Directions for Use. Connect the insulated knob with the prime conductor [of the electrostatic generator] and the beam will be attracted, but as soon as charged, [it is] repelled from this and the charge carried off by the brass column, then it will again be attracted, charged and repelled by the insulated knob, &c., as before."

   Quote from the 1867 Priced and Illustrated Catalogue and Descriptive Manual of Meteorological & Philosophical Instruments and School Apparatus Made by James W. Queen & Co. By 1888 the price for the same apparatus had fallen to $4.50