DC mains were available in many cities in the 50's.
Small appliances of the post-war era often featured
"ac-dc" motors for compatibility.
BTW, if DC seems archaic, STEAM was available as a
a utility in NYC in the same era...  :)

Regards, Jack


Robert M. McClure wrote:
>
> >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
>
> DC networks were common a lot longer than the turn of the century.  When
> I was in engineering school in 1955 we made a field trip to see the DC
> system in Kansas City.  At that time there were still a number of DC
> elevators in the downtown area.  KC Power & Light was in the process of
> trying to discontinue DC service at that time.  The "generating" plants
> were quite modern, having been converted from direct generation of DC
> to conversion of AC to DC by means of synchronous converters sometime
> about the time of WWI.  Beautiful old machinery.
>
> Bob McClure <rmm@unidot.com>