The Morals of Measurement: Accuracy, Irony, and Trust in Late Victorian Electrical Practice

311 Pages·2004·3.47 MB·English

by  Graeme J. N. Gooday

The Morals of Measurement
TheMoralsofMeasurementisacontributiontothesocialhistoriesofquantifi-
cationandofelectricaltechnologyinnineteenth-centuryBritain,Germany,and
France. It shows how the advent of commercial electrical lighting stimulated
the industrialisation of electrical measurement from a skilled labour-intensive
activitytoamechanisedpracticerelyingonradicallynewkindsofinstruments.
Challengingtraditionalaccountsthatfocusonmetrologicalstandards,thisbook
showsinsteadthecentralityoftrustwhenmeasurementwasundertakeninanin-
creasinglycomplexdivisionoflabourwithmanufacturedhardware.Casestudies
demonstratehowdifficultlateVictoriansfoundittoagreeuponwhichelectri-
calpractitioners,instruments,andmetalsweremosttrustworthyandwhatthey
couldhopetomeasurewithanyaccuracy.Subtleambiguitiesarosetoooverwhat
constituted‘measurement’or‘accuracy’andthusovertherespectiveresponsibil-
itiesofhumansandtechnologiesinelectricalpractice.Runningalongsidethese
concerns, the themes of body, gender, and authorship feature importantly in
controversiesoverthechangingidentityofthemeasurer.Inexamininghownew
groupsofelectricalexpertsandconsumersconstruedthefairnessofmeteringfor
domesticlighting,thisworkchartstheearlymoraldebatesoverwhatisnowa
ubiquitoustechnologyforquantifyingelectricity.Accordinglyreaderswillgain
freshinsights,tingedwithirony,onaperiodinwhichmeasurementwastreated
asthedefinitivemeansofgainingknowledgeoftheworld.
Graeme J. N. Gooday is Senior Lecturer in History and Philosophy of Science
in the School of Philosophy at the University of Leeds. In 1989 he was joint
winneroftheSingerPrize,awardedbytheBritishSocietyfortheHistoryofSci-
ence,forhispaper‘PrecisionMeasurementandtheGenesisofPhysicsTeaching
LaboratoriesinVictorianBritain’.Hehaswrittenarticlesfornumerousjournals,
includingTheBritishJournalfortheHistoryofScience,HistoryandTechnology,
andOsiris.

