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- Title
The Introduction of Electric Power in American Manufacturing.
- Authors
Du Boff, Richard B.
- Abstract
The article examines the introduction of electric power in the U.S. manufacturing industry. Probably, the most sweeping and complex technological change in American manufacturing over the past century has been electrification. It dates from 1885-90, a period that saw two critical revisions made in the original Edison electrical systems: alternating current equipment, namely, the transformers and alternators produced and sold commercially by Westinghouse and, after 1892, General Electric; and Nicola Tesla's polyphase electric motor. Both were indispensable in applying electricity to industrial operations. The first statistical report of electric motors in manufacturing plants is the "Census Office Report on Manufacturing Industries in the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890," which lags not far behind prior discussions, in business and engineering literature, of actual installations in plants. Of 360 industries canvassed at that time, 208 had stationary electric motors of one sort or another, although in almost every industry reporting such motors, a mere handful of establishments was responsible for them.
- Subjects
UNITED States; ELECTRIC power; ELECTRIC power production; ELECTRIC motors; UNITED States manufacturing industries; ELECTRIC utilities
- Publication
Economic History Review, 1967, Vol 20, Issue 3, p509
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2593069