Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 593W

POULSEN, VALDEMAR. 1869-1942.
Poulsen Arc Transmitter, United States, c.1917, 505 x 305 x 380 mm,

5 December 2018, 14:00 EST
New York

US$1,000 - US$2,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our History of Science & Technology specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

POULSEN, VALDEMAR. 1869-1942.

Poulsen Arc Transmitter, United States, c.1917, 505 x 305 x 380 mm, front panel with microphone, Weston radio frequency Thermo-Ammeter, two female lightbulb connectors, two on/off switches, one selector switch, back with William J. Murdock oscillator transformer coils, steel pipe containing carbon cathode at one end and copper anode at the other, glass reservoir, mica condenser contained in wooden box.

Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen invented the arc transmitter in 1903. It used an electric arc to convert direct current electricity to radio frequency alternate current. It was used as a radio transmitter until it was replaced by vacuum tube transmitters in the 1920s. The present example uses U.S.-made parts and was likely produced around 1917, the date on the condenser label.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Signed to Spencer Tracy 1952 Hemingway, Ernest. 1899-1961. The Old Man and the Sea, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.

A Presentation Copy of Kennedy's First Book to Spencer Tracy. Kennedy, John F. 1917-1963. Why England Slept. New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1940.

ADVERTISING POSTERfor 'The Suffragette' newspaper, [c.1913-1914]

ILLUMINATED ADDRESS – CLARA CODD Illuminated printed address signed by Emmeline Pankhurst, [1909]

MUSIC & RECORDINGS – ETHEL SMYTH Collection of printed music, song sheets and records, [c.1911-1912]