Lineman’s Death – Heera J

Dear Editor:

 

My condolences to the lineman’s death. It is tragic that he died in the work of AC but that should not be a reason to have AC completely shut down. If you look at it DC has also had a lot of death from electrocution and that’s why AC became famous. Electricity is a growing industry. It is still in its young ages so obviously there would be some mistakes in it. To shut down AC is like trying to shout down electricity itself. This is doing injusitice to the poor people. The AC is cheaper for many to buy and that’s why so many people use it. It should be up to the public to decide on this.

 

George Westinghouse.

 

 

Sources:

The Dangers of Electric Lighting Edison (629 – 630)

 

Reply to Mr. Edison Westinghouse (656-659)

16C-Lineman’s Death-Keya Z.

To Whom it May Concern:

I am terribly sorry about the death of the man. It was very tragic. I send my deepest apologies to his family. But the blame cannot be put on alternating current alone. Yes, it was AC which killed him, but direct current would have the same effect if more volts were added to it. “With a continuous current of 400 volts a dog weighing fifty-seven and a half pounds was killed instantly. That an alternating current of one hundred volts, even when effectively applied, does not kill is shown by two experiments on another dog. A continuous current of 304 volts was applied for thirty seconds, and then an alternating current of one hundred volts for sixty-five seconds; yet the dog was unhurt” (A reply to Mr. Edison-P. 657).  It is irrelevant how he died, or by which electric system. You cannot base your decision to shut down alternating current on the death of a man-its unethical. Look at how much progress we have made with AC. It is unbelievable sometimes. Millions of people are using it in their homes and buildings today safely, which cannot be done with direct current. “The reader of Mr. Edison’s article who is unfamiliar with the alternating system of distribution would naturally infer that in practice the same voltage is carried on the house wires as on the mains, as in the Edison system; but such is never the case under any circumstances. In this complete disconnection of the street and house wires found the reason of the positive safety both to life and property enjoyed by the users of the alternating system. It is one of the great advantages of this system that it admits of the use of high voltages for the street mains, and of wholly separate and independent currents, with absolutely safe voltage, for all wires within buildings- a condition which is infallibly secured and maintained by converters, or transformers, located in or near each building” (A Reply to Mr. Edison-P.658-659).  We have benefited the world with its brilliance. Thomas Edison is just looking for ways to make alternating current look bad because it beat out his direct current. His unethical approach to why alternating current is not safe should not be considered at all. He will do whatever it takes to make his DC look better than my AC. So please, hear what I am saying, and make the right choice. Don’t shut alternating current down. It is the future. Thank you.

Sincerely,

George Westinghouse

16c Edison, Brown, and Electrocution – Chris C

To whom it may concern,

The dangers of Alternating Current (AC) are quite real, but this is no different than the potential danger in all new technology.  For instance, would the one who presented rat poison to modern era have expected that it would end up killing more than just rats?  It is most likely that the answer is yes, the dangers were present and known, but the substance was used and expected to be handled with great care.  Such care must also be demonstrated with AC and with time it will lead us into an era of great prosperity that similar, Direct Current (DC) systems may not provide.  The fears that have prompted this letter are not painful shock or instant death, but one of such horror of an incident that its memories invade the mind upon any thoughts of linemen.  While his death was caused by a high voltage current, the issue here is not the dangers that high voltage AC provides, but how it should be handled and maintained.

In the case of Mr. Feeks, a live wire was attempted to be removed improperly.  The loss of a trained man, a productive member of society, a husband, and a father are worth far more than any line.  From this further enforcements and training are being implemented, and hopefully most will think twice before attempting a similar task.  However, this work was being done in response to the poor state of the New York overhead lines.  An unnecessary death in a clearly dangerous tangle and for what?  Nothing.  A good man lost his life, yet there are others sitting comfortably upon a very bloated salary disguising themselves as “The New York City Board of Electrical Control”.  Had the subways been enacted as mandated by law men would not be working near such dangerous forced while performing a strange balancing act high up on poles, but down on the earth with firm footing and exterior distractions, away from the people where there would be no chance to cause serious harm to passerbys.

