eRittenhouse
The Lecture Table Galvanometer
Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr.
Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022
GREENSLADE@KENYON.EDU
My colleagues in the physics teaching profession like to debate about the validity of the ways of
“getting the words and the phenomena” across to students. Some contend that the lecture is a
thing of the past and that students should read the book first and then come to class to discuss it,
while others would prefer to see no lectures at all. If you have lectures, then is it useful to do
lecture demonstrations? The claim is made that demonstrators are, at the heart of it, showmen,
and the students are merely entertained by the antics of the person in the front of the classroom.
I quite enjoy doing lecture demonstrations, and have tried to make them interactive and the
source of new ideas. Properly done, the demonstration can be as effective as the laboratory
experience in introducing students to new phenomena and getting a deeper understanding of their
earlier experiences in the physical world.
If you do lecture demonstrations, then you had better make them large enough for the student in
the back row to see. If not, the good demonstrator keeps up a line of patter about the apparatus
to the class that is quite analogous to how one writes an equation on the blackboard: you say
what you are going to write, as you write the symbols you repeat them, and after you finish you
look at it and ask the question, “and what do we have here”? In short, you spend time describing
the apparatus and directing the attention of the students to the vital parts of the apparatus.
In this article, I want to concentrate on the Galvanometer, the device that tells the student that a
current in an electrical circuit exists. 1 Two demonstrations immediately come to mind that use
galvanometers, both related to Michael Faraday’s (1791-1867) original discovery of
electromagnetic induction in 1830. In one demonstration, a switch is closed in a primary circuit
containing a coil and a source of EMF, and the galvanometer that is in a coaxial secondary circuit
kicks over. In the second, the galvanometer is connected across a coil of wire; when a bar
1
Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr., “Galvanometers”, Phys. Teach., (1997) 35, 423-426.
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magnet is thrust into the center of the coil, the galvanometer needle moves either right or left
depending on the polarity of the leading end of the magnet.
Later on I will discuss galvanometers that are themselves large in size, but let me start by giving
a couple of examples of small instruments with scales that are blown up optically. Lecture table
meters can only be made so large, and the alternative is to go small, and display the readings by
projection. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 show two galvanometers that were used in the place of slides in a
lantern-slide projector. The galvanometer in Fig. 1 that I photographed at Franklin and Marshall
College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was made by James W. Queen of Philadelphia. An almost
identical model is shown in the 1916 catalogue of L.E. Knott of Boston at a cost of $22. The
glass section is designed to slide into the gate of the standard 3.25x4 inch American lantern slide
Fig. 1 Queen galvanometer for use in a lantern-slide projector, at
Franklin and Marshall College.
projector, although it could also be used for shadow projection using a carbon arc light source.
The D’Arsonval-type movement is contained in the box that extends to the side.
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Fig. 2 A Bréguet-type projection galvanometer in the Jack Judson Collection.
The projection galvanometer in Fig. 2 is in the collection of Jack Judson of San Antonio, Texas.
The round label reads “Tottenham Polytechnic Physics Department.” This London institution
was opened in 1897, and this was probably part of the original collection of apparatus. The
projection meter is 3.5 in. in height to fit into the projection gate of British slide projectors. The
galvanometer has to be used upright, for it is the Bréguet style in which a bar magnet, attached
perpendicular to the needle, feels a torque when current passes through the coil. A counterweight
below the magnet provides the gravitational torque that opposes the magnetic torque.
The Cenco voltmeter in Fig. 3 uses a galvanometer movement with a large resistor connected in
series. This is connected in parallel with the circuit element across which there is a potential
Fig. 3 Cenco voltmeter used on an overhead projector, in the Greenslade Collection.
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drop to be measured. It is far too new (!) to be in my collection of catalogues, but it probably
was produced in the 1970s and was used lying flat on an overhead projector.
The larger galvanometers can be divided into three types, depending on the mechanism used to
actuate the pointer.
