The Hawkins Electrical Guide was a technical engineering book written by Nehemiah Hawkins, first published in 1914, intended to explain the highly complex principles of the new technology of electricity in a way that could be understood by the common man. The book is notable for the extremely high number of detailed illustrations it contains, and the small softbound size of the volumes.
The book was published by Theodore Audel & Company, with Theodore Audel being a pseudonym for Hawkins, who was publishing his own work. The majority of the illustrative content became the basis of decades of follow-up books published under the Audels brand name. The illustrative content of these books can still be found in Audels books sold new today.
Because the Hawkins Electrical Guide was printed in the United States prior to 1923, the content of the books has passed into the public domain.
Free media access on the Internet
Due to several book digitizing initiatives such as Project Gutenberg, and the Internet Archive,[1] many of these older public domain books are becoming available on the Internet. This series of books is currently available for free, non-commercial use from Google Books and each volume can be downloaded as a PDF, though the illustration scan quality is not as good as the ones being added to Wikipedia on this page by Wikipedia contributors.
Google Books Volume Links
As of September 2008, Google Books does not provide a simple, direct means to find each volume of this media set, and appears to include scanned copies of different volumes from different libraries and copyright dates from 1914-1917. Scan quality varies from one volume to the next. For your convenience, links to the available scanned media are provided here:
Volume 1, Copyright 1917, Impression 1921, from the University of California[2]
Volume 2, Copyright 1917, from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, General Library System[3]
Volume 3, Copyright 1917, Impression 1926, from the Harvard College Library[4]
Volume 4, Copyright 1917, from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, General Library System,[5]
Volume 5, Copyright 1917, from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, General Library System[6]
Volume 6, Copyright 1917, from the Harvard College Library[7]
Volume 7 & 8, Copyright 1914, from the New York Public Library[8]
Volume 9, Copyright 1917, Impression 1926, from the Harvard College Library[9]
Volume 10, Copyright 1917, Impression 1924-1925, from the Harvard College Library[10]
Page 174, Figure 182 Description: Separate excitation of an electric generator. DC generator with commutation is shown, but the principle also applies to AC alternators.
Page 175, Figure 183 Description: A one pole, two coil Gramme ring. The second coil is wired in series with the first and the voltage of both is added together.
Page 177, Figure 185 Description: A four coil Gramme ring. The coils of A and A' sum together as do the coils of B and B', producing two pulses of power 90 degrees out of phase with each other. When coils A and A' are at maximum output, coils B and B' are at zero output.
Page 178, Figure 186 Description: A three pole, six coil Gramme ring, and a graph of the combined three poles, each 120 degrees out of phase from the other and summing together.
Page 183 Description: A self-excited shunt-wound DC generator is shown on the left, and a magneto DC generator with permanent field magnets is shown on the right. The shunt-wound generator output varies with the current draw, while the magneto output is steady regardless of load variations.
Page 196 Description: A separately excited DC generator with bipolar field magnets. Separately excited generators like this are commonly used for large-scale power transmission plants. The smaller generator can be either a magneto with permanent field magnets or another self-excited generator.
Page 284 Description: In a dynamo, the contact point of where a pair of brushes touch the commutator is referred to as the commutating plane. In this diagram the commutating plane is shown for just one of the brushes.
Page 285 Description: Centered position of the commutating plane if there were no field distortion effects.
Page 286 Description: Actual position of the commutating plane to compensate for field distortion.
Page 301, Figure 328 Description: Dynamos are no longer used for power generation due to the size and complexity of the commutator needed for high power applications. This large belt-driven high-current dynamo produced 310 amperes at 7 volts, or 2,170 watts, when spinning at 1400 RPM.
Page 1865, Figure 2620 Description: Time-index marking generator for use with Duddell moving-coil oscillograph
Page 1866, Figure 2621, 2622, 2623 Description: Interior of cinematograph camera as used on Duddell moving coil oscillograph for obtaining long records.
Page 1867, Figure 2625 Description: Oscilliograph recorded on moving film showing sparking as a high-voltage switch is opened
In 1882 a Mr. N. Hawkins "writing under the name Theodore Audel" founded a magazine called "Steam".[12] Another Hawkins pseudonym: William Rogers.[citation needed][relevant?]
^Hawkins, N. (1917). Hawkins Electrical Guide ...: Management of dynamos, motors, instruments testing. Hawkins Electrical Guide ...: Questions, Answers & Illustrations; a Progressive Course of Study for Engineers, Electricians, Students and Those Desiring to Acquire a Working Knowledge of Electricity and Its Applications; a Practical Treatise. T. Audel & Company. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
