Texas Electricity - History

Here is a little bit of history of electricity in America for you...

The earliest documented experiments with electricity in America were by Benjamin Franklin. He did some very extensive work, financing his experiments by selling his possessions. He is best known for reputedly tying a metal key to the end of a wet kite string and flying the kite during a storm. Observing the sparks that leapt from the key to his hand, he realized that the lightning was a natural form of electricity.

The invention of an electric cell by Alessandro Volta of Italy in 1800 made it much easier for scientists everywhere to study electricity and its applications. The electric cells were connected together, creating a battery.

Alexander Graham Bell is generally known as the inventor of the telephone. A teacher of the deaf by profession, he was fascinated with methods to transmit sound. He used electricity in his experiments on sound transmission that led to the success of the telephone.

A Connecticut mill worker named Thomas Doolittle created a method to make the very first hard-drawn copper wire that was durable enough to be used as telegraph wire.

Michael Faraday of England was the first to understand that electricity could be created by passing a magnet through copper wire. This same application is used all over America today in power plants to create electricity to send out to customers everywhere. The electric generator and motor are both built using this principle. Generators take mechanical energy and turn it into electricity. Motors take electrical energy and turn it into mechanical energy.

Thomas Edison did a great many experiments with electricity. He invented the electric light bulb as well as many other electrical gadgets. His largest challenge with the light bulb was finding an appropriate material for the filament. He finally settled on a cotton thread soaked in carbon. The carbon prevented the thread from burning. When the electricity went through the thread, it glowed. When the light bulbs caught on, Edison turned his attention to developing a power plant that would help run all those light bulbs. His first power plant began operation in 1882, serving 85 customers in New York City.

A big turning point came in 1895. Edison's power plant used direct current (DC), and could only transport the power for a short distance, which turned out to be approximately one square mile around his power plant. The development of alternating current (AC) allowed George Westinghouse to transport power over 200 miles from his new Niagara Falls power plant.
Electricity was slow to take root in America. While many people were excited about all the new inventions, some were afraid of the new electrical current and thought it would be dangerous to put into their houses. Others could not afford the service. Electricity was criticized as causing the end of a simpler way of life. Electric lights were accused of being "less romantic than gas light."
New inventions using the power of electricity were often exhibited at fairs and expositions around the world. In 1893, the Columbian Exposition in Chicago used 90,000 incandescent lamps and 5,000 arc lights. Visitors to the exposition could see or ride on electrified attractions that included elevators, three cranes, several water fountains a moving sidewalk and an on-site streetcar system created by General Electric.

In 1901, the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY had electricity as its theme. It featured a 400 foot tall Electric Tower that utilized 40,000 lights and the Electricity Building, which housed a large exhibition of electrical appliances.

As small electrical companies sprang up across the country, power became available to more people. Many of the smaller companies began to merge into larger conglomerates, the largest of whom were Westinghouse Electric Company and General Electric Company. These companies built power plants with generators that produced electricity through the use of steam, fossil fuel combustion. Other plants were built using kinetic power to generate power such as wind or water. When nuclear power was developed, the power released when nuclear reactions occurred began to be used to create electricity.

Electricity demand grew 12% each year during the first thirty years of the twentieth century. Today, as demand continues to grow, renewable sources of power are increasingly being put to work to supply electricity. Wind power, hydropower and solar power are all being put to more use as America tries to meet the demand and help the environment at the same time.