Those passerbys, however, are in need of this power, this AC.  Giving them this tool opens up holes for the danger, but we have little to worry about.  The same power coursing through the wires overhead is not the same power in the homes of our customers.  With the induction transformer electricity is lowered to voltages even lower than Edison’s safe 300V pressure.  As he has claimed and tested this has not caused instant death, even in a dog, an animal that generally has a smaller build than a person.  So why do we change our voltages?  The change in voltages allows AC to provide power to people much further away for less money and raw material than DC systems.  This makes electricity an affordable commodity that everyone, from the farmers to the aristocrats and even the factory workers of New York to enjoy.  And because we transmit over such a long range we have but one generation plant releasing minimal smog far away from the cities, much different from the Edison Central Stations, which must be placed within miles of each other creating unreasonable amounts of noise and smoke in our cities.

While AC is a new tool, we are doing our best to make it work safely and cheaply to provide everyone a healthy life.  A dead customer is a costomer no more, but a happy customer is a customer for life.

Sincerely,

Westinghouse Co.

Edit (Planning):

Source – Semicontinuous currents, how DC may kill.  What DC is, and why it is (not) safe.

Not even done reading them.

Lineman’s Death – Ivan B.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to you on behalf of Mr. Westinghouse and the Westinghouse Electric Company about the matters of dangers of AC electricity. Mr. Edison and the supporters of DC current electricity believe that the different type of electricity, AC is very dangerous. While AC electricity may be have more voltage than DC electricity, any type of electricity is dangerous whenever mishandled.

While the tragedy of John Feeks was a horrible one we can not meander on that fact that he died. We must move forward in the technologies of electrical equipment, make them better, and make sure that an accident like this does not happen again. It was the AC wires that killed Feeks, but it is also the AC wires that bring electricity to thousands of people all over the country where DC current cannot be available.

A technology that is comparable to that of electricity is a horse drawn car. The intention of a horse drawn car was to make the lives of people simpler and easier. While it did make it easier to transport things over long distance, it also accomplished something that was not expected. When horse drawn cars were first invented and people did not know how to use them, many accidents happened because people did not know how to navigate them, nor were there laws as how to regulate the use of those horse drawn cars. As technologies were innovated, and laws were made, the use of horse drawn cars got safer and less and less accidents happened and fewer people got hurt. Just like the cars got safer, with the inventions like ground wires, and safety rubber gloves, so will the use of AC electricity.

Mr. Edison says that AC electricity is more dangerous and causes many accidents, while that is not entirely true. There have been many more accidents in Edison’s power plants than the ones that Westinghouse’s plants have produced. When it comes to electricity one has to be careful with how they handle it. AC electricity has potential to be dangerous, but it is not more dangerous than DC electricity. One of Edison’s DC electricity plants caught on fire because the DC electricity was not handled correctly.

Even though there were more accidents caused by Edison’s power plants, there have also been controlled  unethical experiments by Edison as well. To show the difference between the safety of DC electricity and AC electricity Edison’s people have fried animals. This did not show the safety of DC as well as Edison would have thought, because when Edison electrocuded a dog with DC current, the dog was in a horrible condition, even though it did not die. When the dog was already in this horrible condition, all he had to do was simply finish it off by killing it with AC electricity. This did not show that AC electricity was dangerous, it showed that it could finish the job after DC had already started it.

Sincerely,

Constantin Kozovsky

Linemas’s Death- Nicole Ongor

Edison is known for his expertise in electricity. One of the smartest men, a veteran in this particaular field. Edison invented a workable incandescent light bulb and a whole electrical power system using direct current. Do I know if the death of Lineman’s was delieberately supported by Edison so that to publics thought of using alternating current would change for the worse? Was he really trying to scare peopleand concluding that his testing on animals using altenating current?  Is he out to seek revenge and sabbotage Westinghouse’s new form of electricity? Or does Edison strongly believe that alternating current is harmful and that Lineman death is a result of using Westinghouse’s electrical power system? Maybe altenating current is much worse than direct current but how are we to know for a fact. Lineman’s death is not vaild proof until there is proof that direct current, given in the same situation that lineman was in, could kill him. Maybe electricity in general is harmful. Maybe electricity was not the solution to gas lgihting or candles. Maybe electricity is just as dangerous and previous alternate means. I think we need more proof before we job into conclusion. We need to have a full investigation of the incident.

