The thermoelectric pile designed by Leopoldo Nobili (1784-1835), professor of physics at the Institute and Royal Museum of Florence, consists of a series of bismuth and antimony bars connected in a zigzag pattern so as to form a right parallelepiped with a square base.
In this exemplar, which is quite similar to Nobili's original model, the antimony-bismuth couples are thirty-six in all and are arranged in six files of six couples each.
Both the bases of the parallelepiped have a side of 3.8 cm and the odd-numbered connections are all on one of them and the even-numbered ones are all on the other.
The two elements at the end of the series are connected to two clamps dislocated horizontally on the surface of the side of a cylindrical brass case (diameter 9 cm, height 12 cm) containing the entire parallelepiped and is connected to a trumpet-shaped receiver.
The apparatus is held by a hinged brass staff which, being capable of sliding inside a column (with a circular base in lathed wood), allows miscellaneousation both of its orientation and its height (maximum 72 cm, minimum 45 cm). ...continues