Umair Gaines
The development of AC electricity was a multinational effort, with contributions from scientists and inventors across Europe and North America. The first alternator was built by Hippolyte Pixii in France in 1835, but AC power was not considered useful at the time. In 1855, Guillaume Duchenne discovered that alternating current could be used in electrotherapeutic triggering of muscle contractions. In 1878, the Ganz Company began working with single-phase AC power systems in Budapest, Austro-Hungary. The first AC motor was built in London in 1879 by Walter Baily, though it was not strong enough to bear any load. In 1886, George Westinghouse's company introduced an alternating current system that used transformers to step down from high voltage so AC could be used for indoor lighting. The first commercial AC power system in the US was built in Buffalo, New York, in 1886 by Westinghouse, Stanley, and Oliver B. Shallenberger. The first three-phase system was established in 1891 in Frankfurt, Germany.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First three-phase system | Established in Frankfurt, Germany in 1891 |
| First alternating current system | Developed by George Westinghouse's company in 1886 |
| First commercial AC power system in the US | Built in Buffalo, New York by Westinghouse, Stanley, and Shallenberger in 1886 |
| First polyphase motor | Invented by Galileo Ferraris in 1885 |
| First AC-based lighting system | Demonstrated in Great Barrington, Massachusetts by William Stanley in 1886 |
| First AC system for the Chicago World's Fair | Provided by George Westinghouse in 1893 |
| First AC power from Niagara Falls | Generated by Westinghouse in 1896 |
| Primary sources of electrical production in the early 20th century | Coal, petroleum, and natural gas |
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What You'll Learn
The War of the Currents
Thomas Edison, who favoured direct current, was up against Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, who favoured alternating current. Edison's system was faced with new competition in 1886 when Westinghouse introduced an alternating current system that used transformers to step down from high voltage, allowing AC to be used for indoor lighting. This new system could transmit power over longer distances from more efficient large central generating stations, and it quickly spread as other companies began deploying their own AC systems.
Edison responded to this competition by launching a propaganda campaign to discredit AC, claiming it was dangerous. As part of this campaign, animals were publicly electrocuted with AC. When New York State sought a more humane alternative to hanging for death-row prisoners, Edison recommended alternating current-powered electrocution. In 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler became the first person to die in the electric chair, powered by a Westinghouse AC generator.
However, Edison ultimately failed in his efforts to discredit AC. In 1893, Westinghouse won the contract to supply electricity to the World's Fair in Chicago, beating Edison's former company, General Electric. Also in 1893, Westinghouse won the major part of the contract to build the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project. In 1896, the plant started delivering electricity to Buffalo, New York, 26 miles away, an achievement regarded as the unofficial end to the War of the Currents. AC became dominant in the electric power industry, and it remains the predominant form of electric power today, although DC is still used in computers, LEDs, solar cells, and electric vehicles.
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The role of Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) was a Serbian-American engineer, inventor, and futurist. He is known for his contributions to the design of modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply systems.
Born and raised in the Austrian Empire, Tesla studied engineering and physics in the 1870s. He gained practical experience in the early 1880s, working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the emerging electric power industry. In 1884, he immigrated to the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen. He briefly worked at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before setting up his own laboratories and companies to develop electrical and mechanical devices.
Tesla was a creative genius whose visions revolutionized the use of electric power in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His AC motor was a pivotal moment in his life, although he did not yet have the practical expertise to build an electrical machine. He experimented with a motor consisting of a disc-shaped iron rotor mounted on a shaft, with the stator made up of two coils of insulated wire mounted on an oblong brass ring. The stator's windings were connected to an AC electrical generator, which Tesla expected to produce a rotating magnetic field. This invention changed the American economy, making electricity a service that could be mass-produced and distributed. It allowed companies to increase their system sizes, pursue economies of scale, and reduce electricity costs in the long term.
In 1886, Tesla tried to sell his AC power system to investors in New York City, but it failed to gain interest due to the city's heavy investment in DC power systems. However, his ideas gained traction, and in 1895, Edward Dean Adams helped found the Nikola Tesla Company to fund, develop, and market Tesla's inventions. The same year, Adams awarded a contract to Westinghouse Electric for building a two-phase AC generating system at Niagara Falls, based on Tesla's advice and Westinghouse's earlier demonstration. This led to a further contract with General Electric to build the AC distribution system.
Tesla obtained around 300 patents worldwide for his inventions, with a minimum of 278 known patents in 26 countries. His legacy includes not only his contributions to AC electricity but also his development of wireless telegraphy, fluorescent lights, and a remote-control boat, among other inventions.
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George Westinghouse and the AC system
George Westinghouse was born in 1846 in the village of Central Bridge, New York. He displayed a talent for machinery and business from a young age. Westinghouse is known for his work on improving railroads and his company, the Westinghouse Company.
In 1886, Westinghouse's company introduced an alternating current (AC) system that competed with Thomas Edison's direct current (DC) system. Westinghouse's system used transformers to step down from a high voltage so that AC could be used for indoor lighting. This allowed an AC system to transmit power over longer distances from more efficient large central generating stations.
