Saxton's magneto-electric machine, 1833-1857.

This device was designed by J Saxton in 1833 and made by J Newman of Fleet Street between 1833 and 1857. The machine consists of seven painted steel horseshoe magnets fixed together horizontally on a mahogany base. The armature is constructed of two soft iron pieces connected together with an iron cros-piece and wound with insulated copper wire. The design represents an early form of magneto-electric machine: a machine coverting mechanical energy into electrical energy using a magnetic field.