The San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California, has a display in their Hall of History on the electrification of San Bernardino County.
The Museum explains the War of the Currents—AC versus DC—this way:
“Inventors Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla didn’t agree about the best way to use and distribute electricity. Edison held patents for devices using direct current and Tesla for alternating current. Edison considered DC safer, but it could only be transmitted for about one mile. AC could transmit enormous amounts of energy long distances to cities and to industries. The War of the Currents continued from the early 1880s until 1893, when AC was used to light the Chicago World’s Fair, and 1896, when Westinghouse used AC generated from Niagara Falls to light up Buffalo, New York. AC became the standard.”
Shown above is a re-creation of the interior of an early Southern California Edison power house on the Santa Ana River. Between 1898 and 1905, three of these power houses were built.
Shown above is a waterwheel/generator unit which was used in the original Santa Ana River powerhouse.
Shown above is another view of the generator unit.
Shown above is the Mill Creek Exciter which helped regulated the generator.
According to the Museum display:
“An exciter produces an electrical current by creating the electromagnetic force that has to interact with the wire coil. Because they have to create a consistent magnetic force, exciters must use Direct Current (DC), even if the generator is producing Alternate Current (AC).”
Shown above is a portion of the Dog House at the Santa Ana River hydroelectric plant. This was inside the power plant and had a door so that much of the noise could be blocked out.
Shown above is a three-phase electric motor.
According to the Museum display:
“In 1893, the Redlands Electric Light and Power Company built a hydroelectric plant at Mill Creek and began producing electricity in a new way. The Company installed a revolutionary three-phase alternating current system. Up to this time, power plants in Southern California produced only single-phase electric current. Motors working on a single-phase current were hard to start and harder to keep running. Motors using electricity generated by the three-phase system were more efficient.”
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