08/11/2009
Today, once again, I spent the morning at Pitkin yard working on my little 1879-1882 Thomas Edison Dynamo. (Photos coming next time)
I salvaged some of the "odd sized" screws and installed the insulated marble field tap plates with brass bolts to the upper keeper. (the upper keeper, made of solid cast iron, was painted a nice gloss black last week) I found that some screws were closer to metric than American sizes. I have several odd 1/4 X 24 screws I have to replace. I can't even cut them at the yard as this size tap and die seemingly disappeared years ago. Machinists today use the modern SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) screw sizes. This dynamo was made years before they thought of auto's and the SAE!
I then got down and dirty with de-greaser and started cleaning the body of the dynamo, revealing at least 3 coats of paint.
the original black, the second a dark-dark gray and the outer, a crème coloring. (God only knows why they painted it that color?.....) I will have to again go over the unit as there is a good layer of gunk on the bearing pedestals. After this I'll do a very close inspection to see if there are additional markings, photograph the progress and give it it's nice gloss black coat.
After carefully dusting off & cleaning the upper exposed part of the armature I gave it a spin. At first it was locked in place. A little persuading with a 3' pipe wrench, on it's shaft, chided it along. Looks as though the ancient lubricant gelled up and had to be broken. Now the armature turns like butter when one grabs the steel shaft and spins... I unbolted the bearing caps and when next I get to the yard, I'll look inside and flush out the gunk.
Each time I'm at the yard the gang there is eager to help out. Even though this is a 110volt DC "Generator", I'll do some temporary external re-wiring and see if it can run like a motor. The guy's want to see it run.
Hey, Edison himself used these as motors though they were miserable machines! Many Thanks to Frank Sprague and others for refining these beasts into useful devices.
Loby-WA2AXZ
Good day all... 08/6/2009
I'll be spending at least one day a week at Pitkin Yard working on this little gem. When done I'll send out the finished photos.
Tom Edison took one of these dynamos, turned it sideways and put train wheels on the shafts. There were two versions of his electric trains... His first was made in 1880 the second made in 1882. There are several photographs showing Tom, playing with his trains, on the Menlo Park NJ lab grounds. The patent dates for this particular machine is (Dec 23, 1879 -Aug 22, 1882)
This dynamo, along with the Edison train photos would make a nice exhibit piece for our transit museum.
Here are just a few shots before and after...
The top Cast iron beam (Upper Field Plate) was removed and all insulators and field coil tap boards were removed.
The iron beam was sanded and painted it's original gloss black. (I found the original color black under the granite tap plate.)
All bolts, screws, copper bus work and "things" were sand blasted to get over 120 years of gunk off them.
I got a multi meter and tested the field coils and to my amazement... all were intact and insulated from ground! This thing may run (like a motor) after all! the guys at the yard will use a solvent to clean the rest of the machine in prep for painting.
I am taking a good amount of before and after shots to document the rebuild.
It's interesting to note that many homes and apartments used this type of Dynamo as isolated power plants, located in their basements. Thankfully "Tesla" came up with his AC system and freed all from shoveling coal into the boilers... Though after utility deregulation, we might all reconsider?
Loby
Edison Machine Works Bolt.jpg
Loby rebuilding Edison Dynamo.jpg
Cast Iron Top Plate Clean Paint.jpg
Post Sand Blasting and Cleaning.jpg
Cast Iron Field Top.jpg
Before
