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Patent Prints

Tesla Electro-Magnetic Motor Patent, 1888

US Patent 381,968, Electro-Magnetic Motor — Nikola Tesla, granted 1 May 1888, sheet 1

From the official grant published by the US Patent and Trademark Office · 1888

$129
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  • Printed to order in the country of delivery · ships in 2–4 days
  • Free US shipping over $75
  • 30-day free replacement if it arrives damaged or wrong
  • Archival matte paper, pigment inks; framed prints ship ready to hang
  • Framed: solid wood, 0.8 in wide · white mat, 2 in · clear acrylic front · D-ring and wire fitted
Rights & provenance record

Source scan: USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office), via Google Patents.
Rights statement of the archive: “United States patent documents are published by the US Patent and Trademark Office and are in the public domain; the drawing is reproduced from the official patent grant.”
Original patent drawing: Nikola Tesla, 1888, patent drawing sheet, letter format. Verified 2026-09-13.

This product is a new archival print made from a restored scan of that patent drawing. It is not an original antique and is not sold as one.

The story of this patent drawing

Tesla’s induction motor is the machine that runs the modern world — every factory, every pump, every electric car — and this is the patent that described it. Granted on 1 May 1888 as US 381,968, Electro-Magnetic Motor, it was one of a set of seven that Westinghouse bought that summer. Sheet 1 is the famous one: down the left side a ladder of small diagrams shows the magnetic field rotating step by step through the poles, and beside them are the windings of the generator and the motor it drives.

It is a drawing of an idea rather than an object, and it is the patent print engineers hang. This print is made from the official grant itself, rendered at double resolution from the USPTO’s scan with the ink lifted onto an aged-paper tone.

Printed to order on archival matte paper, framed in the country of delivery.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Tesla Electro-Magnetic Motor Patent, 1888: archive scan compared with the restored print

Restoration notes

Preparation: the drawing sheet of the official patent grant was rendered from the USPTO's 300-dpi scan at double resolution, its bilevel line anti-aliased, the ink lifted onto an aged-paper tone with a light grain, and the empty page margin trimmed. Nothing in the drawing is redrawn or removed; the examiner's stamps, signatures and sheet numbers stay.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.

Pairs well with

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print

The discount is applied automatically at checkout when two or more framed prints are in the cart.

More from this collection

Tesla Electro-Magnetic Motor Patent, 1888 — drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom
Size guide
5′6″ 12×16 in18×24 in24×36 in
SizeMetricBest for
12×16 in30×41 cmDesk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
12×18 in30×46 cmDesk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
16×20 in41×51 cmAbove a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
16×24 in41×61 cmAbove a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
18×24 in46×61 cmAbove a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
20×30 in51×76 cmOver a sofa or bed, statement wall, office

Sizes are the print size. Framed prints add about 1 in on each side. Sizes marked “aged-paper margin” keep the whole patent drawing and float it on a toned margin — nothing is cropped.

Informational purposes only, no warranties, not professional advice. All products are new archival prints made from restored scans of historical maps held by public archives; they are not original antiques. Colours vary by screen and by paper.