People all over the modern world rely on electricity without even thinking about where it comes from, or what life would be like without it. Messages are sent around the world at the speed of light, making global trade and business faster and easier. Machines powered by electricity make dangerous, strenuous, and boring jobs safer and less time consuming. Electricity saves time and money, and generally makes modern life easier (Canby 7).
Until the late 1800s, electricity and electric appliances were scarce. People had to rely on sunlight during the day and gas lamps or candles at night to provide light. Machines were operated by hand cranks, steam engines, animals, or other non-efficient power sources.
Workers in factories powered by coal driven steam engines were in constant danger. Businesses were inefficient; factories and offices could only be operated during the day because there was not an efficient way to light them at night. People could only communicate by letter, which was only as fast as the horse or train which carried it. Transportation and storage of food was difficult, because ice was the only way to cool food. Electricity was the key to solving many problems that people and industry faced (Burchell 44).
Thomas Edison was one of the main players in the field of electricity during the late 1800s. Edison had visions of making electricity cheap and available to everyone in the country. He saw the potential for a very large market for electricity and electric appliances, but at that time, anyone who wanted to use electricity had to have his or her own generator. These generators were expensive to purchase and to maintain and were not very reliable.
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The key to making electricity available to a wide range of people was to build one large generator which could power many buildings at once (Canby 72).
Edison realized that a more efficient generator than what was currently in production would be needed to power a city’s lighting demands. Most generators were only thirty to fifty percent efficient, in other words, less than fifty percent of the energy put into the generator was turned into electricity. Edison and his laboratory team eventually create the Jumbo Dynamo, which was nearly ninety percent efficient, and could power about twelve-hundred lights (Brittain 112-113).
It produced direct current (DC), in which the electricity flows in one direction constantly, much like water in a pipe. Edison thought that the Jumbo Dynamo was efficient enough to use in a commercial power station, thus he began construction on his Pearl Street station, the first commercial power station.
Edison finished construction on the Pearl Street station, in New York City on September 4, 1882, which paved the way for electricity distribution in America. The Pearl Street station contained six direct current (DC) Jumbo Dynamos producing about 100 kilowatts (kW) each, which could serve an area of about one square mile of the city (Canby 72).
At the beginning, the plant powered only about five-hundred lamps, but by December of 1882, it powered more than five-thousand. The generators threw sparks and shook the earth, the meters overcharged people, but his system worked (Burchell 44).
The problem with this plant was that it could not transmit electrical power over a very great distance. Electricity could not travel out of New York City before it lost so much of its strength that it was nearly useless (Canby 72).
This made it very difficult to transmit to potential customers on farms or suburban areas. Edison knew that if the electricity was transmitted at a higher voltage, it would not lose as much of its strength.
The problem with higher voltage transmission was the safety of transmission through crowded public places; electricity at these higher voltages could hardly be controlled. To keep the lines very short, and have a safer system, the Pearl Street system was placed in a very urban area. Edison also used solid copper rods, which prevented power loss, to transmit the electricity (Canby 72).
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The solution to the long range transmission problem was alternating current (AC), in which the electricity switches directions at precise intervals. George Westinghouse saw the potential for alternating current and acquired the rights to use and distribute it. In 1886, Westinghouse built a trial installation in Barrington, Massachusetts (Canby 73).
After the success of this trial, Westinghouse built the first commercial alternating current system in Buffalo, New York. This was a wonderful step forward in electricity distribution. By using coils of wire, or transformers, the alternating current could be raised or lowered in voltage in a very convenient manner. The alternating current could be produced at a desired voltage, stepped up in voltage for more efficient long range transmission using a transformer, and stepped back down to a safe voltage for consumer usage (Canby 73).
A “Great Power Fight” was started between Westinghouse and Edison, as a result of the 1886 Buffalo AC power plant. During this AC-DC battle, New York City decided to try its first criminal electrocution using AC power.
The job was flawed, and the subject was grossly fried. This instilled a fear of AC power among the electricity consumers, which delayed its development (Weisberger 49).
The use of AC power for industrial purposes was perfected by Nicola Tesla. He devised a “polyphase” AC system that used an AC generator to produce several interlocked currents. These currents were exactly the same, but one “step” out of phase with each other. This explains the trio of wires on an AC power transmission tower. This polyphase AC current could be used in a very powerful polyphase AC motor designed especially for it. This motor and polyphase AC electric power made electricity very efficient and popular for use in factories.
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The first major uses for polyphase AC power began with the hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls. The plant at Niagara Falls used the power of water to generate its electricity, putting out fifteen-thousand horsepower verses the 900 at Pearl Street (Canby 73-76).
As electricity became more popular, many new inventions began to flood the market. It was in December of 1879 that Edison perfected the incandescent light, which would be greatly desired by the public and lead Edison to construct the Pearl Street station. Edison went through thousands of different versions of the light bulb before he found one that suited his needs. He made bulbs with filaments made from platinum, bamboo, carbonized paper, and many other materials (Lewis 95).
The key to a successful light bulb, Edison found, was to make it entirely of glass, except the filament and screw base, and seal a vacuum within it. The lack of oxygen inside the bulb would prevent the filament from burning (Canby, 63).
He demonstrated his new invention, that could produce light without a flame and was cheaper than oil. The light bulb was demonstrated on New Years Eve, 1879, in front of three-thousand people outside his workshop at Menlo Park (Burchell 44).
Many other inventions began to flood the country. These electrical appliances became popular because they saved people’s time and money.
Among these, one of the first was the electric flat iron, which went on sale in 1893. For some time, the flat iron and the light bulb were the only electric appliances found in almost every home, because most other inventions were very expensive. Soon after the flat iron’s success, electric toasters and ovens appeared on the market. By 1900, entire electric kitchens were in existence. They included electric washers, ranges, eggbeaters, and even electric coffee percolators (Parker 48-49).
Also in 1900, it was reported that there were more than two-hundred uses for electricity on the farm (Canby 90).
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If asked what light bulb is, one could say that it's one of the most basic inventions of our world and our universe, as we perceive it. It is through sight that we receive 90% of our information. It is through the use often telescopes aiding the naked eye that we are aware of the heavenly bodies around us. It is through the light bulb that people are able to read and work at nighttime without the ...
Millions of other electric appliances designed for the home and farm appeared in the early 1900s. Electrical appliances eventually dropped in price and became reasonable for most people to own. Electric motors grew smaller and more efficient, making appliances more convenient. Electricity was soon transmitted to even remote parts of the country.
This new technology would drastically change the way Americans and people all over the world lived (Bushell 44).
Bibliography:
Works Cited Brittain, James E. Turning Points in American Electrical History. New York, New York: IEEE Press, 1976. Burchell, S. C.
Age of Progress. New York, New York: Time-Life Books, 1975. Canby, Edward Tatnall. A History of Electricity. New York, New York: Geneva and Hawthorn Books, Incorporated, 1968. Lewis, Floyd A. The Incandescent Light.
New York, New York: Shorewood Publishers, Incorporated, 1961. Parker, Steve. Electricity. New York, New York: DK Publishing, Incorporated, 1992. Weisberger, Bernard A. The Age of Steel and Steam. New York, New York: Time Incorporated, 1964..
