In the War of Currents era (sometimes, War of the Currents or Battle of Currents) in the late 1880s, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edisons promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution against alternating current (AC) advocated by several European companies[1] and Westinghouse Electric based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which had acquired many of the patents by Nikola Tesla. The direct-current system generated and distributed electric power at the same voltage as used by the customers lamps and motors. This had the effect of large, costly, distribution wires and forced generating plants to be near the loads. With the development of a practical transformer, power could be sent long distances over relatively small wires at a convenient high voltage, then stepped down to the voltage used by a customer. Alternating current generating stations could be larger, cheaper to operate, and the distribution wires were relatively less costly. As the competing systems were protected by patents, there was commercial rivalry between the Westinghouse and Edison companies. A publicity campaign by Edison highlighted the safety issues of high voltage transmission. The lower cost of AC power distribution prevailed, though DC systems persisted in some urban areas throughout the 20th century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 00:55:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015