Introduction Post

                                                       Tesla v. Edison

                                           This blog will discuss the electrifying tale of the two men and their fight for power.

Timeline of Electricity

The Timeline of Electricity

-Benjamin Franklin - (1752)

> At the time of his popularity, Benjamin Franklin was seen as a man of science. His ideas helped to bring a new excitement towards scientific and new thought.

> Benjamin Franklin first proposed that "vitreous" and "resinous" electricity were not different types of "Electrical Fluid"(electricity), but the same electrical fluid under different pressures.

> He was the first to label them as Positive(+) and Negative(-) respectively.

>  On May 10, 1752,Thomas-Francois Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment using a 40-foot-tall (12 m) iron rod instead of a kite, and he extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15 Franklin may possibly have conducted his well known kite experiment in Philadelphia.

 > In 1750, he published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. It is still not quite known if Benjamin Franklin actually conducted the experiment or not. In his writings, Franklin indicates that he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his use of the concept of electrical ground.  

> Due to the relatively flat land and the fact that the homes where mostly made of wood, fires caused by lighting strikes where quite common. Benjamin Franklin's electrical experiments led to his invention of the lightning rod.

>. He noted that conductors with a sharp rather than a smooth point could discharge silently at a far greater distance compared to other designs. This ultimately led to the belief and understanding that lightning will strike taller objects more frequently than objects lower to the ground.

> He came to the conclusion that this rod could help protect buildings from lightning by attaching "upright rods of iron, made sharp as a needle and gilt to prevent rusting, and from the foot of those rods a wire down the outside of the building into the Ground." Franklin hypothesized "the pointed rods probably draw the Electrical Fire silently out of a cloud before it came high enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible mischief!"

> His hypothesis, though not entirely correct, led to the scientific understanding that "Electricity will always follow the path of least resistance". This is evident in nature, especially when observing lightning strikes.                              

This gif demonstrates the relationship between the positive
and negative charges in our atmosphere that attribute to a
lightning strike. 

- James Watt's Steam Engine (1764)




> In Scottish inventor James Watt and his innovations would change the world forever. It is said that Watt's improvements to the Steam Engine had directly brought civilization into an era of new ideas, trade, and manufacturing, this era was defined as the Industrial Revolution.


> Even though The first working steam engine had been patented in 1698 and by the time of Watt's birth, the Newcomen engines had been pumping water from mines all over the country. At the age of 28, James Watt got the chance to repair an old Newcomen engine, realizing how hopelessly inefficient it was, Watt began to work towards improving the design.



                                                              How Did The Newcomen Steam Engine Work?


> The Newcomen Engine and its process:

First, hot steam is pulled into the chamber.

Second, cold water is sprayed into the chamber. The temperature drops
 rapidly and  creates negative  pressure, which is used to
 effectively  pull the piston downward.

Finally, the cold water drains and the process repeats itself. The constant
 and repetitious push and pull from the steam engine creates kinetic
 energy,which can then be used to transfer the
 energy in motion to another device.  

                                 

          How Did James Watt's Steam Engine Work?

                                               

> James Watt had improved upon the design of the Newcomen Steam Engine by incorporating a separate condensing chamber that improved pressure force, prevented great losses of steam, and doubled the steam engines fuel efficiency.

>  Though the steam engine was not initially designed with electricity in mind, James Watt's Steam Engine will be a very important factor in the creation of modern electricity.
 (Hint: Electromagnetic Induction)


- Alessandro Volta's Battery - (1800)

> In the year 1800, Alessandro Volta experimented with the the chemical make up of electricity by stacking several pairs of alternating copper and zinc discs and separating them by cloth or cardboard soaked in brine (highly saturated salt water). It was discovered that through this set-up when the top and bottom contacts were connected by a wire, an electric current would flow through the voltaic pile and the connecting wire. The metal plates acted as electrodes to better influence conductivity and the brine was used for its high amount of electrolytes.

> By using both copper and zinc discs and spacers soaked in either salt water or other solutions, Volta was able to successfully store electric charge and use it later. His Voltaic Pile became the first known battery cell and directly attributed to the discoveries of electrolysis (Separating hydrogen and oxygen with the use of electricity) and the isolation and identification of  new elements such as: Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, among many other elements.  

 

* Modern car batteries use lead and lead dioxide as the active materials on the battery's plates. Reacting with sulfuric acid in the electrolytes to form lead sulfate. The lead sulfate forms itself into a finely divided amorphous state, and easily reverts back to lead, lead dioxide, and sulfuric acid when the battery recharges.




-Micheal Faraday (1830's)

>   Micheal Faraday is most well know for proving that magnetism can create an electric current, specifically and appropriately named electromagnetism. 

>    In the late 1830's Micheal Faraday, fascinated with the Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile, founded the area of Electrochemistry also coining the terms "Electrode" and "Electrolyte" in efforts to define and explain the elements that caused Volta's Battery to store and conduct electricity.

> In 1821, following the work of  the Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetism Faraday went on to uncover other significant relationships between magnets and electric current. Others who had heard of electromagnetism failed to create any sort of working electric motor, but Faraday has succeeded in designing two electric motors.

> One of the Faraday's electric motor is known as the Homo-polar Motor. This and his "Electric Magnetic Rotation Apparatus" helped to demonstrate magnetic rotation and its potential to be used to transform electrical energy into mechanical energy, thus creating the first electric motor.

As As it moves through a magnetic field, the conductor is pushed
parallel to the magnetic field created by the current.