The Morals of Measurement
Accuracy, Irony, and Trust in
Late Victorian Electrical Practice
GRAEME J. N. GOODAY
UniversityofLeeds
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Firstpublished2004
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
TypefaceSabon10/12pt. SystemLATEX2ε [tb]
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationData
Gooday,Graeme.
Themoralsofmeasurement:accuracy,irony,andtrustinlateVictorian
electricalpractice/GraemeJ.N.Gooday.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-521-43098-4
1.Electricmeasurements–History–19thcentury.
2.Electriclighting–History–19thcentury. I.Title.
tk275.g66 2004
621.37(cid:2)09(cid:2)034–dc21 2003053291
isbn0521430984hardback
Contents
ListofIllustrations pageviii
Abbreviations ix
Preface xiii
1 MoralizingMeasurement:(Dis)TrustinPeople,
Instruments,andTechniques 1
1.1. WilliamThomsonandtheLimitsofMeasurement 2
1.2. TheMetrologicalFallacy–OrWhattheHistoryof
MeasurementIsNot 9
1.3. RivalNarrativesofQuantification:Networksof
TrustversusCentresofPower 16
1.4. MoralEconomiesofTrustandQuantification 23
1.5. TrustandtheMaterialCultureofMeasurement 30
1.6. Conclusion 39
2 MeaningsofMeasurementandAccountsofAccuracy 40
2.1. CompetingRhetoricsofMeasurement:Comparison
versusReduction 42
2.2. UncertaintiesovertheIdentitiesoftheMeasurerand
theMeasured 50
2.3. ‘ReasonableAgreement’andtheMultipleMeanings
ofAccuracy 57
2.4. ResponsibilityforAccuracyandError:ThePolitics
ofAmbivalence 65
2.5. ReportingAccuracy:TheProtocolsandLanguages
ofError 72
2.6. Conclusion 80
3 MercurialTrustandResistiveMeasures:Rethinkingthe
‘MetalsControversy’,1860–1894 82
3.1. Rethinkingthe‘MetalsControversy’:Siemensversus
Matthiessen 85
3.2. TheMercurialSolution:Siemens’1860Proposal 90
3.3. Matthiessen’sCasefortheAlloy:TrustinSolidity 94
v
vi Contents
3.4. ControversyBegins:ChallengingAccuracyand
MetallicUtility 98
3.5. TheBAASCommittee’sContemplationofMercury
andAlloyStandards 103
3.6. ‘DrMatthiessenHasBeenOpposedtoMercury’:The
AcrimonyofCommerce1865–1866 110
3.7. ResistingMercury:TheUnresolvedAftermathofthe
MetalsControversy 117
3.8. Conclusion 124
4 ReadingTechnologies:Trust,theEmbodied
Instrument-UserandtheVisualizationofCurrent
Measurement 128
4.1. ‘Internalist’HistoriesandtheNewHistoriographyof
Instruments 131
4.2. SensitivityversusRobustness:Galvanometer
AccuracyintheWorkingEnvironment 141
4.3. TemporalCharacteristicsofCurrent-Measurement
Practices 148
4.4. ProportionalityversusTrustworthiness?Constructing
theDirect-ReadingAmmeter 153
4.5. IroniesofReadingInstruments:Proportionalityand
Spot-Watching 160
4.6. Conclusion 171
5 CoupledProblemsofSelf-Induction:TheUnparalleled
andtheUnmeasurableinAlternating-CurrentTechnology 173
5.1. ‘WeDoNotCoupleMachines’:TheTribulationsof
ACParallelRunning 176
5.2. TheProblematic‘Inertial’Analogy:Maxwell’s
AccountofSelf-Induction 180
5.3. Self-InductionasMomentum:JohnHopkinson’s
TheoryofACParalleling 186
5.4. FromCurrentBalancetoSecohmmeter:Measuring
Self-InductionattheSTEE 192
5.5. TheSecohmmeterinAction:GisbertKappandthe
ParallelingofAlternators 201
5.6. DiagnosingSelf-Induction:Mordey’sContested
AnalysisofParallelWorking 204
5.7. Counting‘Ayrton’sandPerry’sThings’:The
SecohmmeterFurtherContested 208
5.8. Epilogue:TheLingeringMarginalCareerofthe
Secohmmeter 215
5.9. Conclusion 216
Contents vii
6 MeasurementataDistance:Fairness,Trustworthiness,
andGenderinReadingtheDomesticElectricalMeter 219
6.1. TheHistoriographyoftheDomesticElectricalMeter 222
6.2. TheGas-MeterParadigmofMeasuringataDistance 225
6.3. TheDial-LessMeter:Edison’sTechniquefor
MeasuringataDistance 232
6.4. EmulatingtheGasParadigm:Ferranti’s
Mercury-MotorMeter 239
6.5. FairnessversusExpediency:RivalInterpretationsof
ElectricalConsumption 244
6.6. MetersandtheGenderedConsumptionofElectric
Lighting 253
6.7. Conclusion 261
Conclusion 263
Index 273
Illustrations
1. WernerSiemens’designformercurycolumnforresistance
standard,c.1890. page93
2. ASiemenselectro-dynamometer,c.1884. 134
3. Integrated‘convenience’versionoftheThomsonmirror
galvanometer,1879. 138
4. WilloughbyandOliverSmithstandoveramirror
galvanometer,1866. 143
5. AyrtonandPerry’selectrictricycle,1882. 157
6. Johnson&Phillip’shotwireammeter,1910. 162
7. Ayrton&MatherversionoftheDeprezD’Arsonval
galvanometer,1902. 163
8. JamesClerkMaxwell’spulleyandflywheelmodelfor
self-induction(n.d.) 187
9. JohnHopkinson’saccountoftheparallelcouplingof
alternators,1884. 190
10. Ayrton&Perry’ssecohmmeterformeasuringself-induction,
1887. 198
11. Alternatorsrunninginparallel,AmberleyRoadPowerStation,
London,1893. 213
12. Gasmeterwiththreecontra-rotatingdials,1884. 228
13. AnEdisonmeteropenedtoshowtheelectrolyticcells,1888. 235
14. CrosssectionofFerrantiDCmercury-motormeter,1895. 242
15. ‘AttheDoor;orPaterfamiliasandtheYoungSpark’,Punch
1891. 255
viii
Abbreviations
BJHS BritishJournalfortheHistoryofScience
BAAS BritishAssociationfortheAdvancementofScience
ICE InstitutionofCivilEngineers
The following three names applied successively to one and the same
institution:
STE SocietyofTelegraphEngineers(1871–80)
STEE SocietyofTelegraphEngineersandElectricians(1881–8)
IEE InstitutionofElectricalEngineers(1889–)
Notes
Where no author is specified, publications were anonymous. The names of
publishersarecitedonlyfortwentieth-centurybooks.
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