In 1878, Thomas Edison saw the demand for electric lighting in homes. He designed an electric-based system known as direct current (DC) that brought low-voltage electricity to light up incandescent lamps and compete with gas lighting, which broke the barriers on how houses were being lit at the time.
Article about Edison's Electric Light Patent. SOURCE: Evening Star, April 1879.
Article about Edison's work lighting Menlo Park with outdoor electric lighting. SOURCE: Anderson Intelligencer, January 1880.
Photo of Edison Illuminating Company installing DC power lines underground. SOURCE: Harpers Weekly, 1882.
In 1884, George Westinghouse developed a system that pushed the barrier for electric systems even further: his alternating current system brought higher voltages to homes that not only powered lamps but also heating and other household items. He argued that AC systems were more efficient and better than Edison's DC systems.
Article about a successful Westinghouse effort to light the Hoosac tunnel with AC system. SOURCE: Connecticut western news, June 1887.
Article about Westinghouse as a "prominent" electric lighting distributor. SOURCE: Omaha daily bee, January 1888.
Westinghouse advertisement. SOURCE: The Electrical Engineer, June 1888.
By 1887, Westinghouse's AC-based companies were catching up to Edison, so he started a campaign to discourage others from doing business with AC-based companies, especially Westinghouse.
Edison's letter to his colleague Edward Johnson (Part 1). SOURCE: Edison Papers, November 1886.
Edison's letter to his colleague Edward Johnson (Part 2). SOURCE: Edison Papers, November 1886.
Statement from Edison Company Secretary Frank Hastings about Westinghouse's alternating current system. SOURCE: St. Paul Daily Globe, December 1888.
The following year, Johnson published "A Warning from the Edison Electric Light Company" which went to newspapers and Westinghouse's current and potential business partners. The pamphlet talked about how Westinghouse's AC-based business was an infringement on Edison's patents and about how Westinghouse business partners could be sued along with Westinghouse.
"Warning from the Edison Electric Light Company." SOURCE: The Henry Ford, 1887.
In 1887, Alfred Southwick, a NY death penalty commission member, reached out to Edison about helping with a new barrier-breaking project: using Edison’s electric system to carry out more humane criminal executions. This idea came to Southwick after an incident where a drunk dock worker died instantly after accidentally touching one of the city’s existing electric dynamo. Edison refused, citing his beliefs against capital punishment, but not before taking a jab at Westinghouse by recommending that AC current would be more efficient in killing people.
Edison's response to Alfred Southwick. SOURCE: Edison Papers, December 1887.
As Westinghouse’s AC efforts were starting to stall, he made a breakthrough in 1888 by investing in Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor and a former Edison employee who invented an AC induction motor that made the system more efficient and gave Westinghouse’s company priority rights over other AC patents.
SOURCE: Discovery UK, 2018.
When Westinghouse won the bid to light the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago using AC power, Tesla led the project and proceeded to impress the Exposition's attendees.
The Columbian Exposition. SOURCE: Tesla, American Experience PBS, October 2016.