Bréguet-type Galvanometers
In the Bréguet-type mechanism (LouisFrançois-Clement Bréguet, 1803-1883), a bar
magnet is pivoted in the middle of a coil that
carries the current to be measured. The little
instrument in Fig. 4 shows the mechanism,
with the magnet, in this case carried on a
circular plate, removed and placed in front of
the coil. Current through the coil produces a
torque on the magnet, which tries to align itself
with the axis of the coil. A gravitational
counter-torque is provided by an adjustable
weight below the magnet; moving this up and
down lets the user change the sensitivity of the
galvanometer.
Fig. 4 A small Bréguet-type galvanometer,
disassembled to show the mechanism, in the
The lecture-table instrument in Fig. 5, which may
still in use for demonstration lectures at Cornell
University, shows how this mechanism can be
blown up so that a large class of students can see
both the needle and the scale. This dual-range
galvanometer has been given a new lease on life
by having its scale repainted. This instrument can
be found in the 1900 Max Kohl catalogue. It cost
45 marks (about $10); the original catalogue
description noted that the coil was wound with
"stout and thin wire" to get the two sensitivities.
Fig. 5 Bréguet-type galvanometer at
Cornell University.
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Suspended-Coil Galvanometers
This is the oldest of the three designs, and is the
least robust. It has to be levelled carefully, and it
is unusual to find one with an intact suspension.
The mechanism can be seen in the example in Fig.
6, which came to the Greenslade Collection from
Westminster College. A coil of fine wire is
suspended between the poles of a permanent
magnet, with the suspending wire acting as one
lead (and it is intact in this artifact!) and a length
of fine wire, coiled into a loose helix, leading
downward from the bottom of the coil to complete
the circuit. Current passing through the coil exerts
a magnetic torque on it that is countered by the
torque exerted by the twisted wire suspension.
The magnetic torque is proportional to the number
of turns of wire in the coil, the area of the coil and
the strength of the field of the permanent magnet.
It might be thought beneficial to have a physically
Fig. 6 A Cenco galvanometer using a
large coil with many turns, but that would give the
suspended coil movement, dating from the
turning coil a large moment of inertia and the
early years of the 20th century, in the
Greenslade Collection.
system would swing back and forth before settling
down to equilibrium. One compromise is to have
a long, narrow coil that would have sufficient surface area without having too much mass placed
far away from the axis of rotation.
A similar lecture table galvanometer appears in the 1909 Central Scientific Company catalogue
at a cost of $15.00. This example must have had some improvements, for it bears a 1911 patent
date. Later catalogues describe it as "Originally designed after suggestions by Prof. R.A.
Millikan, with its open construction, large size scale and large pointer, is especially well adapted
for use on the lecture table. The size of the scale divisions and figures, and the size and shape of
the pointer makes it easy to read the deflections at a distance. A second scale and pointer
provided on the back aid the teacher in making classroom demonstrations. Thermo-electric
currents are readily detected, as the maximum deflection produced by heating a single copperiron junction is about 8 scale divisions. …Sensitivity – A deflection of one scale division (6.1
mm) on the circular scale 8.2 cm from the axis of the coil is produced by a current of 14
microamperes.”
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D’Arsonval-type Galvanometers
This is the most rugged type of movement. It can be used with the galvanometer in any
orientation, and obviates the necessity of levelling the instrument after placing it on the lecture
table.
The D’Arsonval galvanometer movement was patented by Jacques D’Arsonval (1850-1940) and
Marcel Deprez (1843-1918) in 1881. However, the practical form that we still use today was
developed soon afterward by Edward Weston (1859-1936), the Anglo-American electrical
scientist.2 Weston’s refinements include: (a) jeweled pivots for the swinging coil, (b), a flattened
aluminum tube used as the light-weight pointer, (c) a light copper form on which the coil was
wound (this also helps damp the vibrations of the pointer), (d) a permanent magnet that was aged
to keep its magnetic field constant, (e) non-magnetic helical springs on both sides to provide the
restoring torque, and (f) the pole pieces of the magnet curved so that the magnetic field in which
the coil moved was constant no matter how it was displaced from its equilibrium position, thus
allowing the scale to be linear.
Figure 7 shows the “Universal Lecture
Table Galvanometer” made by the L.E.
Knott Apparatus Co. of Boston, and
listed in their 1916 catalogue at $35.00.
