Dan Tye wrote:
>
> Tesla was the "father" of AC and also, as it happened, Edison's
> assistant during the time Tesla was formulating the use of AC.  Since
> Edison believed strongly in the use and distribution of DC to the
> masses, a rift developed between the two men which would never be
> resolved.  If Edison had had his way, every small neighborhood would
> have had its own DC power generating station (since DC can't be
> transported over distance).  This is the version of history I am
> familiar with anyway....
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Pfaff [mailto:pfaff@WRITEME.COM]
> Sent: Friday, September 10, 1999 10:38 AM
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: cats! -Reply
>
> IIRC, the main reason we use AC instead of DC is the lower cost of
> transmission.  I believe it was Edison that pushed for DC, because it
> was
> safer.  Westinghouse and Tesla pushed for AC because of transformers and
> motors.  Edison pointed to the fact that AC was used for executions, so
> it
> is inherently dangersous.  All of this is from memory, so if I'm full of
> it,
> someone please correct me.
========================

For a few years near the turn of the century my hometown in Nebraska
*did* have a DC generating plant which was a spin-off (pun intended) of
the water driven grist mill. It furnished power for street and store
lights plus some homes. 24 VDC, I believe.

Harley L. Miller     hmiller@sound.net