Toepler-Holtz influence machine
Máquina electrostática de influencia de Toepler-Holtz
- Date
- 1865 · confidence high
- Place
- Riga, Latvia
- Credited to
- August Toepler and Wilhelm Holtz
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A rotating-plate electrostatic generator that charges by induction, without rubbing, giving tens of kilovolts even in damp air. It replaced the friction machine and paved the way for the Wimshurst machine.
Toepler (Riga) and Holtz (Berlin) built it independently in 1865, and Poggendorff came up with a variant almost simultaneously; the credit varies by source.
What it led to
- the Wimshurst machine (1880-83)
- high-voltage physics experiments
- high-voltage sources for X-ray tubes and discharge studies
Built on
- Electrophorus