Moses Gerrish Farmer (February 9, 1820 – May 25, 1893) was an electrical engineer and inventor. Farmer was a member to the

AIEE The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States-based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Institu ...

, later known as the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...

Biography

Farmer was born at

Boscawen, New Hampshire Boscawen is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,998 at the 2020 census. History The native Pennacook people called the area ''Contoocook'', meaning "place of the river near pines". In March 1697, Hannah ...

. He received his schooling at Phillips Academy and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. He spent his early adult years in

Eliot, Maine Eliot is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Originally settled in 1623, it was formerly a part of Kittery, Maine, to its east. After Kittery, it is the next most southern town in the state of Maine, lying on the Piscataqua River across f ...

and

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. He was a pioneer

telegraph operator A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is an operator who uses a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code in order to communicate by land lines or radio. During the Great War the Royal ...

. He constructed and maintained the telegraph lines of Massachusetts. He later became a

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

of a

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

company. Farmer investigated multiple telegraphy. He successfully demonstrated duplex telegraphy between New York and Philadelphia in 1856. Farmer also investigated

telluric current A telluric current (from Latin ''tellūs'', "earth"), or Earth current, This has a detailed history of observations as understood at the time. is an electric current which moves underground or through the sea. Telluric currents result from both na ...

s. In 1847, Farmer constructed and exhibited in public what he called "an electro-magnetic locomotive, and with forty-eight pint cup cells of Grove nitric acid battery drew a little car carrying two passengers on a track a foot and a half wide". Farmer later fabricated a process for electroplating aluminum. At Boston in 1851, he constructed an electric fire-alarm service with

William Francis Channing William Francis Channing (February 22, 1820 – March 20, 1901) was an American activist, electrical researcher, scientist, physician, and inventor. He invented the first citywide electric fire alarm system. Channing worked with Alexander Graham ...

. He invented several forms of the incandescent electric light. Farmer, in competition with Søren Hjorth (1854),

Ányos Jedlik Ányos István Jedlik ( hu, Jedlik Ányos István; sk, Štefan Anián Jedlík; in older texts and publications: la, Stephanus Anianus Jedlik; 11 January 1800 – 13 December 1895) was a Hungarian inventor, engineer, physicist, and Bened ...

(1856),

Charles Wheatstone Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...

(1867);

Carl Wilhelm Siemens Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (4 April 1823 – 19 November 1883), anglicised to Charles William Siemens, was a German-British electrical engineer and businessman. Biography Siemens was born in the village of Lenthe, today part of Gehrden, near Ha ...

;

Ernst Werner von Siemens Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He foun ...

; and

Carl Heinrich von Siemens Carl Heinrich von Siemens (often just Carl von Siemens) (3 March 1829 – 21 March 1906) was a German entrepreneur. He was born in Menzendorf, Mecklenburg, one of the fourteen children of a tenant farmer of the Siemens family, an old family of ...

(1867); Ladd (1867); and

Zénobe Gramme Zénobe Théophile Gramme (4 April 1826 – 20 January 1901) was a Belgian electrical engineer. He was born at Jehay-Bodegnée on 4 April 1826, the sixth child of Mathieu-Joseph Gramme, and died at Bois-Colombes on 20 January 1901. He invented ...

(1871), co-conceived the self-exciting dynamo in 1859, and constructed one in 1860. He built a platinum filament incandescent light in 1859. At the age of 39 while living in Salem, Massachusetts, he lit the parlor of his home at 11 Pearl St with incandescent lamps, the first house in the world to be lit by electricity. He was a co-inventor of the self-exciting dynamo, an electric generator using electromagnets for the field which are energized by the generator output, in 1866. In 1868, with the Farmer dynamo, Farmer lit a house in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. He also patented an early

lightbulb An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the so ...

(which was later bought by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

). With his partner William Wallace, he invented the early dynamo which powered a system of arc lights he exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, and which inspired Thomas Edison to work on an improved incandescent light. Edison used the Wallace-Farmer dynamo to power his early electric light demonstrations. Farmer served as a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

for a time. Farmer died at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

. Farmer was a pioneer of many aspects of 19th century electrical invention, but, because he and his wife were spiritualists, they felt that their talents were God-given, and he felt that they shouldn't take credit for any of his inventions. As a result, he failed to carry his ideas to commercial success. He died in Chicago on May 25, 1893.

References

Bibliography

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External links

;Patents * * ;Websites
Boscawen New Hampshire Inventor, Prof. Moses Gerrish Farmer (1820-1893)
Cowhampshire.blogharbor, New Hampshire History, Genealogy, Photography and Humor.

Moses Gerrish Farmer
California Digital Library record (via Google) {{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Moses Gerrish 1820 births 1893 deaths 19th-century American inventors People from Boscawen, New Hampshire People from Eliot, Maine People from Cambridge, Massachusetts