Thomas Davenport

Thomas Davenport (July 9, 1802 – July 6, 1851) was a Vermont blacksmith who constructed the first American DC electric motor in 1834. Biography Davenport was born in Williamstown, Vermont. He lived in Forest Dale, a village in the town of Brandon. As early as 1834, he developed a battery-powered electric motor, along with his wife Emily Davenport. They used it to operate a small model car on a short section of track, paving the way for the later electrification of streetcars. Davenport's 1833 visit to the Penfield and Taft iron works at Crown Point, New York, where an electromagnet was operating, based on the design of Joseph Henry, was an impetus for his electromagnetic undertakings. Davenport bought an electromagnet from the Crown Point factory and took it apart to see how it worked. Then he forged a better iron core and redid the wiring, using silk from his wife's wedding gown.