                                                                                           ~Madame Questionnaire

16C- Linemans Death- Jhonny E.

Editor,

Electricity is a field that is currently growing. But many parts of the field are incomplete and far from being perfected. The tragic accident of John Feeks, is a accident that I feel very sorry about and I wish it I could do something about it. But I am only human I can only pay my respects.

How can someone blame AC for this tragic accident when AC is doing so much for so many more people. AC is currently lighting so many homes around the USA, and I only see the positive aspects of my system. It is able to carry much more voltages over larger distances and serve more people. It is not my goal to hurt people, but to improve their lives by providing electricity to them.

George Westinghouse

Lineman Death~ Desire’ B

To the Editor of the North American Review:

Yes the lineman’s death was tragic but there have been more deaths involving streetcar accidents, omnibuses or wagons than by an electric current. To rid the world of alternating current would mean to end the supply of electricity to thousands of homes that had to go without it because of the defects of direct current. Edison’s own employees realize how much better AC is than DC because one of his companies, the Detroit Edison Station uses it! Also the company isn’t forcing anyone to purchase our apparatus for electric lighting; many people have preferred to use the alternating system.

Sincerely,

George Westinghouse

Sources:

Reply to Mr. Edison in the North American Review: pages 657-658 when westinghouse comes back and puts his own opinions about the 4 classifications of electric currents. Also, when Westinghouse tells how Edison’s experiments were not correct.

also from the letter I will use when Westinghouse points out that no one knows which current it was the electrocuted Feeks.

I will be using jonnes and using chapters 6-8. These chapters go over when Edison first attacks AC, the execution, and when the lineman is electrocuted.

Lineman’s Death – Jonathan A

I am currently visiting the United States from England and am astonished at the cruelty to animals that was displayed in the hearings. A man was killed, is that not enough? Why do we have to kill more animals on top of the tragic accidents that have happened with this new AC current lighting system?

Accidents do happen, and, agreed that AC can be dangerous, but so can almost anything if safety precautions are not taken. The man should have been wearing gloves and the wires should not have been so easily available so that a man could get electrocuted. Instead of trying to ban AC, Edison should use his genius to help make it safe.

Edison’s statements are completely erroneous and biased. Instead of looking at how much alternating current will benefit us as people, Edison is stating claims that are invalid in order to save his business. Any type of electricity has the power to kill a man, but what we need to focus on is how to make it safe and efficient for the public. His experiments on animals to prove his point are extremely unethical. There is no way to measure a humans pain before death and how much of it he actually feels. Are we supposed to ask the man after he has been electrocuted how painful his death was? Therefore, in order to execute these experiments, Edison is being unethical and extremely inhumane by killing dogs. And, every human is different, so what if the current that was used to kill one man does not kill another?

Westinghouse’s AC system will benefit us greatly by allowing the long distance distribution of electricity, while Edison’s DC system is very limited. We as a people should stand behind Westinghouse in order to stop this unethical treatment of animals and allow for the electricity of the future to flourish. 

 

Pg 654 Cornell University-Westinghouse- The use of electricity for supplying light and power has now become as much a part of our every-day life as the railway, the steamship, the street-car, or the gas supply….It is employed in nearly every useful industry with a full knowledge that such employment has been and always must be attended with an apprciable degree of danger.

 

Sincerely, 

Sir Johnson Humphry James III

Lineman’s Death – Robert S.

To the Editor:

Unfortunately, a man was recently executed in a gruesome way via high voltage wires. This was a terrible accident, and could have been prevented with more training, as one should never grab on to more than one wire at once. While grabbing onto a while can be a natural reaction in a situation where one is being shocked, this action can have fatal results. Additionally, had he followed proper safety procedures that include insulating gloves and boots, this accident likely wouldn’t have happened.

