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Posted by David Sherman on Sunday, February 08, 2009 at 17:18:00 :
In Reply to: Tesla posted by Ron M. in AB on Sunday, February 08, 2009 at 16:18:41 :
I believe Niagra Falls was the first major commercial electric power installation, but it was a DC system. Industries located near the falls to use the electricity since it couldn't be transmitted very far. One of those industries was the Carborundum company, which used electric arc furnaces to make silicon carbide. I'm pretty sure the Telluride system was the first AC one. Actually, I'm thinking it wasn't exactly in Telluride but in some other Colorado mining town nearby. I have all this stuff in books somewhere.
Yes, Nikola Tesla was quite a character. He was almost the complete opposite of Edison in now he invented things. Edison tried everything that seemed remotely likely to work until he stumbled on something that did. Tesla, in his younger days, visualized the whole system in his mind, and then when he built it, it almost always worked right the first time. As he got older, he gradually lost touch with reality, but being quite the showman and famous scientist, he always had an audience for his wild ideas. The trouble was he either didn't take the time to build them or they were completely impossible. From what I've read, he was pretty much a mental case by the time he died, but people still think he invented ray guns, free energy, wireless power transmission, and communicated with people on Venus. I tend to think not.
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