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An electrostatic motor or capacitor motor is a type of electric motor based on the attraction and repulsion of electric charge. Usually, Electrostatic motors are the dual of conventional coil-based motors. They typically require a high voltage power supply, although very small motors employ lower voltages. Conventional electric motors instead employ magnetic attraction and repulsion, and require high current at low voltages. In the 1750s, the first electrostatic motors were developed by Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Gordon. Today the electrostatic motor finds frequent use in micro-mechanical (MEMS) systems where their drive voltages are below 100 volts, and where moving charged plates are far easier to fabricate than coils and iron cores. Also, the molecular machinery which runs living cells is often based on linear and rotary electrostatic motors.

The prime classifications of electrostatic motors by the USPTO are:

• Class 310 ELECTRICAL GENERATOR OR MOTOR STRUCTURE
  • 300 NON-DYNAMOELECTRIC
    • 308 Charge accumulating
    • 309 Electrostatic

• U.S. Patent 633829  -- J. Gallegos -- "Static electric Machine"
• U.S. Patent 735621  -- E. Thomson -- "Electrostatic motor"
• U.S. Patent 993561  -- Harold B. Smith -- "Apparatus for transforming electrical energy into mechanical energy"
• U.S. Patent 1693806  -- W. G. Cady -- "Electromechanical System"
• U.S. Patent 1974483  —- T. T. Brown -- "Electrostatic motor" (1934-09-25)
• U.S. Patent 3433981  -- B. Bollee -- "Electrostatic Motor" (ed. Electrostatics from Atmospheric Electricity)
• U.S. Patent 3436630  -- B. Bollee -- "Electrostatic Motor"
• U.S. Patent 5965968  -- Robert, et al. -- "Electrostatic Motor"

• Electrostatic generator

• O. Jefimenko, "Electrostatic Motors", Electret Scientific Co., 1973
• de Queiroz, Antonio Carlos M., "An Electrostatic Linear Motor". 24 January 2002.
• C.L. Stong, "Electrostatic Motors Are Powered By Electric Field of the Earth", October 1974.
• William J. Beaty, "Simple Electrostatic Motor".
• "ElectrostaticMotor". tm.net.

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