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The International Diffusion of Electrical Power Technology, 1870–1920

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

James E. Brittain
James E. Brittain
Affiliation:
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Extract

Some of the factors which influenced the international diffusion of the Gramme dynamo, the Edison dynamo, the revolvingfield alternator and the Alexanderson alternator will be examined in this paper. The selection of a few specific power generators as diffusant tracers represents a methodological compromise within a technological continuum bounded by a single invention such as a new armature winding and a complete power system such as Edison's. Each of the selected machines possessed a distinctive morphology so that the adaptations or mutations which may occur when the machine is introduced into a new national environment can be easily recognized.

Type
Papers Presented at the Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 1974 , pp. 108 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1974

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References

1 For additional biographical information on Gramme, see the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (DSB).

2 King, W. James, The Early Arc Light and Generator (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 228, Washington, 1962), p. 385.Google Scholar

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7 “Magneto-Electric Machines,” Scientific American, XXXIV (1876), 195.Google Scholar See the biographical sketch of Barker in the DAB.

8 Barker, G. F. and Rowland, H. A., “On the Efficiency of Edison's Electric Light,” American Journal of Science, XIX (1880), 337ff.Google Scholar

9 Among those who are known to have visited the Exhibition and who later became important innovators in the electrical power field were Elmer Sperry, Elihu Thomson, Frank Sprague and Rudolf Eickemeyer.

10 Brackett, C. F. and Young, C. A., “Notes of Experiments upon Mr. Edison's Dynamo Machine and Lamp,” American Journal of Science, XIX (1880), 475ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For a biographical essay on Upton, see Electrical Engineer, X (1890), 473.Google Scholar

11 Wiley, H. W., “The Earliest Dynamo,” Science, LXVII (1928), 532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar“Early Gramme Machines,” Science, LXVIII (1928), 252ff.Google Scholar“Report of the Committee on Dynamo-Electric Machines,” Journal of the Franklin Institute, 105 (1878), 289ff and 361ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 Jehl, Francis, Menlo Park Reminiscences (vol. I; Dearborn: The Edison Institute, 1937)Google Scholar, passim. Andrews, W. S., “The Belt Driven Edison Bipolar Dynamos,” General Electric Review, XXVII (1924), 163–8.Google Scholar“Progress at Menlo Park,” Scientific American, XLI (1879), 52.Google Scholar“Edison's Electrical Generator,” Scientific American, XLI (1879), 292.Google Scholar An important collection of letters written by Francis Upton to his family during the period 1878–80 is located among the Hammer Papers in the electrical archive of the National Museum of History and Technology, Washington, D.C,

13 “The paris Exhibition,” Electrician, VIII (1881–1882), 26ff.Google Scholar Rowland was in Paris for the Exhibition and devoted several pages of notes to sketches and speculations regarding the design of magnetic circuits used in various dynamos. He had published several papers on the theory of magnetic circuits but is not known to have been involved directly in the design of the Edison dynamo. Rowland's “Paris Notebook” is now among the Rowland Papers at the Eisenhower Library of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. The Rowland Papers also include a number of letters between Rowland and Edison during the period 1880–1884 which deal with the possibility that Edison might support Rowland in obtaining a patent on an armature winding to use in contesting a patent held by the Siemens Company. For a discussion of a dynamo allegedly built by Rowland in 1868 see “An Unwritten Chapter in the History of the Dynamo,” Electrical World, VII (1886), 102.Google Scholar

14 Edward H. Johnson to T. A. Edison, Jan. 6, 1882, Edison Papers, Edison National Historic Site, Orange, New Jersey. Johnson enclosed a copy of a letter from Thomson expressing an interest in testing the Edison dynamo.

15 John Hopkinson had studied at Owens College and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He had become interested in dynamos in connection with his work at Chance Brothers, manufacturers of lighthouse equipment. See Hopkinson, John, “On Electric Lighting,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 301 (1879), 238ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For biographical essays on Hopkinson see the DSB and Electrical World, XVII (1891), 270.Google Scholar J. A. Fleming had worked with Maxwell at Cambridge and had taught at University College. He later became famous for his invention of the “Fleming valve” which resulted from his investigations of thermionic emission or the “Edison effect.” For a biographical sketch of Fleming, see the DSB.

