BENZ CARL (1844-1929). Lot n° 168

L.S. "Benz & Cie", Mannheim 21 November 1896, to Max WOLF in Heidelberg; 1 page in-4 headed Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, Mannheim (small holes in the upper left corner, slight slit in the fold); in German. Rare letter about the manufacture of dynamos. [German astronomer Max WOLF (1863-1932) was a pioneer in astrophotography.] Following today's results, he reports that they have chosen for Wolf's dynamo a number of 1000 revolutions and a 200 m/m pulley and if this does not change, they will mount a 670 m/m diameter pulley on the engine which will have a power of 300 revolutions. He asked if the number of revolutions of the dynamo is different or if it is not possible to set the diameter of the pulley to 200 m/m. The dynamo is rotated from the drive pulley in an anti-clockwise direction ("Die Drehungsrichtung d. Dynamo ist, wenn man sie von ihrer Antriebscheibe aus betrachtet, entgegen den Zeigern der Uhr")... Max Wolf highlighted some passages of the letter in red; he drew a sketch on the back of the letter, and did some calculations.