Signedunsigned
FunctionThe Leyden jar, invented in the first half of the eighteenth century, is nothing else than a condenser. It accumulates electricity from an electrostatic machine, and then delivers it progressively or at all once, producing a great electrical shock. Scientific experiments were done with it, as well as spectacular demonstrations in salons and at the court, where hundreds of soldiers and monks holding hands, for instance, were shocked all at once.
A video demonstration of a battery of Leyden jars connected to an orange was produced by the Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica in Florence, Italy and is on YouTube.
An article titled "The Art of Making Leyden Jars and Batteries According To Benjamin Franklin" by David P. Wheatland Curator of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments Sara J. Schechner on eRittenhouse is available here.
Published ReferencesHistorical Technology Inc. Catalogue, vol. 113 (1976), item no. 198.
Related WorksElisabeth Cavicchi, Experimenting with Wires, Batteries, Bulbs, and the Induction Coil (Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, 1999), Appendix E2.