How will the light be distributed?
Today is the anniversary of T.A. Edison's unveiling of his electric light bulb. (in 1879).
His response (as recorded by th NYTimes):
"Precisely as gas is now distributed. You see that I can turn that burner off entirely if I wish to; I can lower it or I can raise it, just as you can lower or raise a gas jet. Our electricity will go from our central stations just as gas flows from the meter. Whether the company will charge for the light according to the amount of electricity which each consumer uses, or whether so much a month will be charged to each consumer I cannot say. That is a question which the company will determine when the electric light is introduced."
Also note today is the anniversary of the birth of one Mr. Dizzy Gillespie
But I digress, allow me to return to more fascinating trivia on early electrical distribution: (again from the NYTimes)
"It has been asserted by some persons who are supposed to be conversant with the subject of electricity that in order to furnish lights for houses in this City a copper coil as large as an ordinary barrel would be required as a conductor from the central station to the different houses in two or three blocks. Regarding this, Mr. Edison said: "The size and amount of conductors for carrying electricity for lighting purposes depends, of course, upon the distance to which the electricity is to be carried. If I have to carry it 10 miles my conductor must be larger than it must be if I have to carry it 10 feet. My idea is to have central stations to cover, say a square of three or four blocks. The pipes containing the wires on a street, if this idea is carried out, will not exceed in size the circumference of your arm. They will be laid under the flag-stones just at the edge of the sidewalk, as gas-pipes are now laid."
"What will be the cost of these conductors," asked the reporter.
"The cost, compared to gas-pipes, will be very small, and there is very little chance of their getting out of order. The wire itself, which will convey the electricity, will be an ordinary No. 9 telegraph wire, the same wire that you see in use every day by the Western Union Company. That is as near the size of a barrel as I intend to get."
You've come a long way baby.
His response (as recorded by th NYTimes):
"Precisely as gas is now distributed. You see that I can turn that burner off entirely if I wish to; I can lower it or I can raise it, just as you can lower or raise a gas jet. Our electricity will go from our central stations just as gas flows from the meter. Whether the company will charge for the light according to the amount of electricity which each consumer uses, or whether so much a month will be charged to each consumer I cannot say. That is a question which the company will determine when the electric light is introduced."
Also note today is the anniversary of the birth of one Mr. Dizzy Gillespie
But I digress, allow me to return to more fascinating trivia on early electrical distribution: (again from the NYTimes)
"It has been asserted by some persons who are supposed to be conversant with the subject of electricity that in order to furnish lights for houses in this City a copper coil as large as an ordinary barrel would be required as a conductor from the central station to the different houses in two or three blocks. Regarding this, Mr. Edison said: "The size and amount of conductors for carrying electricity for lighting purposes depends, of course, upon the distance to which the electricity is to be carried. If I have to carry it 10 miles my conductor must be larger than it must be if I have to carry it 10 feet. My idea is to have central stations to cover, say a square of three or four blocks. The pipes containing the wires on a street, if this idea is carried out, will not exceed in size the circumference of your arm. They will be laid under the flag-stones just at the edge of the sidewalk, as gas-pipes are now laid."
"What will be the cost of these conductors," asked the reporter.
"The cost, compared to gas-pipes, will be very small, and there is very little chance of their getting out of order. The wire itself, which will convey the electricity, will be an ordinary No. 9 telegraph wire, the same wire that you see in use every day by the Western Union Company. That is as near the size of a barrel as I intend to get."
You've come a long way baby.
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