Wimshurst machine

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Wimshurst machine

Wimshurst machine with two Leyden jars
Type	electrostatic generator
Inventor	James Wimshurst
Inception	c. 1880

The Wimshurst machine or Wimshurst influence machine is an electrostatic generator, a machine for generating high voltages developed between 1880 and 1883 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832–1903). ^{[citation needed]}

It has a distinctive appearance with two large contra-rotating discs mounted in a vertical plane, two crossed bars with metallic brushes, and a spark gap formed by two metal spheres.