Henry Wilde (1833 – 28 March 1919) was a wealthy individual from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England who used his self-made fortune to indulge his interest in electrical engineering. Wilde invented the dynamo-electric machine, or self-energising

dynamo file:DynamoElectricMachinesEndViewPartlySection USP284110.png, "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator (electric), commutator. Dynamos were the f ...

, an invention for which

Werner von Siemens Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He foun ...

is more usually credited and, in fact, discovered independently. At any rate, Wilde was the first to publish, his paper was communicated to the Royal Society by

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...

in 1866.Cardwell, p218. The self-energising dynamo replaces the permanent magnets of previous designs with

electro-magnet An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire wound into a coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic field which is concentrated in the ...

s and in so doing achieved an enormous increase in power. The machine was considered remarkable at the time, especially since Wilde was fond of spectacular demonstrations, such as the ability of his machine to cause iron bars to melt.

Academic patronage

Wilde joined the

Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom and second oldest provincial learned society (after the Spalding Gentlemen's Society). Promine ...

in 1859 and was President 1894-1896. He made many gifts and endowments to further the cause of science including; *The Wilde Memorial Lecture of the

*Acedémie des Sciences (Paris) annual prize *A large gift to the Institution of Electrical Engineers' Benevolent Fund *A Readership at Oxford University *A Scholarship at Oxford University *A Lectureship at Oxford University *Donated two dynamos to the

Clarendon Laboratory The Clarendon Laboratory, located on Parks Road within the Science Area in Oxford, England (not to be confused with the Clarendon Building, also in Oxford), is part of the Department of Physics at Oxford University. It houses the atomic and ...

in 1888. He left the remainder of his fortune to Oxford University in his will.

Dynamo applications

The very first application of the dynamo by Wilde was to provide the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

with powerful searchlights. The dynamo was also much used in

electro-plating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct electric current. The part to be ...

.''Journal of the Society of Arts'', p617, vol 48, 29 June 1900.

Litigation

Wilde launched a series of litigations to try to establish his priority for the dynamo, even disputing that the Siemens brothers had coined the name (Wilde credits

Golding Bird Golding Bird (9 December 1814 – 27 October 1854) was a British medical doctor and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He became a great authority on kidney diseases and published a comprehensive paper on urinary deposits in ...

with this). It seems that Wilde was much inclined to indulge in litigation; when the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(RSA) attempted to bestow their highest award, the Albert Medal, for his contribution to the invention of the dynamo, Wilde responded with a solicitor's letter berating them for not recognising him as the sole inventor. Nevertheless, the RSA made the award in 1900.

Wilde's process

Wilde's process is a method of copper-plating printing rollers which he patented in 1875. A dynamo is used to provide the electricity required for the plating process and the same mechanical power source is used to either rotate the work being plated or drive a paddle to agitate the

electrolyte An electrolyte is a medium containing ions that is electrically conducting through the movement of those ions, but not conducting electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Upon dis ...

. This procedure ensures an even thickness of copper which is essential in printing.Alexander Watt and Arnold Philip, ''Electroplating and Electrorefining of Metals'', p151, Watchmaker Publishing, 2005 .

Albert Medal

The citation for the Albert Medal awarded to Wilde by the

in 1900 reads;

Notes

References

*Donald Cardwell, ''James Joule: A Biography'', Manchester University Press ND, 1989 . {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Henry English electrical engineers Fellows of the Royal Society 1833 births 1919 deaths Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society