1882 · Steam-Driven Direct-Current Generator · Work 1206 of 1,871
The cramped engine room of a city power station in Lower Manhattan in late afternoon, a low ceiling of heavy wooden beams and steam pipes, one bare carbon-filament lamp glowing, on a stepped foundation bolted to the plank floor a black iron generator two metres high, a black pole housing with a row of pale curved pole shoes along its foot, at its right end the armature, a wheel of radial plates and a long perforated commutator drum with brushes, three glass oil cups on the bearing, at the left a steam engine with two flywheels, every surface plain and unmarked, a machinist seen from directly behind, face turned fully away.