Power struggles : scientific authority and the creation of practical electricity before Edison / Michael Brian Schiffer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schiffer, Michael B.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Electrical engineering--United States--History.

Electrical engineering.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (433 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Laying the foundation for Thomas Edison, the first electric generators were built in the 1830s, the earliest commercial lighting systems before 1860, and the first commercial application of generator-powered light in the early 1860s. This book examines some of these early applications of electricity.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 Studying Technological Change

2 Technological Transitions

3 Electromagnetism Revealed

4 An American Physicist

5 Telegraphic Visions

6 Mechanical Electricity

7 The Blacksmith's Motor

8 The Chemistry Connection

9 A Peculiar Calling

10 Hard Times

11 It's a Blast

12 "What Hath God Wrought!"

13 Magnetic Power Derailed

14 Humbug!

15 Action at a Distance

16 First Light

17 If at First You Don't Succeed . . .

18 A Thousand Points of Light

19 Machine-Age Electricity

20 A Beacon of Modernity

21 Enter Edison

22 New Light

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 385-414) and index.

ISBN:

0-262-29299-8

0-262-28312-3

1-4356-6290-3

OCLC:

244823409