16 “The Edison-Hopkinson Dynamo,” Electrician, XI (1883), 546ff.Google ScholarSprague, Frank J., “Report on the Edison-Hopkinson Dynamo,” Electrician, XI (1883), 296ff.Google ScholarGreig, James, John Hopkinson: Electrical Engineer (London: Science Museum, 1970) p. 20.Google Scholar Hopkinson submitted a report to the Company directors in September 1882 recommending a comprehensive investigation of the Edison dynamo and predicting that a modification of the magnetic circuit would greatly improve performance. A copy of this report is among the Edison Papers.

17 Hopkinson gave these comparative figures during a discussion in 1885 published in the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 83 (1886), 230.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., 230 and 260ff. “Mather and Platt's New Dynamo,” Electrician, XIV (1884–1885), 265.Google Scholar Edward Hopkinson was a design engineer at Mather and Platt. See a biographical essay in Electrician, 88 (1922), 64.Google Scholar The definitive statement of the new dynamo design methodology was presented in a joint paper by the Hopkinson brothers in 1886. See John, and Hopkinson, Edward, “Dynamo-Electric Machinery,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 177 (1886), 331ff.Google Scholar For a discussion of the manufacture of the Manchester dynamo at Oerlikon, see Behrend, B. A., “Dynamo-Electric Machinery and its Evolution During the Last Twenty Years,” Western Electrician, XLI (1907), 238ff.Google Scholar

19 Crompton, R. E., “Construction of French Dynamos,” Electrical World, VIII (1886), 261.Google ScholarBrown, C. S. Vesey, “Electricity at the Paris Exhibition from a British Point of View,” Cassier's Magazine, XIX (1900), 83ff.Google ScholarDary, Georges, “The Electrical Industry in France,” Electrical Review, 62 (1908), 503f.Google Scholar Dary blamed the French lag in power technology on the tendency of French capitalists to invest in sensational projects rather than those which were solidly based. He also felt that certain government authorities had adopted a policy of deliberately hindering innovation because of a vested interest in older systems such as gas lighting.

20 Adams, Henry, The Education of Henry Adams (New York: Random House, 1931), p. 380.Google ScholarWhite, Lynn Jr, “Dynamo and Virgin Reconsidered,” in Machine Ex Deo: Essays in the Dynamism of Western Culture (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1968), pp. 57ff.Google Scholar

21 C. E. L. Brown was born at Winterthur, Switzerland in 1863 and was the son of a civil engineer. He was educated at the local technical school and served an apprenticeship in a machine shop before joining the Oerlikon Company in 1884. Brown designed the polyphase alternators for the dramatic demonstration of power transmission from Lauffen to Frankfort, approximately 100 miles, in 1891. He subsequently resigned from Oerlikon to organize the Brown-Boveri Company, still a major manufacturer of electrical power machinery. See a biographical essay on Brown in Electrical World, XVIII (1891), 284.Google Scholar Also see Behrend, B. A., “The Debt of Electrical Engineering to C. E. L. Brown,” Electrical World and Engineer, XXXVIII (1901), 932ff.Google Scholar

22 For details of Brown's proposed generator for Niagara Falls, see Behrend, “The Debt of Electrical Engineering to C. E. L. Brown,” 932ff.

23 For biographical information on Forbes, see the Proceedings of the Physical Society, IL (1937), 698ff.Google Scholar and the Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, LXXIX (1936), 693.Google Scholar For details of Forbes’ design and a critique by Brown and others see Forbes, George, “The Transmission of Power from Niagara Falls,” Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, XXII (1893), 484ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 “La Station Centralle D'Electricite De Frankfort,” L'Eclairage Electrique, 1894, 547ff. Hass, R., “The Frankfort, Germany Municipal Electric Light Station,” Electrical Engineer, XIX (1895), 23ff.Google ScholarMelms, G. J., “The Frankfort-on-the Main Municipal Light and Power Plant,” Electrical World, XXV (1895), 97ff.Google Scholar Brown's new revolving field alternators were greatly admired by Guido Semenza, an Italian engineer who contrasted them with the contemporary British dynamos after a visit to England. Semenza praised the “beautiful Swiss machines” in which the “exigencies of mechanics do not suffocate the electrical requirements.” He argued that the British engineers seemed to exhibit “little novelty, no dash, no tendency which indicates impending progress.” Semenza, Guido, “The Electrical Industry in London,” Electrician, XXXIV (1894–1895), 758ff.Google Scholar For a later assessment of Brown's Frankfort alternators and their influence on later designs, see Behrend, B. A., “Alternating Current Engineering,” Cassier's Magazine, XXII (1902), 61ff.Google Scholar Perhaps the most important innovation introduced in the Brown alternator was his use of edge-wound copper strip for the field poles. This enabled efficient heat transfer and correspondingly higher current densities than had been possible with the windings previously used. For technical details of later alternators designed by Brown, , see “New Brown Three Phase Generator,” Electrical World, XXVII (1896), 56Google Scholar, and Levine, A. E., “The Electrical Machinery of Brown, Boveri and Company,” Electrical World, XXXI (1898), 59ff.Google Scholar