However, even with this accident and more that will inevitably follow, as with any new technology, there is no reason whatsoever to ban AC or high voltage systems. Accidents happen in every industry; this is unavoidable and a cost of developing new and better technologies. Over 100 people were killed last year in vehicular accidents, yet the death of someone due to these accidents doesn’t invoke nearly the same outcry. People have accepted that vehicles have a risk, and the same is true for electricity. In both cases, the benefits outweigh the potential risk, and there has been no convincing argument as to why high voltage transmission lines should be banned.

-Lord Fairfax

Edison: P. 625-635
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0149-75

Condescending to public

P. 626 – Four classification of power/voltage

P. 630
— Investment costs as a reason why high voltage is used
— Suggests that more plants be built if low voltage DC isn’t enough to supply the outskirts
— Claims that AC plants are built on the outskirts where land is cheap and need to use high voltages to push the power into the city
—- Efficient use of land

P. 631 – Discussion of how the AC system works

P. 632
— Edison suggests that DC be limited to 600 or 700 volts; does not provide an AC range as it’s unsafe no matter what
— Edison strongly against AC

P. 632 – “My personal desire would be to prohibit entirely the use of alternating currents. They are as unnecessary as they are dangerous.”

P. 634 – “When the authorities require electrical pressure to be kept within the limits of safety, and when there is an efficient corps of inspectors, as in the case of boilers, to see that rules adopted are carried out, the security which the public demand will be obtained; but until then nothing better can be looked for than a multiplication of the casualties of the past few months.”

Westinghouse: P. 653-665
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0149-80

P. 653 – “Electricity is one manifestation of power. It represents a form of mechanical energy capable of being utilized for innumerable purposes. Indeed, were it a question of prohibiting the use not merely of electricity, but of all other things dangerous to life, we would no longer have fires to warm us or light to enable us to see, and, in fact, would be deprived of most of the necessaries and comforts of existence. As has been the case with the utilization of all other forms of energy, the demand for the most economical methods will ultimately prevail, provided these can be made safe, as they most certainly can, by the exercise of proper precautions.” (Emphasis mine)

P. 654 – “Thousands of persons have large pecuniary interests at stake, and, as might be expected, many of them view this great subject solely from the stand-point of self-interest.”

P. 654, cont – Discussion of the electrical rivalries

P. 655 – Edison wants to beat his enemies

P. 657 – Cooking beef with power

P. 659 – Safety of transformers

P. 600 – Insulation, safety, etc

P. 661 – Other tech is also dangerous

P. – Source – AC in houses is isolated due to transformers

Useful Pages in Jonnes:

P. 152 – WARNING! booklet

P. 168 – Safety of AC power plants vs DC power plants

P. 177 – Westinghouse defending AC used for electrocution

P. 199 – Execution details

P. 200-201 – Edison / Westinghouse exchange

Lineman’s Death – Laurence B

The thing that strikes me most about Mr.Edison’s letter is that he neglects to explain how his DC system would be more efficient. Edison only writes about the dangers of AC. I have heard of fires and faulty wiring at many of Edison’s DC stations, and Mr.Westinghouse pointed out that most electrical engineers themselves prefer alternating current because direct current lacks efficiency and is unsafe. Another issue that needs to be brought into the argument is that electricity has killed people, but so have many other things. As Westinghouse pointed out, in the year of 1888, 64 people died in New York because of streetcar accidents, 55 died because of omnibus and wagon accidents, 23 died by illuminating gas, and only 5 by electricity. The death by electrocution incidents seem to be quite low when compared to other services. I think that Mr.Edison needs to either rethink his position, or simply give up. He is beginning to make a fool of himself.                         -Sir Herbert Gatsby

• Almost every page of Edison’s letter has contradictory information. I will use information from pages 629 632 633 & 634 of Edison’s paper.
• Westinghouse is much more informative in his letter.