RankingsPrimerArbiterPhysicistMathematicianContrarianQESites logClaimsSourcesResearch notes

2026-10-08 — Academia.edu, ScienceDirect (snippets), HathiTrust, PhilSci-Archive, Scientific American site

Academia.edu

  • Paolo Brenni, "Very large induction coils", Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society no. 125 (2015). https://www.academia.edu/13825373/Very_large_induction_coils — opened in Chrome; abstract page only (download needs login; not attempted). Figure 2: "The large induction coil made by Ritchie for Professor Henry Morton. The candle, the carafe and the glass indicate the impressive dimensions of the apparatus." Figure 4: Spottiswoode's coil by Apps. The paper compares coil prices (Apps's on average higher) and cites the Daily Telegraph, 25 March 1869 (on Apps's coil). [web] Bearing: claims 5-6 (Wahl's Morton coil; the App/Apps coil for Pepper). A historian of instruments treats the Morton coil as a landmark large coil. Partial.
  • Ian Wills, "Edison and science: a curious result" — seen in results; bibliography lists Houston (1876) and Houston & Thomson (1876). Not opened.

ScienceDirect (Google snippets only; not opened, paywalled)

  • Houston 1871 "On a new connection for the induction coil", J. Franklin Inst. 91: 417 — "Cited by 4".
  • Houston 1876 "Phenomena of induction", J. Franklin Inst. 101: 59-63 — "Cited by 5".
  • T. Coulson, "Some prominent members of the Franklin Institute: Elihu Thomson, 1853-1937", J. Franklin Inst. 264 (Aug. 1957) — cites Houston 1871 and 1876. Partial.

HathiTrust full-text search

"new connection for the induction coil" (phrase, full-text): hits in the JFI 1871 volumes, Die Fortschritte der Physik im Jahre 1871 (27. Jahrgang; several copies), and Repertorium der technischen Journal-Literatur 1869-1873. The German annual abstracting journal therefore indexed Houston's note [web] https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=%22new+connection+for+the+induction+coil%22&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft . The abstract text was not read (time). The cookie banner was left untouched. Partial; recheck.

PhilSci-Archive

Wills, "Edison, Science and Artefacts" (2007), https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/3541/1/Wills-EdisonScienceAndArtefacts.pdf — both curl and Chrome got a 7 kB HTML page (bot check) instead of the PDF. Google snippet: "Edison failed to produce a demonstration equivalent to Houston and Thomson's to show that etheric force was not induction." Blocked (bot verification page); recheck.

Scientific American website

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-a-new-connection-for-the-induction-coil/ — 404 when opened (Google lists the article, June 1871 issue). The full reprint text was found on archive.org instead (see archive-org note). Negative for the website itself.