This included shunts and multipliers to
give the instrument potential ranges of
5, 25 and 125 V, and current ranges of 5
and 25 amperes. The basic meter
movement, with a resistance of 1 Ohm,
gave a deflection of one unit for a
current of 2 mA. This instrument is still
in occasional use in the Kenyon College
lecture hall, primarily to show induced
EMFs. I once used it in a far different
way. After noting that the meter
movement has a natural oscillation
period of the order of one second, I
drove it with the sinusoidal output of a
low frequency generator, and was able
2
Fig. 7 “Universal Lecture Table Galvanometer” by
Knott, ca. 1915 and in the demonstration room at
Kenyon College.
Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr, “Edward Weston and the “Modern” Galvanometer Movement”, Phys.
Teach., (2008) 46, 162-164.
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to construct a rather nice resonance curve for it. This is a large instrument, and could be seen by
a fairly good-sized group of sophomore students taking our “Oscillations and Waves” course.
The lecture table galvanometer in Fig. 8 was made by Siemens and Halske of Berlin: their logo
can be seen on the scale. Here the designer has taken advantage of the fact that the galvanometer
pointer can be double-ended, and the lower end can be seen by the demonstrator standing behind
the apparatus at the lecture bench (Fig 9). This galvanometer is in the Greenslade Collection in
Gambier, Ohio.
Fig. 8 The front of the Siemens and Halske
galvanometer in the Greenslade Collection.
Fig. 9 The back of the instrument in Fig 8,
showing the scale used by the
demonstrator.
The most compact lecture-table galvanometer that I have seen is the one shown in Fig. 10. Here,
the D’Arsonval-type movement is horizontal, just like the standard cased meters that were used
in most electricity and magnetism laboratories. However, here the movement is in the center of
the instrument, and the needle is bent over the edge of the scale. A second needle and scale at the
back of the galvanometer are for the use of the demonstrator, who can see the movement of the
needle. This could be connected to a St. Louis Motor, 3 which, when the coil is spun with the
fingers, acts as a generator and produces enough current to drive the galvanometer full scale.
The sensitivity of 350 µA per scale division is enough to allow demonstrations with
thermoelectricity to be performed in front of the class. The 1941-2 Cenco catalogue lists this
galvanometer at $23.85.
3
Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr., “The St. Louis Motor”, Phys. Teach., (2011) 49, 424-425.
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Fig. 10 A Cenco lecture-table galvanometer, ca. 1940, in the Greenslade
On the same page in the Cenco catalogue is a lecture
table galvanometer quite similar to the one shown in
Fig. 11. That took me to our dining room, where this
instrument resides. It was made by the firm of C.H.
Stoelting of Chicago, and cost $40.00 in the 1912
catalogue. Stoelting was the result of the
combination of a group of Chicago apparatus
manufacturers in the last years of the 19th century.4
This is also a D’Arsonval instrument, and the
catalogue copy takes pains to note that there is no
suspension to break. The basic galvanometer
movement requires 250 µA to move one scale
division. Shunts are mounted on the board below the
meter to allow measurements of up to 2.5 A and 25
A; correspondingly there are multipliers for voltage
measurements of 2.5, 25 and 125 V full scale
deflection.
Fig. 11 A small instrument made by Steeling of Chicago in the early years of
the 20th century, in the Greenslade Collection.
Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr. “Apparatus Manufacturers in Chicago, ca. 1900”, Rittenhouse, (1999) 13,
16-19.
4
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The demonstration multimeter in Fig. 12, about 20 cm high, is really too small to be included in
a paper of lecture table instruments. However, it is so unusual that I decided to end this paper
with it. It has all the functions of the once popular Simpson Meter except the portability. The
Simpson was the basic test instrument that could be found on every experimentalist’s lab bench
in the years after 1950. The use of the 1N34 crystal diode rectifier certainly pins it down to that
era. The basic galvanometer has a full-scale-deflection rating of 500 µA, which makes it one
tenth as sensitive as the Simpson. It has no maker’s name and is on long-term loan to the
Greenslade Collection from Appalachian State University.
Fig. 12 A demonstration version of a Simpson Meter in the Greenslade Collection.
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