Westinghouse also purchased the patent for the Gaulard-Gibbs AC transformer and Nikola Tesla's AC induction motor. He worked with Tesla to develop the AC polyphase system of electric power distribution. Westinghouse and Tesla battled with Thomas Edison, with Edison claiming that Westinghouse's high-voltage AC system was unsafe and deadly. However, Westinghouse's system had several advantages, including lower household voltages and the ability to transmit power over longer distances.
In 1891, the first three-phase system was established in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1893, Westinghouse built an alternating current system for the Chicago World Exposition. Westinghouse received the 1911 Edison Medal from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers for his contributions to the development of the alternating current system.
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The Edison Electric Light Company
AC, or alternating current, is an electric current that changes direction and magnitude with time, contrasting with DC, or direct current, which flows in only one direction. The first three-phase AC system was established in 1891 in Frankfurt, Germany.
In 1880, Edison established the Edison Illuminating Company to construct electrical generating stations, with the first being the Pearl Street Station in Manhattan, which opened in 1882 as the first commercial power plant in the United States. This company was the prototype for other local illuminating companies established in the United States during the 1880s.
In 1883, the Edison Electric Light Company merged with Joseph Swan's Swan United Electric Light Company to form the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, following patent disputes and litigation between the two companies. The merged company manufactured incandescent lamp bulbs and other electrical goods.
In 1890, the Edison Electric Light Company merged with several other Edison companies to become the Edison General Electric Company, which then merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1892 to become the General Electric Company.
In the late 1880s, the Edison company was involved in the "war of the currents", a series of events surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems. The Edison system used large-scale low-voltage DC indoor incandescent lighting, while a new competing system introduced by George Westinghouse's company used AC to provide indoor lighting. The use of high voltage in the AC system allowed for the transmission of power over longer distances from large central generating stations, and the AC system rapidly spread with other companies deploying their own AC systems. The Edison company claimed that the high voltages used in AC systems were dangerous, and there was a media frenzy in 1888 regarding electrical fatalities caused by pole-mounted high-voltage AC lines. Edison and Westinghouse competed over their electric power systems, with Edison having 121 DC-based stations by the end of 1887 compared to Westinghouse's 68 AC power stations, as well as over their lighting systems, with Edison promoting the use of DC arc lighting while Westinghouse promoted AC-based lighting.
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AC power history
The history of AC power is a story of innovation and competition, with many pioneers contributing to its development and adoption. The first alternator to produce alternating current was built by French instrument maker Hippolyte Pixii in 1832, based on Michael Faraday's principles. However, Pixii's device produced direct current (DC) with the addition of a commutator, as DC was the more commonly used current at the time. It wasn't until the late 1880s that AC power began to gain traction, thanks to the efforts of pioneers like Lucien Gaulard, William Stanley, George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla, and others.
In 1884, Lucien Gaulard, along with John Gibbs, developed the first high-efficiency AC transformers. The same year, the Ganz factory shipped the world's first five high-efficiency AC transformers, making it technically and economically feasible to provide electric power for lighting in homes and businesses. In 1885, George Westinghouse recognised the potential of AC power and purchased the North American rights to Gaulard and Gibbs' system. Westinghouse engineer William Stanley then designed a lighting system based on their transformer, which was successfully demonstrated in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in March 1886. This system powered thirty 100-volt incandescent bulbs in twenty shops along the main street.
Around the same time, other companies and inventors were also working on AC power systems. Elihu Thomson of Thomson-Houston was an early adopter, experimenting with AC power as early as 1885. However, Thomson was concerned about AC safety and focused on developing safer systems. Nikola Tesla, a pioneer in his own right, was also working on an AC power system, which he tried to sell to investors in New York City in 1886. However, his efforts were unsuccessful, as the city was already heavily invested in DC power systems.
Despite these setbacks, Westinghouse persisted and, in November 1886, Buffalo, New York, received the first commercial AC power system in the USA. This system was designed by Westinghouse, Stanley, and Oliver B. Shallenberger. Westinghouse also licensed Tesla's polyphase AC induction motor patent and, in 1896, successfully lit up Buffalo using alternating current generated from Niagara Falls. The adoption of AC power continued to grow, and in 1891, the first distance power transmission for electric power utility was achieved in Frankfurt, Germany.
The development and adoption of AC power sparked a competition known as the "War of Currents" between Thomas Edison, who favoured direct current, and pioneers like Westinghouse and Tesla, who recognised the advantages of alternating current. AC power offered solutions to the challenges of converting direct current to higher or lower voltages and provided a more efficient and flexible option for electricity transmission and distribution. Today, our electricity is still predominantly powered by alternating current, with computers, LEDs, solar cells, and electric vehicles utilising direct current.
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Frequently asked questions
France. The first alternator to produce alternating current was built by French instrument maker Hippolyte Pixii in 1832.
Hippolyte Pixii.
Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction.
AC electricity is used to transmit information, such as telephone and cable television signals. It is also the form of electric power delivered to businesses and residences.
The War of Currents was a series of events in the late 1880s and early 1890s surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems. It was a battle between Thomas Edison, who developed direct current (DC), and Nikola Tesla, who believed that alternating current (AC) was superior.