25 “General Electric Revolving Field Alternating Generator,” Electrical Engineer, XXIII (1897), 566.Google Scholar“A Large Three Phase Alternator,” Electrical World, XXX (1897), 429.Google Scholar

26 B. G. Lamme of Westinghouse later stated that he had been an advocate of the new revolving field alternator as early as 1896 but had not been able to design one until 1898 because of “commercial reasons.” Lamme, Benjamin Garver, Electrical Engineer: An Autobiography (London and New York: Putnam's, 1926), pp. 106 and 113.Google ScholarLamme, B. G., Electrical Engineering Papers (Pittsburgh: Westinghouse, 1919), pp. 662ff.Google ScholarBall, Robert S., “Large Alternators,” Cassier's Magazine, XXI (1901–1902), 22ff.Google Scholar

27 Thompson, S. P., “The Construction of Large Dynamos as Exemplified at the Paris Exhibition,” Electrical Engineer, XXVI (1900), 374f.Google Scholar“The Paris Exhibition,” Electrician, XLV (1900), 550, 694, 768 and 917.Google ScholarBrown, C. S. Vesey, “Electric Power Supply in Great Britain,” Cassier's Magazine, XXI (1901–1902), 161ff.Google Scholar Vesey Brown blamed much of the apparent British conservatism in power generators on the determined opposition of small municipalities to the creation of regional central power stations. He also mentioned that most British manufacturers seemed to prefer to own their own isolated power plants rather than to purchase energy from outside power systems. See also Hughes, Thomas Parke, “British Electrical Industry Lag: 1882–1888,” Technology and Culture, III (1962), 27ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

28 Bathurst, Frederick, “Switzerland as the Present Electrical Center of Europe,” Electrical World, XXIII (1894), 731ff.Google Scholar Bathurst offered an environmental explanation of Swiss leadership in alternating current power technology. He suggested that it was a combination of the lack of coal and the abundant water power resources which had stimulated the Swiss power engineers to become leading innovators.

29 “American Electrical Work in Europe,” Electrical Engineer, XXIV (1897), 499f.Google Scholar“Electrical Exports,” Western Electrician, XXIX (1901), 169ff.Google ScholarGiesel, Henry L., “Our Foreign Trade in Electrical Machinery,” Electrical World, XLVII (1906), 98ff.Google Scholar“Electrical Exports of Germany and the United States Compared,” Western Electrician, XLII (1908), 39.Google Scholar“The Westinghouse Electric Company in England,” Engineering, LXVIII (1899), 51ff.Google Scholar“Westinghouse Companies in Europe,” Western Electrician, XXXII (1903), 309.Google Scholar This article reported that Westinghouse was in the process of constructing six manufacturing plants in Europe including two in England, two in France, one in Germany and one in Russia. The Manchester plant was described as the largest and most up to date in Europe.

30 Bowden, Lord, “The Problem and Some Possible Solutions,” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, CXIX (1971), 160ff.Google Scholar

31 “The German Submarine Cable Network,” Electrical World, XLVII (1906), 513.Google Scholar In 1906 the British controlled approximately two thirds of the total world telegraph cable mileage. Also see “Cable Systems of the World,” Electrical World, LXII (1913), 1341.Google Scholar

32 For biographical information on Alexanderson, I have drawn on notes from the Alexanderson Papers in the archives of Union College, Schenectady, New York in connection with a proposed biography of Alexanderson. Dr. Alexanderson is still very much alive and has discussed his professional career during several oral interviews with the author. His most recent patent was issued in May 1973.

