This nice early electrotherapy Induction Coil is by the London Instrument maker Newton & Co and dates between c1857-65. Single coils of this design really began during the 1840s off of the back of Michael Faraday’s discovery and work on the Electromagnetic principle in the 1830s. While shock therapy using friction machines had been around for some time, the introduction of Induction coils allowed for far more precise and controllable amounts of electricity and ultimately let to a craze for electrotherapy during the end of the 19th Century and start of the 20th Century.
This example is offered in very nice original condition with only one terminal screw missing. The Science Museum hold a very similar machine (by a different maker) from 1840, but this example should be dated to the late 1850s because the name Newton & Co only emerged in 1857 when the two Newton Brothers split the existing business. Around the same time they also acquired Royal patronage.
Dimensions: 23cm wide x 13cm deep x 10cm high
