Large electrostatic generator (Teylers)

Van Marum's electrostatic generator in the Teylers Museum instrument room. The wooden table and supports were designed to match the Oval Room where it was initially kept until the mid 19th century.
In the second cabinet in the same room are various portable electrostatic generators, each built according to a different design. On the bottom right in the back is the first model by Gerhard Kuyper that Van Marum had built in Groningen, with the mercury bath.

The large electrostatic generator (Dutch: Van Marum electriseermachine) is a large handcrafted electromechanical instrument designed by Martin van Marum and built by John Cuthbertson in 1784 for the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, where it forms the centerpiece of the instrument room. The concept of an electrostatic generator was new, and the battery (array) of leiden jars was the largest ever built (only one of the 4 sets of leiden jars is on display to conserve space). The two glass disks of the triboelectric generator (friction generator) are 1.65 meters in diameter, and the machine is capable of generating a potential of 330,000 volts.[1]

  1. ^ "230 Jaar Elektriseermachine" [230 Years of Electrification Machine] (in Dutch). Teylers Museum. Retrieved 30 January 2023.