Wiktionary
amplidyne
n. A form of electromechanical amplifier in which an AC motor drives a DC generator
Wikipedia
Amplidyne
An amplidyne is an electromechanical amplifier invented during World War II by Ernst Alexanderson. It consists of an electric motor driving a DC generator. The signal to be amplified is applied to the generator's field winding, and its output voltage is an amplified copy of the field current. The amplidyne is used in industry in high power servo and control systems, to amplify low power control signals to control powerful electric motors, for example. It is now mostly obsolete.