A History Of Electricity And Magnetism

343 Pages·1971·5.8 MB·English

by  H. Mayer

A HISTORY OF
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM
Burndy Library
Publication No. 27
A HISTORY OF
ELECTRKITY AND MAGNETISM
Herbert W. Meyer
Foreword by Berri Dibnrr
~vEL~~~vENT
Ec~N~MIQUE
E-T eTUOE DES MARCHtS
; CEjW?E DE DOWMEWATIOrJ
RURNDY LIBRARY
Nonvalk, Connecticut
1972
.._
This book was designed
by The MIT Press Design Department.
It was set in IBM Composer Bodoni
by Science Press
printed on Mohawk Neotext Offset
by Tbe Colonial Press Inc.
and bound by The Colonial Press Inc.
in the United States of America.
Al1 rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 0 262 13070 X (hardcover)
Library of Congress catalog tard number:
70-137473
FOREWORD BY BERN DIBNER
xi
PREFACE xv
1
EARLY DISCOVERIES 1
Archcology and Paleontology; Magnetitç and the Lodestone; Thales
of Miletus; Ancient and Medieval Records, The Magnetic Compas;
William Gilbert.
2
ELECTRICAL MACHINES AND EXPERIMENTS
WITH STATIC ELECTRICITY 11
Otto van Guericke; Other Expçriments With Stalic Electricity;
Stephen Gray and the Transmission of Electricity; Du Fay’s Experi-
ment8 and His Discovery of Two Kinds of Electricity; Improvcments
in Electrical Machines; The Leyde” Jar; The Spced of Electricity; Sir
William Watson’s ‘Theories; MisceIlaneous Discoveries; Benjamin
Franklin’s Experiments; Atmospheric Electricity; Experiments in
Europe with Atmospheric Electricity; Electrical Induction, Electro-
scopes; Other Discoveries in the Eigbteenth Century
3
VOLTAIC ELECTRICITY, ELECTROCHEMISTRY,
AND ELECTROMAGNETISM 34
Galvanïs Frog Expcriments; Volta and the Voltaic Pile; Evolution
of the Battery and Discoveries with Electric Currents; Electromag-
netism; Ampère; Ardgo, Biot and Savart; Faraday’8 Rotrting Con-
ductor and Magnet and Barlow’s Wheel; Sturgeon’s Electromapnet,
Galvanometers; Ampèrès and Ohm’s Laws.
4
FARADAY AND HENRY 52
Faraday’s Formative Years; Faraday Appointed to the Royal I&i-
tution; Electromagnetic Induction; Other Contributions by Faraday;
Joseph Henry; Henry’s First Excursions into Science; Henry Pro-
poses tbe Electromagnetic Telegraph; Electromqnetic Induction;
Self-Induction; Marriage and Professorship at Princeton; Electrical
Oscillations and Electromagnetic Waves; Other Researches; The
Smithsonian Institution.
vi Contents
5
DIRECT-CURRENT DYNAMOS AND MOTORS 71
Pixii’s Machine; Nollet’s Machines; Dynamos; Electric Motors.
6
IMPROVEMENTS IN BATTERIES
AND ELECTROSTATIC MACHINES 77
The Daniel1 Cell; The Grove Cell; the Leclanché Cell; Other Bat-
teries; Storage Batteries; Electrostatic Induction Machines.
7
ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENTS, LAWS, AND
DEFINITIONS OF UNITS 85
Tangent Galvanometer; D’Arsonval Galvanometer; Wheatstone
Bridge; Electrical and Magnetic Laws; Electrical and Magnetic Units.
8
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH 95
Early Electromagnetic Telegraphs; Samuel F. B. Morse; Demonstra-
tion of the First Morse Telegraph; Partnership with Alfred Vail; US.
Government Interested in Telegraph; Demonstrations of the Im-
proved Morse Telegraph; Patent Applications; Submarine Cable;
Congress Appropriates $30,000 for an Experimental Line; Construc-
tion of the Line; “What Hath God Wrought!“; Commercial Opera-
tion of the Telegraph; Construction of New Telegraph Lines; West-
ern Union; Printing Telegraphs; Relays; Duplex and Multiplex
Systems; Railway Telegraphs; The First Transcontinental Telegraph
Line; Electrical Manufacturing.
9
THE ATLANTIC CABLE 115
Early Submarine Cables; Newfoundland Cable; The Atlantic Cable;
Gable Company 1s Organized; Contracts for the Manufacture of
Cable; The Cable Fleet; Loading and Testing the Cable; Laying the
Cable; Project Postponed until the Following Year; Second Attempt;
Cable 1s Spliced in Mid-Ocean; Insulation Breaks Down; The Second
Cable; Most of the Cable 1s Laid Successfully Before It Breaks; The
Third Cable; The Siphon Recorder.
Contents vii
10
THE TELEPHONE 131
Bourscul and Rcis; Alexander Graham Bell; The Bell Family Moves
to Canada; Classes in Boston; The Harmonie Telegraph; Boston Uni-
versity and George Sanda; Thomas A. Watson; The Phonautagraph
and thc Reis Tclcphone; Meeting with Joseph Henry; Agrecment
