Date: Sat, 5 Oct 2002 14:42:55 -0700
Reply-To: Todd Last <Rubatoguy@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Todd Last <Rubatoguy@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Re: Sanity Check - Wire gauge for wiring SA headlights - OFF TOPIC
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I think there was a bit more to it than that.
From http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa102497.htm
In the 1880's, two developments concurred to set the stage for the
invention of the electric chair. In 1886, the New York State Government
established a legislative commission to study humane forms of capitol
punishment. At that time hanging was the number one method of carrying
out the death penalty, even while considered too slow and painful a
method of execution.
The second development was a growing rivalry between the two giants of
the young electrical
<http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blelectric.htm> utility
industry. Thomas Edison
<http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm> was the
first person to establish himself in the industry with DC service.
Westinghouse, developers of the newer AC technology, challenged Edison's
dominance of the utility industry. At the same time, copper prices were
beginning to rise and DC depended on thick copper electrical cables.
Rising copper prices made the DC service more costly and DC had other
disadvantages, it could not provide services beyond a few miles of each
generator. (What's the difference between AC and DC electricity
<http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.netcentral.co.uk/satcure/design/howelect.htm>?)
Edison reacted to the competition by starting a smear campaign against
Westinghouse, claiming AC technology was unsafe to use. In 1887, Edison
held a public demonstration in West Orange, New Jersey, supporting his
accusations. Edison set up a 1,000 volt Westinghouse AC generator
attached to a metal plate and executed a dozen innocent animals. The
press had a field day describing the event and the new term
"electro-cution" was used to describe execution by electricity
<http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.theelectricchair.com/biology.htm>.
On June 4, 1888, the New York Legislature passed a law establishing
electrocution as the state's method of execution, but since two
potential designs (AC and DC) of the electric chair existed, it was left
to a committee to decide which form was better. Edison actively
campaigned for the selection of the Westinghouse chair, expecting that
the consumer would not want the same type of electrical service in their
homes.
Later in 1888, the Edison research facility hired inventor Harold P.
Brown. Brown had recently written a letter to the New York Post
describing a fatal accident where a young boy died after touching an
exposed telegraph wire running on AC current. Brown and his assistant
Dr. Fred Peterson began designing an electric chair for Edison. They
conducted cruel experiments using dogs, horses and cows to research AC
electro-cution, publicly experimenting with DC voltage to show that it
left the poor lab animals tortured but not dead, then testing AC voltage
to demonstrate how AC killed swiftly.
The press always invited to watch these experiments gave the research
much publicity. Dr. Peterson steered the government committee that had
to select the best electro-cution method. Peterson was still on the
payroll of the Edison Company, so it was not surprising when the
committee soon announced that the electric chair with AC voltage was
chosen for the State's prison system
<http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.theelectricchair.com/tour1.htm>.
On January 1, 1889, the world's first electrical execution law went into
full effect. Westinghouse protested and refused to sell any AC
generators directly to the New York State prison authorities. Edison and
Brown found a way around Westinghouse and provided the AC generators
needed for the first working electric chairs. Westinghouse funded the
appeals for those first few souls sentenced to death by electrocution,
the appeals were made on the grounds that "electrocution was cruel and
unusual punishment." Edison and Brown both testified for the state that
execution was a quick and painless form of death. The State of New York
won the appeals. For many years people referred to the process of being
electrocuted in the chair as being "Westinghoused".
Edison's plan to bring on the demise of Westinghouse did not work, on
the contrary it soon became clear that the AC technology was vastly
superior to DC technology. Edison finally admitted years later - that he
had thought so himself all along.
westydriver wrote:
> I like one of Edisons business strategies. he intentionally lost the
> contract to do the first electric chair. he though people would be so
> horrified that they would never touch AC again. from a program on
> edison and his marketing genius, the man did not hesitate to use
> anything in or out of the books to get his products out front.
> jimt
>
> On Saturday, Oct 5, 2002, at 12:44 America/Denver, DaveC wrote:
>
>>> At 01:05 PM 10/5/2002, DaveC wrote:
>>>
>>>> Nikola Tesla's invention of the AC polyphase power generation and
>>>> distribution system we use today was a real fight to get accepted, in
>>>> the face of Edison's "marketing".
>>>
>>>
>>> Was it Tesla or Westinghouse?
>>
>>
>> Tesla was the inventor of the polyphase AC system. The patent is in
>> his name. Westinghouse backed him financially in the creation of the
>> first generation station at Niagra Falls.
>>
>> Dave
>
>
