented By

Source Dynamo (Wikipedia)
Source Dynamo (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Dynamo (Wikipedia)
  • Lead section
    A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator, and uses self-powering electromagnets for the stator field rather than permanent magnets.
  • Introduction
    A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator, and uses self-powering electromagnets for the stator field rather than permanent magnets.
  • History section
    The first commutated dynamo was built in 1832 by Hippolyte Pixii, a French instrument maker.
  • In Field: Electrical Engineering, Categories
    Electrical generators
  • Invented By: Charles Wheatstone, Article body
    It was independently invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone, Werner von Siemens and Samuel Alfred Varley.
  • Invented By: Werner von Siemens, Article body
    It was independently invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone, Werner von Siemens and Samuel Alfred Varley.
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Samuel Alfred Varley (Grace's Guide)
Associated With: Samuel Alfred Varley, Biography timeline, 1866
Quote, Associated With: Samuel Alfred Varley, Biography timeline, 1866
1866 Made the first self-excited dynamo
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Elihu Thomson (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Elihu Thomson, Electrical innovations, inventions
Quote, Associated With: Elihu Thomson, Electrical innovations, inventions
Notable inventions created by Thomson during this period include an arc-lighting system, an automatically regulated three-coil dynamo, a magnetic lightning arrester, and a local power transformer.
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Zénobe Gramme (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Zénobe Gramme, Lead, credited invention
Quote, Associated With: Zénobe Gramme, Lead, credited invention
He invented the Gramme machine, a type of direct current dynamo capable of generating smoother (less AC) and much higher voltages than the dynamos known to that point.
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Antonio Pacinotti (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Antonio Pacinotti, Scientific studies and invention of the dynamo
Quote, Associated With: Antonio Pacinotti, Scientific studies and invention of the dynamo
He is best known for inventing an improved form of direct-current electrical generator, or dynamo, which he built in 1860 and described in a paper published in Il Nuovo Cimento of 1865.
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