with Sanda and Hubbard; Bell’8 Great Discovery; Despair: New
Qwtcrs; Tclcphone Patent Granted; Thc Telcphonc at thc Ccnten-
niai Exposition; Tcsting thc Telephone; Western Union Refuses to
Buy thc Telephone; Bell 1s Manied; Organization of Telephonc
Companies; Infringement by the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany; BclI Patent Upheld; Transmitters; Theodore N. Vail: Evolu-
tion of the BclI Companies; The Dial Tclephone; Bell Laboratories
and Western Elcctric Company; Othcr Tclcphonc Systems.
11
ELECTRIC LIGHTING 152
Arc Lampa; Arc Lamp Meehanisms; Carbons; Manufacturers; Strcet
Liihting; Encloscd Are Lamps; Flaming Arcs; Incandescent Elcctric
Lights; Edison’s Incandescent Lamp; Edison Electric Light Com-
pany; Menlo Park; The Scarch for Bcttcr Filament Mat&&; Im-
provements in Lamp Se.& and in Dynamos; First Commercial Instal-
latiow Pearl Street, the First Central Station for Incandescent
Ligbting; Schencctady Works; Forcign Incandescent Liiht Installa-
tions; Improved Lamps; Othcr Types of Lampe.; Metal Filament
Lamps; Tube Lighting; Fluorescent Lamps; Lamp Efficiencies;
Special-Purpose Lamps.
12
ALTERNATING CURRENTS 177
Thc Transformer; Induction C~ils; Gaulard and Gibbs: Westinghouse
AItcrnating-Currcnt Systcm; Altcrnating-Curent Gcnerators; Fre-
qucncics; AC-DC Conversion; Alternating-Curent Motors; Niagara
Falls Development; Transmission Lines; Frequency and Voltage
Standards.
13
ELECTRIC TRACTION 190
Public Transportation; Rails and Railways; Streçt Railways; Electric
Propulsion; EIeetrification of Street Railways; Thc Carbon Bru&;
viii Contents
Rapid Conversion from Horsecars to Electric Propulsion; Suburban
and Main Line Electrification; The Decline of Electric Street Rail-
ways.
14
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES, RADIO,
FACSIMILE, AND TELEVISION 198
A Century of Progress; Hertz Discovers Electromagnetic Waves; Sig-
naling without Wires; Guglielmo Marconi; First Radio Patent;
Tuned Circuits; Continuous Waves; Detectors; The Edison Effect;
The Fleming Valve; De Forest Audion; Amplification; Armstrong’s
Oscillator Tube; The Alexanderson High-Frequency Generator;
Amateur Radio and Radio Broadcasting; Regulation of Radio; Fed-
eral Communications Commission; Frequency Allocations; Radio
Receivers; Facsimile Transmission; Commercial Facsimile; Photo-
electric Devices; Pictures by Cable; Television; The Scanning Disk
and Mechanical Television; The Iconoscope; Improvements on the
Iconoscope; Transmission by Radio Waves; Regulation of Television
and Channel Allocations.
15
THE CROOKES TUBE,XRAYS,
RADIOACTIVITY, STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM,
ACCELERATORS AND ATOMIC RESEARCH 224
The Crookes Tube; Vacuum Tubes before Crookes; Sir William
Crookes and His Experiments; Later Developments in Cathode
Rays; X Rays; Radioactivity; Scattering of Electrons; Photoelectric
Effect; Planck’s Constant; Photoelectrons and Einstein’s Equation;
Hydrogen Spectra; Structure of the Atom; Heavier Atoms, Elliptical
Orbits, and Spin; Theoretical and Experimental Physics of the
1920s; Other Subatomic Particles; The Electron Microscope; Radia-
tion Detectors; Accelerators and Atomic Research.
16
MICROWAVES, RADAR, RADIO RELAY,
COAXIAL CABLE, COMPUTERS 253
Microwaves; Radar; Early British Developments and Installations;
American Wartime Research and Development; New Oscillators and
Other Tubes; Types of Radar; Other Uses of Radar; Telephone
Radio Relay; Frequency Band Allocations; Coaxial Cable; Com-
Conlents i x
puters; Computer Development; Digital and Analog Computer~;
Electronic Computers; Memory Systems; Input and Output Syo
tems; Numeration.
17
PLASMAS, MASERS,
LASERS, FUEL CELLS,
PIEZOELECTRIC CRYSTALS, TRANSISTORS 275
Plasmas; Masers and Lasers; Cas Lasers; Applications; Electrolytie
and Electrochemical Phenomena; Piezoelectricity; S&d State De-
vices; Semiconductors; Transistors; The Transistor Industry.
18
ATOMIC ENERGY, GOVERNMENT RESEARCH,
NUCLEAR FUSION 289
Atomic Energy; Nuelear Rescarch for the United States Gavern-
ment; Los Alamos Laboratory and the Atomic Bomb; Atomic
Energy Commission;Nuclear Power Plants; Nuclear Fusion; Whither.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 299
INDEX 307