Inventor James Wimshursts Home
The workshop and home of inventor James Wimshurst.
Location: 7 Crescent Grove, Clapham Common, SW4 7AF
Description: James Wimshurst became a ship surveyor to Lloyd's Register, from 1865 until 1874 and then for twenty-five years, 187499, was chief shipwright surveyor to the Board of Trade in London.
Living here at this address, and building himself a good private workshop, for twenty years devoted himself to the improvement and construction of electrical influence machines.
The early machines of this type had all sprung from Volta's electrophorus but it was not until the work of Topler, Holtz and Wimshurst that design progress was made. The machine with radial strips of tinfoil and contact brushes was described by Holtz in 1881 and again in 1882 and 1883 by Wimshurst, whose improvements were made independently.
Altogether he made more than ninety Wimshurst machines. Many of these were presented to hospitals, and two of his very large ones are preserved in the Science Museum and his largest in a museum in Chicago.
A member of the Physical and Rontgen Societies, and a manager of the Royal Institution, Wimshurst was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1898.
He died suddenly on January the 3rd 1903.
The workshop and home of inventor James Wimshurst. |
Ranking This Month: 2608/3068
Pages Hit This Month: 16
Your Comments:
Other places nearby:
The Oldest Bank in London», 3.8km
The Crystal Palace», 3.7km
The Ivory House», 4.3km
News International HQ», 4.5km
Fairfield Works: Strike a Light!», 7.0km
Beckton Gasworks: FMJ», 9.9km
Explosive Dryads' Hall», 15.km
Tetley's Home of Tea», 4.3km
London Glassblowing Company», 3.7km
Splendid Heath Hall», 8.0km
Location Pinpointed:
Open Street Maps», Google Maps»