登陆注册
15401500000051

第51章

Edison, already famous as "the Wizard of Menlo Park," established his factories and laboratories at West Orange, New Jersey, in 1887, whence he has since sent forth a constant stream of inventions, some new and startling, others improvements on old devices.The achievements of several other inventors in the electrical field have been only less noteworthy than his.The new profession of electrical engineering called to its service great numbers of able men.Manufacturers of electrical machinery established research departments and employed inventors.The times had indeed changed since the day when Morse, as a student at Yale College, chose art instead of electricity as his calling, because electricity afforded him no means of livelihood.

From Edison's plant in 1903 came a new type of the storage battery, which he afterwards improved.The storage battery, as every one knows, is used in the propulsion of electric vehicles and boats, in the operation of block-signals, in the lighting of trains, and in the ignition and starting of gasoline engines.As an adjunct of the gas-driven automobile, it renders the starting of the engine independent of muscle and so makes possible the general use of the automobile by women as well as men.

The dynamo brought into service not only light and power but heat; and the electric furnace in turn gave rise to several great metallurgical and chemical industries.Elihu Thomson's process of welding by means of the arc furnace found wide and varied applications.The commercial production of aluminum is due to the electric furnace and dates from 1886.It was in that year that H.

Y.Castner of New York and C.M.Hall of Pittsburgh both invented the methods of manufacture which gave to the world the new metal, malleable and ductile, exceedingly light, and capable of a thousand uses.Carborundum is another product of the electric furnace.It was the invention of Edward B.Acheson, a graduate of the Edison laboratories.Acheson, in 1891, was trying to make artificial diamonds and produced instead the more useful carborundum, as well as the Acheson graphite, which at once found its place in industry.Another valuable product of the electric furnace was the calcium carbide first produced in 1892 by Thomas L.Wilson of Spray, North Carolina.This calcium carbide is the basis of acetylene gas, a powerful illuminant, and it is widely used in metallurgy, for welding and other purposes.

At the same time with these developments the value of the alternating current came to be recognized.The transformer, an instrument developed on foundations laid by Henry and Faraday, made it possible to transmit electrical energy over great distances with little loss of power.Alternating currents were transformed by means of this instrument at the source, and were again converted at the point of use to a lower and convenient potential for local distribution and consumption.The first extensive use of the alternating current was in arc lighting, where the higher potentials could be employed on series lamps.

Perhaps the chief American inventor in the domain of the alternating current is Elihu Thomson, who began his useful career as Professor of Chemistry and Mechanics in the Central High School of Philadelphia.Another great protagonist of the alternating current was George Westinghouse, who was quite as much an improver and inventor as a manufacturer of machinery.Two other inventors, at least, should not be forgotten in this connection: Nicola Tesla and Charles S.Bradley.Both of them had worked for Edison.

The turbine (from the Latin turbo, meaning a whirlwind) is the name of the motor which drives the great dynamos for the generation of electric energy.It may be either a steam turbine or a water turbine.The steam turbine of Curtis or Parsons is today the prevailing engine.But the development of hydro-electric power has already gone far.It is estimated that the electric energy produced in the United States by the utilization of water powers every year equals the power product of forty million tons of coal, or about one-tenth of the coal which is consumed in the production of steam.Yet hydro-electricity is said to be only in its beginnings, for not more than a tenth of the readily available water power of the country is actually in use.

The first commercial hydro-station for the transmission of power in America was established in 1891 at Telluride, Colorado.It was practically duplicated in the following year at Brodie, Colorado.

The motors and generators for these stations came from the Westinghouse plant in Pittsburgh, and Westinghouse also supplied the turbo-generators which inaugurated, in 1895, the delivery of power from Niagara Falls.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 炁志异

    炁志异

    东土大陆的西方有一个名叫盘脊岛的岛屿,岛上有举世闻名的道观——三清观,百年一度的“南斗六星真人”的降神仪式即将在那里举行。与此同时,东土的皇室日薄西山,各地的诸侯趁势而起,其中以楼兰与范家势力最盛。这乱世的背后正是饕餮处心积虑的阴谋。
  • 潇洒异界游

    潇洒异界游

    修真天才,度劫失败,重生异界!天赋异禀,登峰造极,笑傲异界!玩世不恭,游戏世间,潇洒一生!
  • 银心战记

    银心战记

    “坚持下去,我还不能死”孔河的的信念一直支持着他,从懦弱到坚强,在地狱战争中磨练,在银河战争中成长,想成为一个英雄必须付出极大的代价,但是你并不是一个人在战斗。
  • 她们几个

    她们几个

    讲述了一个小男孩,从小学到初中的一些事情………………也许会很无聊,但是很感人!!(是根据作者的真实生活改编的)
  • 笑叹无痕

    笑叹无痕

    寒风鼓,奔雷奏,天昏暗地破石墙。凛冽刀下影,瑟瑟雪中笙。白衣飘,残缕荡,剑眉不展眸中殇。流连轻声叹,似见轻语相。.......封剑与武刀,天下兵器莫能敌。是为剑锋,势不可挡;是为刀斩,开天辟地。浩浩荡荡,山河尽摧之,无与匹敌。.......烟雨遥,烟雨遥,曲诉梦瑶送鹊桥。风雪韵,风雪韵,离殇何处得音讯。童子吟梦瑶,老客饮青酒。梦瑶一句千古,青酒一饮绝唱。
  • 岳阳楼下

    岳阳楼下

    一曲江湖酒,今生不买醉。一位知己,一生的随性。两杯你我谈醉,今生能为谁;岳阳楼下,你是否还在买醉~
  • 遥远的重逢

    遥远的重逢

    她叫安凌薇,是一个有诗意的名字。她为了初恋情人,即使遭遇了一次次的背叛也不断的选择原谅;为了朋友,甘愿失去自我。她来到新的城市,却陷入同一场青春,那些陷阱,或真或假的情话,将她的世界再一次颠覆。世界崩塌了,还可以重筑,可当青春走过了头,再也无法重来。
  • 荒古神迹

    荒古神迹

    一座荒废的道观,一口古老的石棺,一副残缺的骷髅,一张神秘的白纸。几个醉酒的人玩笑赌约,却无意间卷入了一场塌天风波。退伍军人黄藏海每时每刻都有人要杀他又有人要救他,活在谜团之中的他将如何抉择,又将何去何从?大地之眼、世界之脊、月亮之山、太阳之泪、黄金之城、铁流之盾,古老的文明,神秘的遗迹,让我们切换视角,跟随黄藏海的脚步,走近另一个世界……
  • 萌萌哒的王妃:王爷好无奈

    萌萌哒的王妃:王爷好无奈

    最初,是为了那悠扬的音弦,唱响了整个樊国;其后,是为了伙伴,一起欢乐整个年华。——你后悔吗?为了我们.....——我怎么可能后悔呢?从一开始踏上这条路,我就没打算回头。——....你真傻。话语随着风轻轻地,飘到很远,很远的地方....
  • 空间在手之末世生存录

    空间在手之末世生存录

    这是一个关于末世的故事,这是一个末世修真的故事,看非晚掌控第一辛存者基地拯救末世。女主遭好友和爱人勾搭背叛,死后重生末世前1年,及时给国家报信,避免了前世的悲剧,从重生开始一切都不一样了,既然男人不可靠那就看我开创一个太平盛世。欢迎加入旻秋粉丝团,群号码:399154384