Paper, 'On the electrical resistance of carbon contacts' by Shelford Bidwell

Description

Bidwell writes: 'It is well known that the electrical resistance of carbon contacts diminishes with increased pressure, though, so far as I am aware, the phenomenon has never hitherto been systematically investigated. The experiments described in this paper were begun with the object of establishing a quantitative relation between pressure and resistance; but the subject grew considerably under treatment; fresh facts from time to time claimed attention, and several interesting details, not, I believe, previously observed, were eventually brought to light. Loose contacts are proverbial for the uncertainty of their action, and it was to be expected that the investigation would prove troublesome and the results obtained by no means uniform. By multiplying experiments, however, the element of uncertainty was to a great extent removed, and in most cases it was found possible to indicate a general law with tolerable certainty.'

Annotations in pencil and ink. Includes six pages of diagrams.

Subject: Electricity

Received 18 January 1883. Read 1 February 1883. Communicated by William Grylls Adams.

A version of this paper was published in volume 35 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'On the electrical resistance of carbon contacts'.

Reference number

PP/3/1

Earliest possible date

1883

Physical description

Ink and graphite pencil on paper

Page extent

67 pages

Format

Manuscript
Diagram