There are three ‘contestants’ to this contest, namely Winkler, Gralath and Franklin. Although they lived so far apart we doubt they knew each other, or ever met. Today we attempt to answer the question who created the first multiple Leyden Jar set? We’ll be guided by our friends at American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, because we believe they thought this through carefully.
What Each of the Three Intrepid Men Achieved
Johann Heinrich Winkler
Winkler describes Leyden Jar experiments on May 29, 1746, in a letter to the British Royal Society. He reports administering large volumes of electricity, more than a single Leyden Jar could achieve, to himself and other volunteers. He speaks of a single cell at that point, yet later he describes several bottle of water he joined together with a chain. He also made the drawing in our feature image.
Daniel Gralath
Gralath reports assembling two- and three-jar batteries in 1747. He describes how the shock from two of them was still tolerable. But few of his associates are willing to repeat trials with three. However, a person holding a single one in a series, reports a far lesser shock.
Benjamin Franklin
Franklin’s earliest experiments with batteries began in 1748 by his own admission. He summarizes them in a letter to a colleague the following year. He uses the word ‘battery’ – a military term for several cannons firing together – in this context. Later he expands this term to ‘electrical battery’.
Who Created the First Multiple Leyden Jar?
A number of sources single out Gralath as the winner in the race to build the first multiple Leyden Jar battery. However, there is ample evidence that Winkler beat him by a year, and Franklin by two. American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ends their account by asking why there is still uncertainty. After all, surely Winkler’s drawing says it all?
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