Electrokinetica

Welcome to Electrokinetica

An exciting project bringing together a comprehensive collection
of electrical and electronic artefacts in a working museum
encompassing the first 150 years of electrical technology.

Electricity has been one of the major driving forces behind industrialised society for over a century, bringing light, heat, power and automation to every aspect of life. Medical care, transport, agriculture, entertainment; you name it and we’ll show you how electrical and electronic technologies have helped make things easier, safer and better. To do justice to this vast engineering field and illustrate all the subtleties and secrets, at Electrokinetica we need to think big.

From Alternator to Zener, we'll give a few moments of fame to every electrical and electronic thing we can put a name to. We are also creating some specialised collections of unusual items, which will be featured with in-depth technical information.

The challenge ahead

Electrokinetica is more than a ‘virtual museum’ - every artefact that you see here online exists in our stores along with thousands more. Over the last few years we’ve craned transformers off the top of buildings, dug cable joints out of the ground, searched the country for the right kind of rivet, but all of this is just the beginning. There will be educational projects to develop, collections to conserve, historical details to research...

We have now decided on a location for our first exhibition, which will give us enough room to put on many interesting displays while our search continues for the ultimate venue. We're looking forward to an informal ‘hands-on’ format to start with, rather than an imposing line of glass showcases. Even so, there is much still to do to prepare the building and set up exhibits. In the meantime we invite you to browse our website for a preview of some of the forthcoming attractions and to find out about the engineering that makes them tick. Once the doors open we will be inviting you to:

See, touch and operate machines and appliances of all ages, shapes and sizes
Learn about the technologies that have come and gone over six generations
Recreate historic experiments with your own hands
Experience the power and magic of electrical energy as seen by the Victorian pioneers

Guide to the website

We have created a number of themed areas and placed exhibits in approximately the locations you would expect to find them in real life. Within each area are ‘rooms’ selected by the lower row of tabs. In some rooms you will find just below the page heading a row of links leading to different exhibits. Most pictures can be clicked to expand them to full size, opening galleries that relate to the page you are viewing - some revealing extra pictures that are not shown on the page. The site will always be a work-in-progress because there are many more items in our collection that we have not yet had the opportunity to document. If there is something specific you want to see, try the search tab. If you're just browsing, try the site map for suggestions. The forum is now up and running; if you enjoy talking about electrical matters why not sign up as a member?