13 Dec
2004
13 Dec
'04
8:01 a.m.
On Mon, 13 Dec 2004, Carlos Murillo wrote:
Almost random, I concur, but there were definite
technical factors
behind. It took a while for people to settle
on 60Hz or 50Hz. Some interesting tidbits mostly taken from
"Engineers and Electrons" by Ryder & Fink, IEEE Press:
Good find!
Edison's interest was not safety: at the time, he
held the patent to the
only available power usage meter, but it only worked with DC. Also, some
of the competing light companies used arc lamps, which require
high voltages. Finally, Westinghouse held Tesla's patent for the
induction motor.
Clearly, trying to determine much of this with logic is useless.