Who invented alternating current

In his 84 years, Thomas Edison acquired a record number of 1, patents singly or jointly and was the driving force behind such innovations as the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb and one of the earliest motion picture cameras.

Italian inventor and engineer Guglielmo Marconi developed, demonstrated and marketed the first successful long-distance wireless telegraph and in broadcast the first transatlantic radio signal.

Alexander Graham Bell, best known for his invention of the telephone, revolutionized communication as we know it. His interest in sound technology was deep-rooted and personal, as both his wife and mother were deaf. Wilbur and Orville Wright were American inventors and pioneers of aviation.

In the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight; they surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical In , Connecticut-born gun manufacturer Samuel Colt received a U.

Colt founded a company to manufacture his revolving-cylinder pistol; however, sales were slow and the Developed in the s and s by Samuel Morse and other inventors, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations. In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Samuel Morse The automobile was first invented and perfected in Germany and France in the late s, though Americans quickly came to dominate the automotive industry in the first half of the twentieth century.

Henry Ford innovated mass-production techniques that became standard, and Ford, The internet got its start in the United States more than 50 years ago as a government weapon in the Cold War.

For years, scientists and It was the height of World War II, and Live TV. This Day In History. In a DC system, line losses required additional power stations at two-mile intervals.

Tesla developed polyphase alternating current systems of generators, motors and transformers, eventually holding 40 basic US patents. These were bought by George Westinghouse, who was determined to supply America with the Tesla system, which eventually won out as the superior technology and became the standard power in the 20th century.

After receiving a patent on the electric transmission of power in May of , Tesla subsequently demonstrated alternating current electricity at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in He then designed the first hydroelectric powerplant in Niagara Falls in , culminating his lifelong dream. In he built an experimental station in Colorado Springs to experiment with high-voltage, high frequency electricity and other phenomena, where he generated and sent out wireless waves without wires for miles.

This is also where he made what he regarded as his most important discovery: terrestrial stationary waves. He proved that the Earth could be used as a conductor and would be as responsive as a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of a certain frequency. Tesla invented the Tesla coil in , which is widely used today in radio and television sets and other electronic equipment. Financially supported by J. Pierpont Morgan, he built the Wardenclyffe laboratory and its famous transmitting tower in Shoreham, Long Island between and , feet high and capped by a foot dome.

It was intended to be the first broadcast system, transmitting both signals and power without wires to any point on the globe. The magnifying transmitter—the largest Tesla coil ever built—was capable of generating , watts of power and reportedly could produce a bolt of lightning feet long. But Tesla fell out with Morgan before the tower was completed, and the unfinished structure was demolished in The demonstration of AC power includes a 25 mile trolley with step down transformers that allow low power Edison incandescent lights to light the path along with arc lamps.

Galileo Ferraris was head of the Electrical Department. The next year Ferraris would invent the polyphase motor. Stanley begin experimenting with this system. The system was built by William Stanley and funded by Westinghouse. Westinghouse is already far ahead, having sold its system commercially already.

Other inventors around the world also promoting AC power have similar problems. This is especially due to the fact that no one has yet to invent an AC electric motor which is efficient. This would put him in the position to rival Westinghouse that controlled the Gaulard and Gibbs transformer patent. Later Edison decides that it is not worth going into AC and drops his options on the Z. Bradley builds the first AC 3 phase generator.

Up until this time Siemens and Westinghouse had been producing single phase AC generators. The 3 phase system would be a great improvement. Augus Haselwander develops the first AC 3 phase generator in Europe. He is behind Bradley by a couple months and it is generally believed that he built his design independently of Bradley.

When it is completed in it would be an important early site in AC power history. He works for AEG. His motor works without a commutator, this development finally makes the AC motor efficient, and therefore competitive with DC motors. The motor report was first published at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Turin. Westinghouse read the report of Ferraris and saw a chance for AC systems to become much more marketable.

Elihu Thomson was there and some in the group seemed to be impressed. Within a week Westinghouse had agents meeting with Tesla and inspecting his equipment, with an eye to forging an agreement about acquiring patent rights. Tesla's progress on the motor is slightly ahead of Oliver Shallenberger's 3 phase electric motor.

Shallenberger was already working for Westinghouse. Tesla claims he "dreamed up" the first polyphase motor before Galileo Ferraris. Later at a trial a US court sides with Tesla despite the fact that Tesla has no proof besides witness testimony. Read more here William Stanley credits Tesla not with inventing the induction motor, but taking Ferraris's work and fully realizing it's commercial potential.

Tesla "neatly" organized Ferraris's work into several patents and fully understood the invention. He filed for copyright claiming the invention as his own. One of the first three phase AC generators in the world.

This one was created for the Electrical Exposition in Frankfurt,Germany in The entire system was designed by Dobrovolsky from generator to electric motor. Steinmetz goes before the AIEE and presents his latest paper on hysteresis.

Steinmetz would go on to improve and troubleshoot future AC power systems. Paper: On the Law of Hysteresis by Chas. Proteus Steinmetz. Benjamin Garver Lamme is the principal engineer of the operation. General Electric builds the 25 mile power transmission system from the Niagara power house to Buffalo, NY which is made operational in Steinmetz experiments with a unique single phase AC power transmission system. Viewer Comments:. T he development of electrical systems is a long and winding story which I have been researching for some 48 years.

From the arc light systems, now forgotten, which played a major role; to the incandescent light systems of Edison and his competitors; through the development of power systems in the 20th century, much has been lost or forgotten.