Better late than never...

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/ ... as-edison/

DPK

Thanks for answering a question I've had for some time. Back in 1971 I visited Chicago and stayed at Planters Hotel, where the electric outlets had stickers warning that the building was wired for DC, and not to plug in "AC only" devices. No air-conditioning, just a fan that ran on 110 VDC, and was marked "US Navy Bureau of Ships". The only modern device I saw there was the pay phone in the lobby, which had a "touch tone" dial. Even the faucets in the bathrooms were antiques, being of the "Fuller" type. Next time I was in Chi-town, 1977, the Planters had been demolished. Not only am I a railroad buff, I also study old-time infrastructure!
The New York DC system brings up a story from another of my interests: Music. There was an article about a famous R&B singer, "Big Joe" Turner, telling about how he wasn't too good at reading and writing, so the music producer would give him a "demo" disc and a portable record player so he could learn new songs in his hotel room. They'd also give him an "inverter" box, because the old hotel was wired for DC. Mr. Turner was an artist, not a "techie", and would sometimes forget to first plug in the inverter (which converted DC to AC). When he tried to plug the record player into the wall outlet there was sparks, smoke and flame, and the hotel would go dark. OOPS!
(the above is not really railway related, but I suspect there are a lot of folks in RYPN-land who like all sorts of obsolete technology. Anyone for Linotype machines or Edison cylinder talking machines?)

Anybody interested in the old technology should be interested in the Tesla/Edison "wars". Tesla was perhaps the true genius, but lacked the business acumen Edison had, perhaps in part due to an affliction known as "Aspergers's Syndrome" (a form of autism) which he has been speculated to have suffered from. On my list of "someday" reads is a book on this matter subtitled something like "America's first standards war".

Recently, took a ride up to the Sunbury/Northumberland Area and found that there was one "Edison Hotel", where in July of 1883, The City Hotel became the first building ever to be wired for electricity. It survives, complete with the historic marker. Ironically nearby Northumberland had a connection to the scientific revolution as it became the home of Joseph Priestly, discoverer of oxygen (and the residence of much of the PRR legacy that comprises the bulk of the RRMPA collection, now in Strasburg PA)

If you are in the area, try the Front Street Station in Northumberland. Its an old PRR station with casual dining. Nice place.

Seems the "war" isn't over yet. A few years ago the Henry Ford Museum aka Edison institute, rejected a FREE bronze bust of Tesla (and they appeared to have some Tesla artifacts mis-labled in their Edison display as well, lol)

A good account of the rise of Edison and the Edison/Tesla electrical firestorm can be found in The Merchant of Power by Wasik
http://johnwasik.com/

Sam Insull was, of course, the great North American traction magnate (or was it magnet) that took the blame for the great depression when his consolidated electric companies could not raise cash and eastern bankers cut him off.

Not only did Edison wire the hotel that now bears his name (though it isn't the same building -- that one burned down), he also wired the still standing Frank Furness Philadelphia & Reading station in Sunbury, and the building which was his workshop still stands at the corner of Fourth and Race streets. The hotel was the first public building wired for electrcity, and the station was the first railroad station so equipped. The City of Sunbury recently took custody of one of the original Edison generators and hopes to display it in a yet-to-be built museum. At the moment, the generator is stored in the city garage.

Very little local documentation of Edison's Sunbury work remains. Newspaper accounts were destroyed by the 1936 flood.

There is an interesting popular book about the Edison-Tesla rivalry titled "AC/DC" -- just like the band!

The New York theater district was almost entirely wired for DC. One advantage was for those theaters that were still using salt water dimmers. However they could not use Variac-type dimmers. Arc spotlights could be used without having to use a MG set to create DC.

The only theaters with AC were those where some big star's contract required a refrigerator in the dressign room. DC refrigerators were not available so the theater had to run in an AC circuit to one dressing room.

When I had to record interviews in one of these theaters, I had to bring in a battery powered tape recorder.

Off topic admittedly, but I hope you find it interesting

fk

Thanks Fred - back in the dark recesses of my previous career, I had occasion to work in a theatre having banks of slide resistor dimmers made by Edison Electric - and given their age, probably by Thomas himself. Had to ghost load everything up to 6K watts no matter what wattage we wanted to run with each circuit, and the board got so hot we could toast sandwiches and perk coffee on it. Fades were accomplished with a long stick of wood. I made some new brushes for some with carbon rods from old dead batteries. Those were the days - and I don't wish to repeat them.

dave

A job I had, (and that I'd like to forget-) was with a firm that made rectifiers used to power elevators and fire pumps in New York. There are still places in Manhattan that have a DC distribution system, and Con Ed was helping building owners pay for these rectifier units so they could retire the DC mains and generators. 208 VAC 3 phase in, 250VDC out, and nothing else has to get changed on the existing elevator, pump or associated controls.

I was surprised that there was so much DC left in the city, though. This was three years ago, and the company was predicting several more years of sales through Con Ed.

I work for GE, so am pro Edison
I love Tesla for the conspiricy and the wonderful ideas

(modern string quantum physics sounds suspiciously like Tesla's energy ether theories, and the flying stove is the new aurora )

I belong to a museum that is trying to preserve a lot of that technology, history, and artifacts at the original "tech valley" Schenectady, NY
(home of the First TV broadcast from Proctors theater)
They are:
http://www.edisonexploratorium.org/
if anyone gets out that way stop in, its run by some great people,

I could go on for hours about that old technology
anyone ever hear of a hot air engine (sterling) on a solar reflector producting 10 hp in 1902? yup, how far we HaveN'T come!!!

amazing stuff

dr dodge

The hobby magazine "Live Steam" frequently covered stationary engine and DC plant topics of New York City, roughly 10 years ago.

Edison’s DC transmission may still win out in the end. The Swedes’ have developed very long haul DC transmission of electric power.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-volta ... ct_current

Kodak Park in Rochester was originally a DC operation. George Eastman and Thomas Edison were apparently acquainted, and this might have had an impact on some of these decisions. Many of the older buildings have been recently demolished, but a few of the oldest ones still survive. Kodak did (and still does) generate its own electricity, from coal-fired, rail-served power plants (list content) but as far as I know, all of the buildings were converted to AC many years ago.

JR