“As this Volta electric induction is obviously produced by the transverse action of the Voltaic current, in one case, by the mechanical motion of the wire, and in the other at the moments of generation and annihilation of the current, Dr. Faraday thought that the sudden induction and cessation of the same magnetic force in soft iron, either by the agency of a Voltaic current, or by that of a common magnet, ought to produce the same results. He constructed a combination of helices (8) upon a hollow cylinder of pasteboard: they consisted of lengths of copper wire, containing, altogether, 220 feet; four of these were connected end to end, and then with the galvanometer. The other intervening four were also connected end to end, and then with the Voltaic battery. In this form a slight effect was produced upon the needle by making and breaking contact. But when a soft iron cylinder, seven-eighths of an inch thick and twelve inches long, was introduced into the pasteboard tube, surrounded by the helices, the induced current affected the galvanometer powerfully. When the iron cylinder was replaced by an equal cylinder of copper, no effect beyond that of the helices alone was produced.
“Similar effects were then produced by ordinary magnets. The hollow helix had all its elementary helices connected with the galvanometer, and the soft iron cylinder having been introduced into its axis, a couple of bar magnets were arranged with their opposite poles in contact, so as to resemble a horse-shoe magnet, and contact was then made between the other poles and the ends of the iron cylinder, by which it was converted, for the time, into a magnet; by breaking the magnetic contacts, or reversing them, the magnetism of the iron cylinder could be destroyed or reversed at pleasure. Upon making magnetic contact, the needle was deflected; continuing the contact, the needle became indifferent, and resumed its first position; on breaking contact, it was again deflected, but in the opposite direction to the first effect, and then it again became indifferent. When the magnetic contacts were reversed, the deflections were reversed. The actual contacts of the magnets with the soft iron is not essential to the success of these experiments, for their near approximation induces sufficient magnetism in the cylinder to generate the electric current, which affects the needle. The first rise of the magnetic force induces the electric wave in one direction; its sudden decline, in the opposite. Mechanical motion of a permanent magnetic pole in one direction, across the coils of the helix, will produce the same effect as the sudden induction of the magnetism in the soft iron, and its motion in the opposite direction will cause a corresponding effect with its annihilation, when the soft iron cylinder is removed from the helix, and one end of a cylindrical magnet thrust into it, the needle is deflected in the same way as if the magnet had been formed, by either of the two preceding processes. Being left in, the needle will resume its first position, and then being withdrawn, the needle will be deflected in the opposite direction. On substituting a small hollow helix, formed round a glass tube, for the galvanometer, in these experiments, and introducing a steel needle, it will be converted into a magnet, provided care be taken not to expose it to the opposite action of the reverse current; and if the continuity of the conducting wire be broken, at the moment when the secondary electric wave is passing through it, a bright spark may be obtained.
“The connection of electro magnetical and magneto electrical phenomena may be exhibited in a very striking way, by employing any of the apparatus, by which the rotary motions of the magnet or conducting wire, are produced by a current of electricity, to generate electric currents by the mechanical rotations of the magnet or wire. For this purpose, the galvanometer may be substituted for the battery, and when the wire is made to turn round the pole of the magnet, or the pole of the magnet round the wire, in one direction, the needle will be deflected to one side; and to the other by the opposite rotation. Nothing can be better shown that magneto electric is the converse of electro magnetic action.
“Dr. Faraday by rotating a copper disc between the poles of a horse-shoe magnet, produced a constant current of electricity in one direction, and deflected the needle of the galvanometer; one wire being connected with the disc, and the other with the arbour. By turning the disc in one direction, the circuit will pass from the axis to the circumference; by turning it in the opposite direction, the current will flow from the circumference to the axis.”
Fig. 39.
[Figure 39] represents a side view of the instrument. B shows the copper disc permanently secured upon its axis, and which is turned by means of the crank, E. G represents one of the standards which support the axis. H is the platform upon which the various parts are arranged. The edge, C, of the copper disc, is amalgamated so as to make a perfect connection with the amalgamated segment, a, to which is soldered a wire, I, leading to the galvanometer. That portion of the disc, B, which is shaded, is not amalgamated. J is the other wire proceeding from the galvanometer, and both it and the axis are amalgamated, at the points of connection. A is the permanent magnet, with its poles on each side of the copper disc, B, opposite the amalgamated portion of the rim.
Fig. 40.