science · 30 April 1883 · 141 years ago
In 1883, a company that would build the first U.S. three-wire central station for incandescent lighting - the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. was incorporated. The plant was a simple wooden structure erected in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. The station began service on 4 Jul 1883. An Armington & Sims steam engine drove two 110-volt direct-current generators. The electricity was delivered by overhead wires. Thomas Edison patented his three-wire system on 20 Nov 1882 to supercede the distribution system used at his first commercial central generating station in New York (4 Sep 1882) because it gave savings of over 60 per cent in copper used in conductors. This meant a smaller investment and enabled building generating plants in smaller communities.
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