33 See a biographical essay on Fessenden in the DSB. A large collection of Fessenden's Papers are now in the North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, North Carolina. An excellent collection of NESCO Company records are among the Clark Papers in the electrical archive of the National Museum of History and Technology, Washington, D.C. Fessenden had initially contacted General Electric about designing a high frequency alternator for use in wireless experiments in 1900. As a result, Charles Steinmetz had designed a 10kc-lkw alternator which was sold to NESCO late in 1902. When the test results with this machine indicated that a much higher frequency was needed, Fessenden again approached General Electric late in 1904 to request that the Company undertake a more powerful and higher frequency alternator. It was at this time that Alexanderson became a participant in the radio alternator developmental process.

34 The completion of the development of a 100kc-2kw alternator and shipment of the first unit to NESCO in June 1909 was soon followed by a paper on the machine and its history by Alexanderson. See Alexanderson, E. F. W., ‘Alternator for One Hundred Thousand Cycles,” Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, XXVIII (1909), 399ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar As an interesting example of “scientific opportunism” Alexanderson went on to use the alternator in a series of experiments on the high frequency properties of men, iron and dielectrics. Kennelly, A. E. and Alexanderson, E. F. W., ‘“The Physiological Tolerance of Alternating Current Strengths up to Frequencies of 100,000 Cycles per Second,” Electrical World, LVI (1910), 154ff.Google ScholarAlexanderson, E. F. W., “Magnetic Properties of Iron at Frequencies up to 200,000 Cycles,” Trans. A.I.E.E., XXX (1911), 2433ff.CrossRefGoogle ScholarAlexanderson, E. F. W., “Dielectric Hysteresis at Radio Frequencies,” Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, II (1914), 137ff.Google Scholar

35 A number of the 2kw Alexanderson alternators were sold to universities and to other customers including the Japanese government prior to 1914. George O. Squier, a Signal Corps officer, used one of the alternators in experiments with multiplex telephony reported in 1911. See Squier, George O., “Multiplex Telephony and Telegraphy by Means of Electric Waves Guided by Wires,” Trans. A.I.E.E., XXX (1911), 1617ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Two alternators were sold to John Hays Hammond, Jr. for use in experiments in the remote control of boats and torpedoes. See E. F. W. Alexanderson to John H. Hammond, January 24, 1913, Alexanderson Papers. The alternator bought by the Japanese government was discussed in E. F. W. Alexanderson to T. S. Bacon, September 4, 1913, Alexanderson Papers. Progress on the 50kw alternator was discussed in E. F. W. Alexanderson to E. W. Rice, Jr., September 11, 1914, Alexanderson Papers.

36 Hogan, John L., “Transatlantic Radio Station at Sayville, N.Y.,” Electrical World, LXIV (1914), 615ff.Google ScholarHogan, John L., “The Goldschmidt Transatlantic Radio Station,” Electrical World, LXIV (1914), 853ff.Google Scholar

37 Hogan, John L., “A New Marconi Transatlantic Service,” Electrical World, LXIV (1914), 425ff.Google Scholar The chief engineer of the American Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company contacted General Electric in late 1914 concerning the proposed 200kw alternator. See F. M. Sammis to G. E., December 22, 1914, Alexanderson Papers.

38 The Navy took control of all radio transmitting stations in April 1917. However Alexanderson and his assistants were permitted to continue experiments and development at the New Brunswick facility. The operating experience provided economic data which was used as a basis for later negotiations by General Electric with Marconi. E. F. W. Alexanderson to A. G. Davis, July 23, 1917, Alexanderson Papers. Also see books 5 and 6 of the Nixdorff Papers in the archive of Union College, Schenectady, New York. Nixdorff was an assistant to Alexanderson at the time and kept a laboratory account of their experiments and calculations.

39 E. F. W. Alexanderson to F. C. Pratt, February 13 and February 16, 1918, Alexanderson Papers.

40 E. F. W. Alexanderson to E. W. Rice, Jr., October 25, 1918, Alexanderson Papers. Also see book 7 of the Nixdorff Papers.

41 E. F. W. Alexanderson to W. R. Whitney, December 18, 1918 and to E. W. Rice, Jr., February 24, 1919, Alexanderson Papers. The 200kw radio alternator employed a solid steel disc, 64 inches in diameter, as a rotor. The rotor speed ranged from 1600 rpm to 2750 rpm depending on the desired transmitting frequency.

