Figure 65. — Colton's electric locomotive. (USNM iSi^yy; Smith- 

 sonian photo 4yo^8-B.) 



hour. A few months later, his motors had reached 

 an estimated 8 to 20 horsepower, and on a 39-minute 

 trip from Washington to Bladensburg had driven a 

 locomotive at a top speed of 19 miles per hour.^"* 

 However, the trip was so rough the diaphragms of the 

 50 Grove cells — required for each motor — and the in- 

 sulation in the motors broke down. Page's funds were 

 exhausted by then, and he made no further experi- 

 ments. 



Another of these successful early inventors was 

 Moses G. Farmer of Dover, New Hampshire. Farmer 

 devised an electric motor in 1846 that in its first 

 public exhibition in July 1847 drove an electric 

 train (fig. 70) of two cars on an 18-inch-gauge track."" 

 Farmer had other exhibitions in New England later 

 in the year; but his exhibitions were not financially 

 successful, so he turned to the field of telegraphy. 



108 Walter K. Johnson, "Report on Professor Page's Electro- 

 Magnetic Locomotive," American Journal of Science, 1851, vol. 11, 

 pp. 473-476; "Professor Page's Electric Engine," Scientific 

 American, 1854, vol. 9, p. 394. Page patented his electric motor 

 (U.S. Patent 10480) on January 31, 1854. 



"" Electricity and Electrical Engineering, 1893, vol. 4, p. 279. 



By midcentury the general public was becoming 

 increasingly aware of the possibilities of electrical 

 power. Part of the increase in public attention 

 resulted from the awarding of prizes for the invention 

 and use of electric motors. Beginning in 1844 the 

 French instrument-maker G. Froment constructed 

 many motors (such as the one shown in fig. 69). 

 Napoleon HI awarded him the Volta prize in 1857 

 for having a shop completely run by electric motors."" 

 Sjziren Hjorth, of Denmark, developed a motor (fig. 71) 

 that was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in 

 London, where it won considerable attention as well 

 as a prize. 



By this time two basic forms of the electric motor 

 had been developed. One of the basic forms was a 

 reciprocating engine, where an armature was pulled 

 into a solenoid, as in Page's motor, or an armature 

 hinged at one end was pulled down by an electro- 

 magnet, as in Clarke's motor. Linkages changed the 

 linear motion to a rotary one. The other basic form 



>'» Cosmos, May 8, 1857, vol. 10, pp. 495-497; Les Mondes, 

 May 7, 1863, vol. 1, pp. 337-338. 



268 



BULLETIN 228 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



