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Actions Displays	Remove from selection Add to selection Download mediaDownload media Object numberCHREM:2013.18 Object categoryindustry equipment Object nameearly rotary converter by W Mackie Descriptionearly rotary converter by W Mackie, From AC to DC - Electricity can be made as either AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current). Most systems from the 1880s were DC, but by the 1920s the benefits of AC led most engineers to prefer it. AC became the chosen system for transmission and distribution because it could be carried over long distances. Its voltage was also easily changeable using transformers, unlike DC. This all left a mixture of AC and DC systems around the UK by the 1930s. Machines like this rotary converter were effectively patches for the problem, because they could convert alternating current or AC into direct current or DC. Owners of older equipment used machines like this in factories full of DC motors, or power companies used them to power older DC neighbourhoods from new AC lines. AC is fed into the machine at one end and drives it as a motor. DC is obtained from it through a commutator connected to parts of the windings. The commutator is the large drum of copper strips at one end of the shaft. This rotary converter is a very early model, and may have been made for a specialist small installation Production date 1890-01-01 - 1899-12-31 1895 - 1895 Persons keywordW Mackie and Co Materialmetal, wood Dimensions Height: 1140 mm Width: 1630 mm Depth: 1000 mm Add tag(s) Add comment

Object numberCHREM:2013.18

Object nameearly rotary converter by W Mackie

Descriptionearly rotary converter by W Mackie, From AC to DC - Electricity can be made as either AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current). Most systems from the 1880s were DC, but by the 1920s the benefits of AC led most engineers to prefer it. AC became the chosen system for transmission and distribution because it could be carried over long distances. Its voltage was also easily changeable using transformers, unlike DC. This all left a mixture of AC and DC systems around the UK by the 1930s. Machines like this rotary converter were effectively patches for the problem, because they could convert alternating current or AC into direct current or DC. Owners of older equipment used machines like this in factories full of DC motors, or power companies used them to power older DC neighbourhoods from new AC lines. AC is fed into the machine at one end and drives it as a motor. DC is obtained from it through a commutator connected to parts of the windings. The commutator is the large drum of copper strips at one end of the shaft. This rotary converter is a very early model, and may have been made for a specialist small installation

Production date 1890-01-01 - 1899-12-31 1895 - 1895

Persons keywordW Mackie and Co

Materialmetal, wood

Dimensions

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