Davenport electric motor, US patent #132

Model to accompany US patent number 132, "Electric Motor, issued to Thomas Davenport, 25 February 1837. This is the first US patent issued for an electric motor. No extant markings. The patent claims: "Applying magnetic and electromagnetic power as a moving principle for machinery in the manner above described, or in any other substantially the same in principle". Wooden base, 9 by 14 in., supported on four curved legs, carrying a circular frame, in which there are four rough electro-magnets, painted red, made to revolve within a ring of steel magnets. The steel magnets in the ring are crescent-shaped can be lifted out of the frame. Reference: W. James King, Development of Electrical Technology in the 19th Century (Smithsonian Institution, 1962), 264.