Member

Ford excerpts writings of both Holtz and Wimshurst about their electrostatic machines. Holtz describes various configurations of the machine and contemporary theory explaining observations. Wimshurst rebuts and refines the article written by Holtz.

When a wire is suspended just above a white card and electrically exploded, the marks blasted into the card show regularly spaced transverse striations. This phenomenon has been reported throughout history, but never completely understood. Following is a description of the process for setting up such an experiment.

In trying to reproduce the jumping electrostatic top phenomenon, Mr. Ford details his experiments using a homemade sectorless Wimshurst generator of his design. He and his research associate John Richter discovered that small discs supported by a single point were the most effective. The question of why the top suddenly jumps up is left unresolved.