Edison and Westinghouse and the Electrocution of the Lineman–Michael B.

Dear Important Newspaper Person,

I told you that AC was dangerous, but no one would listen.  No, you all had to see the danger for yourselves.  You could not just take my word for it.  I am Thomas Edison, I know what I am talking about.

Now that you all have seen the danger, you have to agree that AC is far too dangerous to use.  Everyone should convert over to my DC system, which is far safer.

The case of John Feaks proves the danger of AC electricity, and proves how little Westinghouse cares about the safety of those that use his product.

From,

Thomas Edison.

 

Notes

Edison’s Letter:

all of the “experts” have contradicted each other, making it hard for the public to draw its own concluesions

Edison’s article is rather condescending, and seems to state that he will tell his conclusions with out telling how he got to them, because the public is too stupid to understand it

Westinghouse Letter:

16b Edison and Electrocution Michael B

I believe that Edison’s position on electrocution is unethical, because he changes his views rather quickly, when he realizes the advantages.  When he was first asked about the use of electricity in execution, Edison responded in a unmistakeable no.  He stated that he was both against the death penalty and he was against the use of electricity in execution.  It is seemingly only after he realizes that he could use this to discredit AC, that he changes his position on capital punishment, and suggests that somewhere around 1000 volts of AC from a Westinghouse generator would be enough to kill a person.

Edison, Brown and Electrocution – Michael B

I strongly disagree with Edison’s decison to use Brown to discredit Westinghouse via electrocution.  The messege was lost in the horrifying sizzle of animal flesh.  I believe that the major thing the electrocutions accomplished was tarnishing Edison’s reputation, and possibly driving more people toward Westinghouse.  In this instance, Edison’s decision to use electrocution as a method of discrediting Westinghouse was neither good ethics or good business. 

Another thing, these demonstrations were public.  I wonder how many people brought their kids along, only cover their eyes from the image of “Fido” being cooked alive.

Tesla and the AC Motor – Michael B.

Tesla was not the first to attempt to create an AC motor.  His succeeded where others failed because he used two currents which were not in sync.  That way there was always a strong current availible for the motor to use.  Both currents worked together to turn the shaft and run the motor.  Because the motor ran off of AC there was no need for commutators to change the AC into DC, so there were less parts to wear out.

Memory – Michael Buettner

One of the major differences between Delay Line memory and DRAM is the fact that Delay Line is serial access while DRAM is random access.  Serial access means that the information must accessed in a predetermened sequence, most likely in the order the information was entered.  Random access means that the information can be accessed in any order.

Micron Trip – Michael Buettner

The visit to the Micron facilities was rather informative, if a little dry.  It was also a bit of a disappointment considering the amount of “hype” it was given.  The powerpoint at the start was kind of dull and dragged on a bit, but was slightly interesting (I thought it was kind of cool how they export more then they import).  The tour was kind of disappointing as well, the most exciting part was watching the automated transport system work.  I do not remember hearing the guide talk about internships.

How Transformers work – Michael B.

A transformer works by sending electricity into a set of loops of wire, which creates a magnetic field.  The magnetic field generates electricity in another set of loops, the voltage/current depends on the number of loops.  This is a very basic explanation of how transformers work.

Tesla Master of Lightening – Mike B.

The documentery was overly long and almost seemed to cover his day to day life.  Aside from that it was very good, I never knew that Tesla had invented so many portions of things that we use in every day life, and did not get much credit for them.  I also found his invention process to be hilarious, he made up stuff at the drop of a hat.  His obsession with wirelessly transmiting electricity was also humourous.  He was convinced that it was possible no matter how many failures he had, that the wireless transmission of electricity was possible.  He went to his grave believeing that.

Electric Nation – Michael B

This film taught me about Samuel Insull, before the film I had never heard that name.  This film discusses the people who brought electricity to everyone.  It discusses the system that Edison designed to make electricity and the light bulb useful to all.  It discussed Insull’s dream to mass produced electricity for the masses, and how that dream brought him to ruins as the stock market crashed.  FInally it covered FDR and the TVA and how they completed Insull’s dream.

Edison the Man – Michael B

Edison the Man was an entertaining look at the popular image of Edison, that of the rustic inventor.  The movie gives a very different depiction of him when compared to the Jill Jonnes book.  In the book Edison comes across as a vaguely unscrupulous business man.  One of the major differences between the book and movie portrayals of Edison was his invention process.  In the movie his invention process was depicted as haphazard and really quite random.  Example, he decides, out of the blue, to use someones beard hair as filament.  The book portrayed him as being slightly more methodical.  All in all, despite its inaccuracies, it did accomplish what it set out to do, which was acting as an idealised humorous version of Edison’s life.