42 A so-called “Heads of Agreement” had been signed in July, 1915 under which General Electric agreed to manufacture radio alternators solely for the Marconi Company. The agreement was canceled in May 1917 by General Electric on the grounds that Marconi had failed to share developmental costs or to place orders for the agreed number of alternators. Behind the scenes efforts were made by representatives of the French and Italian governments during the war to persuade General Electric to avoid an exclusive contract with the British Company. Advice to avoid a binding agreement with Marconi also came from an engineer employed at General Electric who visited England in 1917. He reported that there was considerable criticism of the Marconi policies which tended to minimize technical innovation and concentrate on financial manipulation. See E. P. Edwards to A. W. Burchard, October 6, 1917 and H. M. Hobart to E. F. W. Alexanderson, October 10, 1917 and January 30, 1918, Alexanderson Papers. Following the first operational tests of the 200kw alternator, Alexanderson reported having been approached by several foreign governments about the possibility of installing transmitting stations. He predicted that every government would insist on having a station at its disposal and that the interests which controlled the greatest number would “control world communications” after the war. See E. F. W. Alexanderson to A. W. Burchard, September 10, 1918, Alexanderson Papers.

43 A. W. Burchard to E. W. Rice, Jr., March 26, 1919, Clark Papers. Alexanderson furnished cost estimates for four station sizes based on the 200kw New Brunswick station as a standard. He estimated that the installation costs of a 400kw station using two of his alternators would be about 600,000 dollars. E. F. W. Alexanderson to R. A. Weagant, March 24, 1919, Clark Papers.

44 Commander Hooper had been head of the radio division of the Navy since 1915 and had been frequently in touch with Alexanderson concerning the radio alternator development program. Hooper was kept informed of the General Electric-Marconi negotiations and later stated that he had appealed to the patriotism of General Electric to help prevent a British monopoly of transocean radio. S. C. Hooper and G. H. Clark, “The Formation of the Radio Corporation of America,” an unpublished manuscript in the Clark Papers. Also see “Radio Corporation of America is Formed,” Electrical World, LXXIV (1919), 905.Google Scholar A popular account of these events and their significance for America's international status was published by the Saturday Evening Post in 1920. The article reviewed the history of the Alexanderson alternator which had enabled the organization of a “strictly Yankee” corporation which would make American radio equipment standard around the world. See “A New Day in Communications,” Saturday Evening Post, February 7, 1920.Google Scholar Also see a transcript of a speech by David Sarnoff entitled “Radio: Its Commercial and Social Influence,” given before the New York Electrical Society, November 23, 1922, Clark Papers. Sarnoff noted that London was the center for cable circuits while most international radio circuits terminated in New York. Thus, he argued, the center for world communications was being transplanted from London to New York.

45 In a paper published in 1924, Alexanderson stated that there was now a “chain of American-built stations surrounding the earth which are either in operation or in the process of construction.” Alexanderson, E. F. W., “How Some Problems in Radio Have Been Solved,” General Electric Review, XXVII (1924), 379.Google Scholar

46 E. F. W. Alexanderson to J. L. Bernard, February 10, 1925, Alexanderson Papers. Also see, Alexanderson, E. F. W., “Central Stations for Radio Communication,” Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, IX (1921), 83ff.Google ScholarAlexanderson, E. F. W., Reoch, A. E. and Taylor, C. H., “The Electrical Plant of Transocean Radio Telegraphy,” Trans. A.I.E.E., XLII (1923), 707ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 The French, for example, decided to build their own radio alternators using the designs of Latour and installed stations in India and China. The radio version of the Monroe Doctrine broke down and led to the formation of an international combine allowing RCA, British Marconi, the Compagnie Generale and Telefunken to install and operate radio stations in South America. See Hooper and Clark, “The Formation of RCA,” p. 74. From a technological point of view the radio alternator became obsolete during the 1920's and was largely supplanted by less expensive short-wave transmitters.

48 Alexanderson responded to a job inquiry in 1924 that RCA policy prevented him from hiring any engineer who was not an American citizen. The contrast with his own experience early in the century is evident. See E. F. W. Alexanderson to H. Asklund, March 6, 1924, Alexanderson Papers.

49 A substantial portion of the research and development activities of Alexanderson and his Consulting Engineering Department at General Electric during the period from 1925 to 1940 were stimulated by military requests. The development of torque amplifiers, amplidynes, and thyratron tubes tended to focus on the possible naval or army utilization rather than industrial. Alexanderson's first public demonstration of television stressed the potential for guidance of unmanned military aircraft.