The Gold Line

The experimental workshop of an electrical works in Berlin on a winter morning, grey window light and one gas jet, on a workbench a machine one metre ten long on a black-lacquered base plate edged with a fine gold line, at its centre a tall square block of two electromagnets wound with black lacquered wire, a black cover plate with brass nuts and a thin upright pipe, at one end a double-flanged steel pulley with a leather belt, at the other a large brass brush gear with thin brass strips on rods, a rubber hose from the pipe to a water bucket, a hand in a rolled shirt sleeve adjusting one brush.