Object Details
maker
Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Ltd.
Description
Leyden jars were essential for storing electrical charges used by the earliest wireless radios used aboard ocean liners. Shortly after RMS Carpathia's rescue of Titanic survivors, the ship visited Boston, Massachusetts. Marconi Wireless Radio employee Harry Cheetham boarded Carpathia to service the radio, which had been damaged during the Titanic operations. He replaced these two Leyden jars. One is intact and the other is broken, but fortunately the broken one shows how the jars were constructed inside to store and relay an electrical charge. Cheetham kept these artifacts as Titanic souvenirs, and donated them to the Smithsonian in 1930.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
from Harry R. Chetham
date made
ca 1910
ID Number
EM.310242.01
catalog number
310242.01
accession number
113406
Object Name
Leyden jar
condenser
capacitor
Other Terms
Leyden jar; Electrostatic Devices
Physical Description
glass (overall material)
wood (overall material)
foil (overall material)
copper (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 11 1/4 in x 3 7/8 in; 28.575 cm x 9.8425 cm
See more items in
Work and Industry: Electricity
Communications
Transportation
Titanic
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_709730
