A/C vs DC

R Mannino

Any mention of Wardenclyffe in that book?

Wayco Wayne_2

I'm reading an interesting

book on Nilola Tesla, the inventor of AC current electricity. The great debate back in the late 1800's was whether A/C or DC electricity should be supplied to the public at large. Thomas Edison was for DC but his vision was to build small power plants every 10 blocks in the city, since DC electricity could not travel very far. His company had an experimental setup in Brooklyn, NY where the area was supplied with DC electricity and with electric trolley cars for mass transportation. Problem was, the trolleys had problems, and would build up large charges of Static electricity. They would begin making buzzing noises and then discharge sometimes hurting people passing by, and reportedly killing a horse pulling a cart on one occasion. The people acclimated by dodging the trolleys when they came down the street, hence the name of the baseball team that came to be, "The Brooklyn Dodgers." You can't make this stuff up. WW

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John Barba

HIstory's Mysteries...

I love this stuff! What's the name of the book? New or library material?

Hope all is well, and that GMU makes the big dance. It'll keep Riley happy!

JMB

[Deleted User]

You can't make this stuff up?

close but no cigar

from wiki; "The team was first known as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (due to seven members of the team having been married shortly before the formation of the ballclub) and later the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers (due to Brooklyn's complex system of trolley trains at that time) before being shortened to the Brooklyn Dodgers."

ttekushan_3

interesting

is the fact that both Tesla and Edison had so much to contribute to the field (oh heck, pun intended). Edison couldn't foresee electronics where the ability to transform voltage and current upward or downward would be a necessity. A simple AC radio might need 3 different voltages off a single transformer. Transforming up to high voltages for low current long distance transmission would be impossible. Tesla was so far ahead of the entire world of scientists and engineers in electricity, resonance theory, etc, why should Edison be excluded from this crowd?

To my mind, Edison brought at least 3 things of lasting value to electricity. One, despite his critics, the line and feeder system of parallel circuits was proven to work for electric distribution on a grid; two, that wires should be run underground; three, CHP. The idea of selling the waste byproduct of power generation in the form of steam just added to the bottom line. The Pearl street project supplied light and central steam to the district.

IMO, Edison was great in a practical and fun sort of way. He developed the modern research laboratory which ironically made it quite difficult for future Edisons to succeed independently the way he did.

Tesla on the other hand, was simply otherworldly. Its difficult for me to imagine how a mind like that works. He was scoffed at times, and the more outrageous a prediction he would make the less believable he became to his critics. Yet the majority of his amazing technologies have come to pass, even the frightening ones that are appearing in advanced electromagnetic military weaponry.

A guy who made this prediction in 1908 certainly had a lot on the ball:

“As soon as [the Wardenclyffe plant is] completed, it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions, and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere. He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe, without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An inexpensive instrument, not bigger that a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however distant. In the same manner any picture, character, drawing, or print can be transferred from one to another place.”

Nikola Tesla, “The Future of the Wireless Art,” Wireless Telegraphy & Telephony, 1908, pp. 67-71.

-Terry

P.S. I wonder how long it took them to figure out to maintain the trolley chassis at ground potential? I guess it didn't take long for them to merely dodge traffic like the rest of us!

Wayco Wayne_2

The book

is TESLA, Man out of Time. by Margaret Cheney. He was also out of this world. If it was discovered he was an alien I wouldnt be surprised. He was so intuitive about his discoveries it was amazing. He worked for Edison initially but approached things very differently. Edison wasnt kidding when he said inventing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. He was like Marconi in the he may not know something but he would try hundreds of different ways to achieve it and then when he succeeded, he'd figure out why. Tesla was and idea man with very high intelligence and a photgraphic memory. He was also very tall 6 ft 6 In., and slender. When he gave demonstrations he wore platform shoes with 3 inches of cork to insulate him from shocks so he looked even more out of proportion. His image became the archetype of the mad scientist used by Hollywood for years. He would perform experiments where he would pass electricity through his body to light florescent bulbs. (think Uncle Fester )He also invented what was a primitive cyclotron. He sold the patent rights to AC voltage to George Westinghouse which should have made him a millionaire but then forgave the debt when Westinghouse needed money to swing the AC DC debate in the A/C direction. His reasoning was...No problem, I'll just invent somthing else.

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Mark Eatherton

He hung out in Colorado Springs for a while...

Generating bolts of lightning...

I heard a rumor that the toasted the electrical generating facilities in Colorado Springs with one of his experiments.

The two sparkies that co-invented the window have both told me I MUST read his biographies. Guess I'd best find some time to do so. Thanks for the information and inspiration Wayne.

ME