The Turn Of The Century Electrotherapy Museum http://www.electrotherapymuseum.org Kinraide Coil Restorations and Replicas
Kinraide Family with Kinraide Coil that I restored for them.  RIP Thomas Kinraide and Don Harris.
The coil was rescued by Che, then only 20 years old!  She sold it to the Kinraide family for $2000.
We tried to operate it, but the spark was almost nothing.  The coils had burned out internally.  Restoration took about 6 months! I offered to restore it for free because the family had always been kind to me.
Both coils were shorted internally and needed completely rewound.
The ebonite coil forms were also chipped, so I restored them using a black electrical insulating epoxy.  (Before and after...)
The coils were wound in 100 layers using special triple-silk covered wire that Frank Jones special ordered.
One of the original coils I found in Kinraide's laboratory; the replica on the right.
The coils are insulated in 50% beeswax, 50% violin rosin (collophony)
They are held in place by a series of glass rods tied with silk.
The inner wires are soldered to a brass post that makes connection with the brass socket on the top of the moulds.
The coils are poured in scalding hot wax.
When hardened the wax becomes almost plastic-like.  This insulation was proven since the 1700s.
All parts were carefully polished
Initial tests were a success...
Eventually it was tested on high power
And eventually it made X-Rays like the original
A Direct Current Kinraide Coil was donated to collector Thomas Greenslade Jr. at Kenyon.
Harvard University has 2 Kinraide Coils, and a later improved spark gap.
Another DC coil showed up at Boston Grogan auction.  I was with the Kinraide family... we stopped bidding at $2000. It sold for $6500.  The estimated value was only $300-$500!
Some years later I received the tragic news that Don Harris died.  His wife Beverly generously offered to buy me a Kinraide Coil that was for sale. It had the improved spark gap, but under it was the original spark gap in part.  I'm now restoring it with the original spark gap.
To restore the original, I had to make a missing coil.  I decided to make several replica machines since I was going to the effort... This is Double Silk silicone, a body casting resin.  It is safe for delicate skin, and safe for delicate ebonite.
I tried several types of casting compounds... from epoxies to polyurethanes.
I finally coated them with non-conductive black paint and two-part epoxy resin.
Making the copper jugs for the original and replica
Making the Primary Coils from copper ribbon, black leather, and custom soldered brass machine screws
The Spark Gap was more complicated because it involved casting the copper disks.
A lot of precision parts, all handmade
Tedious work!
4 windings, 4 cores, 2 transformers!
Terminals were all handmade too!
Thomas Burton Kinraide might be a forgotten inventor, but I'm trying to recreate his legacy...
...and have been for 30 years.
Kinraide Coil replica I made in 2006
Replica Kinraide Coil I made for Andy Barr 2013
Replica Kinraide Coil for Dan Cuscela 2016
To be continued...