Leyden Jars were a hugely significant invention when they burst on the world stage in 1745. For the first time ever, electrical researchers had a convenient, portable way to store their static electricity. Although the jars were actually capacitors in the true sense. But their main limitation was their limited capacity. Today we recall a significant moment in history, as Benjamin Franklin builds a capacitor bank.
What Benjamin Franklin Achieved with a Capacitor Bank
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers cites one M.B. Schiffer as follows. “Franklin found that interesting effects were produced when capacitors were connected together, as batteries, in different configurations.
- On the one hand, when capacitors were wired in series, the overall charge that could be stored drastically decreased.
- On the other hand, the stored charge increased when a battery’s capacitors were wired in parallel.”
By now we already know how Gralath and Winckler achieved something similar. However, the question in our minds in this short series is whether Benjamin Franklin built his capacitor bank first. Let’s hear what that great American said himself, in a letter dated April 9, 1729.
Franklin’s Capacitor Bank Had ‘Two or More Phials’
Franklin describes “two or more phials hanging on the tail of the same conductor.” And how he charged them simultaneously “as much as one alone would have been”. But his story becomes even more intriguing as he continues:
- “We made what we called an electrical battery, consisting of panes of large sash-glass…
- These had convenient communications of wire and chain, from the giving side of one pane, to the receiving side of the other…
- So the whole might be charged together, and with the same labor as one single pane.
- I added another contrivance to bring the giving sides, after charging, in contact with one long wire,” to discharge them collectively.
So yes, definitely and for sure there’s evidence Benjamin Franklin built a capacitor bank, but did he do it first? You’ll have to wait for our next post to know what we think.
More Information
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Did Daniel Gralath Invent Linked Capacitors
