What role did Nikola Tesla play in transforming energy usage?

When you turn on a switch and a light fills the room, it's unlikely you ponder the mechanics behind it or the individuals who enabled it. If pressed to credit the brilliance behind the lamp, you might mention Thomas Alva Edison, the creator of the incandescent light bulb. However, equally, if not more, impactful was the visionary Nikola Tesla.

Tesla came to the United States in 1884 at 28 years old, and by 1887, he had secured patents detailing the essentials for generating electricity through alternating current, or AC. To grasp the importance of these innovations, one must consider the state of electrical generation in the late 19th century. It was a battle of currents, with Tesla leading one side and Edison commanding the other.

The Landscape of Electricity in 1885

In January 1880, Edison introduced his electric incandescent lamp to the world. Shortly after, his innovative power system was implemented in the First District of New York City. During a public demonstration in 1881, Edison activated the system, and electric lights illuminated the area, sparking an extraordinary surge in demand for this groundbreaking technology. Initially, Edison's installations required underground wiring, but the overwhelming demand led to exposed wires being strung from wooden beams in parts of the city. By 1885, navigating electrical hazards had become a routine aspect of urban life, with Brooklyn's baseball team, the Dodgers, earning its name from locals frequently avoiding shocks from electrified trolley tracks [source: PBS].

Edison's system relied on direct current, or DC, which flows in a single direction and is produced by DC generators. Despite Edison's strong advocacy for DC, it faced significant drawbacks, particularly its inefficiency in transmitting power over long distances economically. While Edison acknowledged that alternating current (AC) didn't share this limitation, he dismissed it as impractical for commercial power systems. Elihu Thomson, a key figure at Thomson-Houston and Edison's rival, held a different view. In 1885, Thomson outlined a basic AC system that utilized high-voltage transmission lines to distribute power over vast distances. His design also highlighted the necessity of a device to reduce voltage at the point of consumption, known as a transformer. This technology wouldn't be commercially viable until Westinghouse Electric Company perfected it in 1886.

Despite advancements in transformer technology and successful AC power system trials, a critical component was still missing: the AC motor. On the following page, we'll explore how Tesla bridged this gap.

Tesla's Spark of Genius

While Edison focused on commercializing his electric lamp, Tesla tackled a challenge that had fascinated him since his days at the Joanneum Polytechnic School in Graz, Austria. As a student, Tesla witnessed a demonstration of a Gramme dynamo, a generator that employs a commutator—contacts on the machine's shaft—to produce direct current rather than alternating current. Tesla proposed to his instructor that the commutator, which emitted sparks during operation, might be unnecessary. Although his teacher dismissed the idea, it ignited Tesla's curiosity and imagination.

In 1881, Tesla conceived a groundbreaking idea: What if the magnetic field in the stator of a dynamo was altered instead of changing the magnetic poles of the rotor? This concept defied conventional wisdom. In traditional dynamos, the stator provides a fixed magnetic field, while the rotor's windings rotate within it. Tesla realized that reversing this setup could eliminate the need for a commutator.

Transforming this idea into reality required years of effort. Tesla began his work in 1882 while employed at the Continental Edison Company in Paris. By day, he installed Edison's DC-based lighting systems; by night, he experimented with AC motor designs. This continued for two years until Tesla moved to the Edison Machine Works in New York City. According to some accounts, Tesla shared his AC ideas with Edison, but the inventor showed no interest. Instead, Edison tasked Tesla with improving DC generation plants. Despite his contributions, Tesla felt shortchanged when Edison failed to compensate him fairly, leading Tesla to resign and permanently part ways with Edison.

After facing hardships, including manual labor and a failed business venture, Tesla secured financial support from Charles Peck, a lawyer, and Alfred S. Brown, a Western Union superintendent. With their backing, Tesla set up a laboratory near Edison's in Manhattan and focused on perfecting his AC motor. He succeeded in creating what became known as a polyphase induction motor. The term 'polyphase' indicates the use of multiple alternating currents, while 'induction' refers to the process where the stator's rotating magnets induce current in the rotor. Tesla's initial design was a two-phase motor, featuring a stator with two pairs of magnets, each corresponding to one of the two AC phases.

In 1887, Tesla secured seven U.S. patents outlining a comprehensive AC system, which featured his induction motor along with generators, transformers, transmission lines, and lighting. Shortly after, he presented a lecture on this groundbreaking system to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The presentation sparked widespread excitement and, despite Edison's campaign against AC, persuaded numerous experts that AC power systems were not only viable but also vastly superior to DC.

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AC/DC

George Westinghouse, whose electric company was grappling with the complexities of developing a functional AC power system, learned of Tesla's 1888 lecture and was instantly captivated. When Peck and Brown approached Westinghouse about commercializing Tesla's innovations, the inventor of the railroad air brake made a lucrative offer. He proposed $25,000 in cash, $50,000 in notes, and a modest royalty for every horsepower of electricity generated by the motor.

Westinghouse took Tesla's innovations to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, aiming to utilize the technology for powering the city's streetcars. Tesla joined him as a consultant for the Westinghouse Electric Company, assisting with the project's execution. Despite initial challenges and frequent disagreements with Westinghouse engineers, the team eventually collaborated to develop an optimal solution: a three-phase, 60-cycle AC system. Today, nearly all power providers in the U.S. and Canada deliver 60-cycle current, meaning the alternating current changes direction 60 times per second, a measure known as the system's frequency.

By the early 1890s, Edison and DC proponents felt increasingly threatened. They persisted in arguing that AC was hazardous, citing a fatal electrocution incident in 1890 as proof. However, their position weakened significantly in 1893 when Westinghouse secured the contract to light the Chicago World's Fair. Competing against General Electric (GE), formed from the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston, Westinghouse won on cost. When President Grover Cleveland activated the switch, illuminating 100,000 incandescent lamps across the fairgrounds, the superiority of AC power became undeniable.

Westinghouse further dispelled lingering skepticism in 1895 by constructing a hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls, incorporating all the latest AC advancements. Initially, the plant supplied power exclusively to Buffalo, New York, but it soon extended its reach to New York City, contributing to Broadway's reputation as the Great White Way.

By this time, Tesla had stepped back from the operational aspects of power plants and AC implementation. He returned to New York City, establishing a new laboratory to explore a wide range of ideas, machines, and devices. While many of his inventions were unrelated to electricity or power generation, his influence on electrical engineering remained profound. Tesla's AC motor and polyphase AC system ultimately triumphed in the war of currents, forming the foundation of modern power generation and distribution. However, Edison's direct current (DC) still persists in automobile electrical systems, locomotives, and certain motor types.

How did Nikola Tesla change the way we use energy?: Author's Note

As a child, I remember watching 'Schoolhouse Rock' on Saturday mornings, where songs taught lessons about America's great inventors like Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. Interestingly, Nikola Tesla was never mentioned. Reflecting on Tesla and the intense electricity battles of the late 19th century, it's striking how cutthroat the competition was. With fortunes at stake in electrifying the nation, Edison, though a brilliant inventor, often resorted to underhanded tactics to overshadow Tesla and ensure his DC power model—and his legacy—dominated public perception.

What also stood out while researching this era was not just the advent of electric light but the profound darkness that preceded it. Before New York City was electrified and illuminated by incandescent bulbs, its streets were shrouded in deep shadows, even with gas lamps. A nighttime stroll in the early 1900s would have unnerved even the boldest individuals. It was only with the arrival of electric lighting that New York could truly become the vibrant, sleepless metropolis it aspired to be.

Sources

Nikola Tesla Change the Way We Use Energy: Cheat Sheet

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