Power Struggles: Scientific Authority and the Creation of Practical Electricity before Edison | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Brian Schiffer
Publisher: The MIT Press
Category: Book
List Price: $38.00
Buy New: $21.25
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 71079
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 440
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0262195828
Dewey Decimal Number: 621.30973
EAN: 9780262195829
ASIN: 0262195828
Publication Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In 1882, Thomas Edison and his Edison Electric Light Company unveiled the first large-scale electrical system in the world to light a stretch of offices in a city. This was a monumental achievement, but it was not the beginning of the electrical age. The first electric generators were built in the 1830s, the earliest commercial lighting systems before 1860, and the first commercial application of generator-powered lights (in lighthouses) in the early 1860s. In Power Struggles, Michael Brian Schiffer examines some of thes earlier efforts (both successful and unsuccessfu) that paved the way for Edison.
After laying out a unified theoretical framework for understanding technological change, Schiffer presents a series of fascinating case studies of pre-Edison electrical technologies, including Volta's electrochemical battery, Thomas Davenport's electric motor, the first mechanical generators, Morse's telegraph, the Atlantic cable, and the lighting of the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Schiffer discusses claims of "practicality" and "impracticality" (sometimes hotly contested) made for these technologies, and examines the central role of the scientific authority?in particular, the activities of Joseph Henry, mid-nineteenth-century America's foremost scientist?in determining the fate of particular technologies.
These emerging electrical technologies formed the foundation of the modern industrial world. Schiffer shows how and why they became commercial products in the context of an evolving corporate capitalism in which conflicting judgments of practicality sometimes turned into power struggles.
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent book on early history of power systems technology September 30, 2008
I am interested in the history of technology, particularly of power systems. I bought this book and I am very pleased with its contents. It contains many diagrams of early magnetos and electrical machines. Also, the author uses many references that are provided at the end of the book. I am impressed with the writing style of Dr. Schiffer and the way he tells the history. I recommend this book to electrical engineers and people interested in the history of electric technology.
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