Eric:
Yep. I guess my memory is AC  - I reversed history!
Rereading the accounts of the day:
"Edison's strategy was to convince everyone that Westinghouse's AC
current was unsafe. He hired scientists to travel around and give public
demonstrations of this by electrocuting cats, dogs, and horses with AC
current. His ultimate victory came with New York State's switch from
hanging to the electric chair, which was, of course, powered by a
Westinghouse AC generator." - The Electric Chair.

I forgot that it was Tesla who invented AC concepts while working for
Edison who was holding onto DC devices to protect his product sales. It
was Tesla who left Edison and went to Westinghouse with his AC ideas and
patents on alternating-current motors, dynamos and transformers. ( I
guess they didn't have employee contracts with intellectual property
rights clauses back then.)

- Wayne Foletta
BMI - Saratoga, CA

> ----------
> From:         Eric Smith[SMTP:eric@BROUHAHA.COM]
> Reply To:     pic microcontroller discussion list
> Sent:         Thursday, January 29, 1998 7:03 PM
> To:   PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject:      Re: [OT] off topic AC Power
>
> Wayne Foletta <wayne@ELECTROTEK.COM> wrote:
> > You are right - the first power generators were DC. One of the
> reasons
> > for Edison switching to AC, as I remember reading, was a marketing
> ploy!
> > It seems there were some early fatal accidents with high voltage DC
> > power and with lower voltage AC, it was suppose to be totally safe.
> > Edison did some public demonstrations that showed the safety of AC
> with
> > a goat or some other animal. Don't recall the reason for 60Hz
> choice.
> > I'll find that history book tonight and let you know.
>
> I think you've got that backwards.  Edison vehemently opposed the use
> of AC,
> and gave repeated public demonstrations of the dangers of AC by
> electrocuting
> animals with it.  I somehow doubt that safety was his real motivation;
> it
> sounds more like NIH Syndrome.
>
> Cheers,
> Eric
>