condenser
(kənˈdɛnsə(r))
Also 9 -or.
[f. condense v. + -er1. Cf. mod.F. condenseur.]
I. General: One who or that which condenses.
1. That which makes dense, collects into smaller space, intensifies, etc.: see condense v. 1.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. ii. 6 Infinite variety of Rarefiers and Condensers. 1804 R. Prony in Jrnl. Nat. Philos. IX. 275 A condenser of Forces. |
2. That which reduces vapour to the liquid condition (
esp. by cooling): see
condense v. 2.
| 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xx. 137 The cold crags..acted like condensers upon the ascending vapour. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. iii. 128 Mountain ranges..serve as condensers for the aqueous vapour. |
3. One who condenses or abridges in literature.
| 1868 Morning Star 16 June, In the..summary of correspondence..the condenser omits to mention, etc. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 363 He was..the condenser..of Bolingbroke. 1888 Daily News 30 Apr. 7/4 Advt., Situation wanted As Editor, Sub-Editor..Concise critical writer, condenser. |
II. Specific and technical senses.
4. A vessel or apparatus in which vapour is reduced (
e.g. by cooling) to the liquid (or solid) form.
a. in
Distillation. That part of the apparatus in which the vapour is condensed.
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 607 The still-condenser is generally of the worm-tub form. |
| attrib. 1890 Pall Mall G. 28 July 6/1 Hurricane..at Suakin..demolition of the condenser chimneys. |
b. Steam Engine. A chamber in a steam-engine in which the steam is condensed into water on leaving the cylinder, either by injection of cold water, or by exposure to a chilled surface (
surface condenser). Also in comb. as
condenser-gauge.
| 1769 Watt Specif. of Patent No. 913. 2 These vessels I call condensers. 1833 N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 93 Watt..contrived the separate condenser for his steam-engine, by which heat once saved three-fourths of the fuel formerly used. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 607 The surface-condenser has a series of flat chambers or tubes..in which the steam is cooled by a body of water surrounding the tubes. Ibid. I. 609 Condenser-gage, a tube of glass, thirty-two inches long,..the upper end..fixed to the condenser, the lower end dipping into mercury..to ascertain the degree of exhaustion in the steam-condenser. |
c. Gasworks. An apparatus in which the tar, ammonia, and other substances mixed with the heated gas are condensed and separated by cooling.
| 1809 A. Winsor Specif. of Patent No. 3200. 4 The condensor..serves to cool and decompose the hot smoke and gas. c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 117/1 From the condenser the gas passes to the purifiers. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 579 The condenser, the office of which..is to effect the condensation of all those vapours which could not be retained by the gas at the ordinary atmospheric temperature. |
d. Metallurgy. (See
quots.)
| 1874 in Knight Dict. Mech. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Condenser, a vessel or chamber in which volatile products of roasting or smelting (e.g. mercury or zinc vapors) are reduced to solid form by cooling. |
5. Pneumatics. An apparatus for condensing or compressing air, a pneumatic force-pump.
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Condenser, a pneumatic engine, whereby an unusual quantity of air may be crouded into a given space. 1829 Nat. Philos., Pneumatics v. 20 (U.K.S.) The condenser..is the opposite of the air-pump. |
6. Electr. An apparatus for accumulating or increasing the intensity of an electric charge. (
Cf. condense v. 1 c.) (Now largely superseded by
capacitor.)
| 1782 Volta in Phil. Trans. LXXII. App. 8, I had rather call it a condenser of electricity..using a word which expresses at once the reason and cause of the phenomenon. 1790 W. Nicholson Nat. Philos. (ed. 3) II. 356 The condenser is of excellent use to ascertain the presence..of atmospherical electricity when the conductor is..slightly electrified. 1881 Spottiswoode in Nature No. 623. 546 We have Leyden jars or condensers for accumulating large charges. 1881 Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 50 Accumulators are sometimes called Condensers, but I prefer to restrict the term ‘condenser’ to an instrument which is used not to hold electricity but to increase its superficial density. 1943 Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) 27 Capacitor, condenser, a piece of apparatus capable of storing electrical energy as electric stress in insulating material. 1968 Practical Motorist Oct. 205 Condenser or Capacitor. |
7. Optics. A lens or system of lenses by which light is concentrated on one point or object.
| 1798 G. Adams Ess. Microscope 107 Fig. 4 represents..a condenser. There are three in number..they serve to condense the sun's rays strongly on the object. 1832 A. Pritchard Microsc. Cabinet 243 A large condenser placed before the reflector. |
8. Wool Manuf. A machine which receives the narrow slivers from the carding machine and rolls them into ‘slubbings’.
| 1862 Reports of Juries, Exhibition Class xxi. 4 The ‘condenser’ is now very generally used..It also entirely supersedes the ‘slubbing’ machine. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., The narrow circumferential cards of the doffing-cylinder deliver narrow slivers which pass to the condenser. |
9. Sugar Manuf. An apparatus for the partial concentration of the clarified juice.
| 1874 in Knight Dict. Mech. |
10. Comb. condenser door, the plate at the end of a surface condenser;
condenser loudspeaker,
microphone (see
quots.).
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., Condenser Door, the rectangular or round-ended cast-iron plate which closes the end of a surface condenser near the ends of the tubes. 1897 Daily News 1 Jan. 3/2 The condenser doors were also open. |
| 1929 Proc. Inst. Radio Engin. XVII. 1142 By using the Kyle principle of construction, it has been possible to develop a practicable condenser loud speaker. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 188/1 Condenser loudspeaker, a loudspeaker in which the sound-radiating element forms one electrode of a large condenser, to which polarised modulation voltages are applied. 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinemat. 93/2 Electrostatic loudspeaker (capacitor loudspeaker) (condenser loudspeaker). An electrostatic loudspeaker is a loudspeaker in which the mechanical forces are produced by the action of electrostatic fields. |
| 1921 L. B. Turner Wireless Telegr. & Teleph. 160 (caption) Condenser microphone. 1928 B.B.C. Handbk. 267/1 Condenser Microphone, a microphone consisting of two plates of a condenser, whose distance apart is altered by the sound waves impinging upon one of them. 1938 Admiralty Handbk. Wireless Telegr. II. §N. 12 In historical development, the condenser microphone succeeded the carbon granule type and was much used for broadcasting work. 1960 H. Carter Dict. Electronics 53 Condenser microphone, microphone consisting in essence of a capacitor, one plate of which is made to vibrate by the incident sound waves, thus varying the distance between the two plates and therefore the capacitance of the device. |