Most students who frequent the advanced physics lab on the third floor of Clark Hall likely overlook the ancient-looking mechanism that sits on a sturdy cart in the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Composed of hulking dark metal and wrapped wires, it looks a bit like the innards of an old-time sewing machine on steroids, measuring four feet across at its largest dimension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a century and a half ago, the apparatus was a modern marvel: one of the world\u2019s first electric dynamos (machines that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy). Literally and figuratively, it illuminated a new era on the Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Constructed by a physics professor and several students, the dynamo\u2014the first of its type built in this country\u2014powered a pair of carbon arc lamps (early electric bulbs that produced light by zapping voltage between two electrodes).<\/p>\n<\/div> The dynamo and lamps operated on campus for a decade, comprising the world\u2019s first outdoor electric lighting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the first practical uses of the dynamo was to power some arc lights installed in the towers of McGraw Hall and Sage Chapel,\u201d noted Kermit Parsons, MRP \u201953, in his 1968 book The Cornell Campus: A History of its Planning and Development<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn January 1880, the intense light of these arc lights was visible for miles around Ithaca. There was, of course, no competition from other light sources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January 1880, the intense light of these arc lights was visible for miles around Ithaca. There was, of course, no competition from other light sources.<\/p>\nKermit Parsons, MRP \u201953<\/strong>, in The Cornell Campus<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The device was based on that of the Gramme dynamo, developed by Belgian inventor Zenobe Theophile Gramme<\/a> in Paris in 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Comprising 30 overlapping coils around a spinning circular armature of iron, it was the first such generator to have real-world applications, producing voltage that was high and consistent enough for use in commerce and industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Its basic design remains at the heart of many direct-current motors today.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prof. William Anthony, who headed Cornell\u2019s physics and electrical engineering departments in the 1870s and \u201980s, had a keen interest in the future of electrical power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After reportedly trying without success to purchase a Gramme dynamo from Paris, he decided to manufacture his own based on journal articles describing its design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anthony spent several years building the dynamo, with help from his chief assistant, then-undergrad George Moler 1875, and a few other students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n They had to devise their own materials on the fly; for example, covered and insulated copper wire did not yet exist in the U.S., so they invented a method to manufacture it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the dynamo was completed, they connected it to a four-horsepower petroleum engine devised by an engineering professor. The contraption was initially put into service for lectures on electricity, replacing what had been a painstaking process of creating a wet-battery system for each day\u2019s demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anthony and Moler showed the dynamo at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, where several other early electrical devices were on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By 1879, they had run wires from the dynamo (by then installed in the basement of Morrill Hall) to carbon arc lights in the belfries of Sage Chapel and McGraw Hall, demonstrating the feasibility of an outdoor electric lighting system on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During that first winter, Moler later recalled, \u201cthese crudely constructed arc lights were the center of a great deal of interest, their flickering and sputtering attracting quite as much attention as when they were working properly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The setup was temporary, though; faculty reportedly objected to the unsightly poles on which the wires were suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their flickering and sputtering [attracted] quite as much attention as when they were working properly.<\/p>\nGeorge Moler<\/strong> 1875<\/strong>, on the outdoor lights<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Not to be dissuaded, Moler and Anthony devised an underground cable system connecting the dynamo to the lights. This solution relied on another of the pair\u2019s inventions: they wrapped muslin around the wiring and drew it into an iron pipe, through which they ran smoking-hot tallow\u2014thus sealing and insulating the covered wire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system represented another engineering landmark: it was the first time electric power was transmitted by underground cable\u2014certainly in the U.S., and possibly in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a portion of the original cable was dug up more than four decades later, it was still perfectly insulated; a segment still resides in the University Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (And for the record: although numerous sites give Thomas Edison credit for the first underground electric power line, in fact the Cornell team beat him by nearly a year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Morris Bishop 1914, PhD 1926, wrote in A History of Cornell<\/em><\/a>, the lights illuminating campus at night became \u201cthe wonder of the countryside and indeed of the engineering world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"the](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/08\/PXL_20250610_183739089-A-819x1024.jpg\")
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