Does anyone know what this tabletop electric generator was called, or was used for?

Factual Questions
1

Hi all

Seeking the wisdom of the SDMB on this…when I was wee, my father owned a tabletop electric generator. Sadly, I don’t have a pic, but It was a complicated contraption, and had many parts to it, and various accessories for doing electricity-related things. Mostly, I think it was for demo purposes.

It had two electrodes in the form of metal balls protruding from the top. My dad would turn the crank until sufficient current generated, then put the two electrodes close to each other, so that a long blue spark would form.

Another effect was using vacuum tubes, or at least I think they were vacuum tubes. My dad would blow a puff of cigarette smoke in the tube, connect Tito the generator, and the current would make the smoke disappear.

As these are all vague recollections, I’m hoping they suffice to twig someone’s memory.
The last thing I remember is that the contraption was built in the 20s or 30s and passed down from my granddad to my dad, both of whom were master electricians. Both have passed away, and the device went to my brother who either sold it or lost it…

Any ideas as to what this thing could be or its purpose? My apologies for the paucity of info.

Thanks

A.

PS I saw a picture of a Van de Graaf generator on the web but it’s not the same thing.

2

A Wimshurst machine?

3

The crank may have driven a generator or dynamo and then the voltage amplified, and then this is just a replacement for a Van De Graf system. The voltage may be amplified by a (telsta) coil. Petroleum and LPG engines use these to make sparks to this day.

The whole board may best be called a Tesla experiment board.

Dynamo: moves the magnet left , right.
Generator: rotating magnets (even if electro magnets).

The auto industry has alternative meanings…

alternator: A generator that could easily provide three phase AC electricity … BUT the car doesn’t need AC electricity, in fact the diodes are inside the Alternator and the Alternator , as unit, actually outputs DC.

generator: older devices that make DC without any diodes. Basically they were single phase… lower power just because the coils were not so densely installed.

4

Almost certainly.

5

I found a picture of the Wimshurst. It looks to be the same vintage but my dad’s didn’t have that wheely thing in the middle-- Wimshurst machine - Wikipedia

6

There were other electrostatic hand-cranked generators.

Here’s a kind of amazing list of them.

7

Merci! I will enjoy browsing that site. It looks marvellous.