Search
- Edison Dynamo Used on SS Columbia, 1880 - For Thomas Edison, successful experimental results were but a prelude to continual improvements that would lead to commercial implementation. This dynamo is from the first lighting system he sold -- installed on a ship, four months after the December 1879 experimental demonstration. Its crude finish, at odds with the highly advanced technology it embodied, suggests Edison's impatient eagerness to move from experiment to market.
- 1880
- Collections - Artifact
Edison Dynamo Used on SS Columbia, 1880
For Thomas Edison, successful experimental results were but a prelude to continual improvements that would lead to commercial implementation. This dynamo is from the first lighting system he sold -- installed on a ship, four months after the December 1879 experimental demonstration. Its crude finish, at odds with the highly advanced technology it embodied, suggests Edison's impatient eagerness to move from experiment to market.
- "A Warning from the Edison Electric Light Company," 1887 - The late-nineteenth-century "War of Currents" pitted the backers of direct current (DC) against those who believed alternating current (AC) was the best way to transmit electricity. In this partisan publication the Edison Electric Light Company touted the advantages of their DC system, fueled the public's fear by reprinting reports of horrific deaths caused by high-voltage AC, and attacked the backers of AC who, company officials believed, misled investors.
- 1887
- Collections - Artifact
"A Warning from the Edison Electric Light Company," 1887
The late-nineteenth-century "War of Currents" pitted the backers of direct current (DC) against those who believed alternating current (AC) was the best way to transmit electricity. In this partisan publication the Edison Electric Light Company touted the advantages of their DC system, fueled the public's fear by reprinting reports of horrific deaths caused by high-voltage AC, and attacked the backers of AC who, company officials believed, misled investors.
- Edison General Electric Company Dynamo, circa 1890 -
- circa 1890
- Collections - Artifact
Edison General Electric Company Dynamo, circa 1890
- Bergmann & Company Edison Chemical Meter, circa 1882 - To make money selling electricity, Thomas Edison had to know how much his customers used. This meter used electricity to plate zinc onto electrodes. By weighing the electrodes to see how much zinc had accumulated, Edison's company could calculate how much electricity was being used. Meters like this remained in service in some installations well into the 1890s.
- circa 1882
- Collections - Artifact
Bergmann & Company Edison Chemical Meter, circa 1882
To make money selling electricity, Thomas Edison had to know how much his customers used. This meter used electricity to plate zinc onto electrodes. By weighing the electrodes to see how much zinc had accumulated, Edison's company could calculate how much electricity was being used. Meters like this remained in service in some installations well into the 1890s.
- Edison General Electric Company Dynamo, 1889-1892 -
- 1889-1892
- Collections - Artifact
Edison General Electric Company Dynamo, 1889-1892
- Insulation Sample from Edison Dynamo Used on SS Columbia, 1880 -
- 1880
- Collections - Artifact
Insulation Sample from Edison Dynamo Used on SS Columbia, 1880
- "The Edison Incandescent Electric Light : Its Superiority to All Other Illuminants," circa 1887 -
- circa 1887
- Collections - Artifact
"The Edison Incandescent Electric Light : Its Superiority to All Other Illuminants," circa 1887