> After discovering that magnetic rotation was caused by a moving electric current within the conductor, he the hypothesized that using magnets he could manipulate the flow of the current. Faraday's breakthrough came when he wrapped two insulated coils of wire around an iron ring, and found that upon passing a current through one coil a momentary current was induced in the other coil, this change in current became known as Electromagnetic Induction.

A liquid battery (right) through a small Coil A. When it's moved in
or out of the Coil B, its momentary change in current can be
measured as voltage on the galvanometer (Left) 

 

> The gif below demonstrates Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Induction.

Here we can see that the movement of the electrons induced
by the magnet creates a current, but also take note that this is
 not a consistent current. 

               With Micheal Faraday's findings on Magnetic Induction, a new goal had become apparent.

                   If we can manipulate electricity and its current what else can we achieved, and how?  



                                       

The Birth of Direct Current

                                                       
                                                                          So... How Does Electricity Work?


        Atoms are everywhere, in fact they make up the smallest units of the chemical elements of matter. Packet with a combination of both Protons (Positive charge) and Neutrons (No charge) is the nucleus, which can be found in the middle of an Atom. Orbiting the atom is an array of Electrons (Negative Charge), The number of Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons are specific to each  chemical element, and each element acts and reacts differently with one another.

With Atoms being neutral; they contain the same number of protons as electrons. An Ion, on the other hand is an electrically charged particle produced by either removing electrons from a neutral atom to give a positive ion or adding electrons to a neutral atom to give a negative ion. When an ion is formed, the number of protons does not change, only the number of electrons.

For example, Neutral atoms can be turned into positively charged ions by removing one or more electrons. A neutral sodium atom, for example, contains 11 protons and 11 electrons. By removing an electron from this atom we get a positively charged Na⁺ ion that has a net charge of +1.

By acknowledging the nature electrical charges in nature, we can deduce that some elements have more and work better than others. Metal for instance have plenty of free electrons that are willing to interact and exchange electric charge. These free electrons as charge carriers in the metallic structure, allowing electric current to flow through metal. This action of adding or taking away electrons creates a change in the charge of both the metal and the other elements, that can be used or manipulated.

The Voltaic Pile takes advantage of the electric
natural electric charge in the brine and uses metals,
such as copper and zinc as conductors.

Micheal Faraday and Alessandro Volta discovered that by using elements with higher amounts of corresponding  ions they could produce an electric charge, this is demonstrated very well in Volta's Battery, the brine soaked pads and the metal plates are packed with ions, so the chance of conductivity is high.

In the early 1830's Faraday found that by using his metal and a Volta's battery he could use the electrical charge to create the movement of a compass' needle. He later found out that this movement must be caused by the electric force, even though there was no direct contact. He was right, that force was magnetism. Through the manipulation of the charged particles being introduced and taken away a change in the magnetic poles occurred, electrons shifted through the conductor, and a brief current was created.

Hypothetically by using a constant force of kinetic (moving) energy , such as a river, electric power could be produced and used for mechanical functions. But at the time, electricity and its potential was too early to be used practically.

This is a small model of a direct current generator 

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This method of changing kinetic energy into electrical and eventually mechanical energy would be called Direct Current and its use and progress in the 20th century lit up the world for hopes of a bigger and brighter future.  

Edison's Electric Empire

                                                                        Thomas Edison's Early Life

Born on February  11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison was said to have risen from humble beginnings to the technological genius that he is known as today. At a young age Edison showed a voracious appetite for knowledge, constantly researching a wide range of subjects. Around the age of 12, young Thomas Edison convinced his parents that he could earn money by using the his access of newspapers and selling them to individuals for a profit. This would become the first of many entrepreneurial ventures where he saw an opportunity to capitalize.

                                                                  Edison's Entrepreneurial Career

Thomas Edison, the man credited with bring light and electricity
to the world

In 1862, Edison move to New York and began to work on his first patented innovation. He improved upon the existing Stock's counter by improving the design and increasing the synchronizing synchronicity. The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company was so impressed that they paid 22 year old Thomas Edison $40,000 for the rights. With his recently found money and success Edison quit his job as a telegrapher, to devote his time and money to invention.

By 1870, Edison had set up his fist small laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey. He had also create many partnerships between and developed his products for the highest bidder. His entrepreneurial status gave him plenty acknowledgement and his invention of the Quadruplex Telegraph, which was intended for Western Union Telegraph Company, but was sold to Railroad Tycoon Jay Gould gave Edison over $100,000 in not only cash, but also bonds and stocks. This financial success led young Thomas Edison into a cycle of ever-increasing popularity and financial prosperity.   

The Quadruplex Telegraph

Later in 1876, Edison moved to his new laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Within a couple of years and his new developments in the recording of sound. In 1877, when working on a design aimed at improving the telegraph transmitter Edison had noticed that the movement of the paper tape through the machine made noise, noise that produced what resembled human speech when played at a high speed. Experimenting with a stylus and a cylinder of foil (sound collecting horn) he was able to speak into the capture, on the tape, the vibrations used when speaking and play them back. His first words were "Mary had a little lamb". This is the invention that earned him the nickname "Wizard of Menlo Park".

The vibrations from the sound of the voice can be etched into the
paper and be played back.

Edison's early models of the phonograph later evolved into louder and clearer instruments of sound and also led to the availability to hear previously recorded music whenever the user wished. This device ultimately led to the invention gramophone record player which used nearly the same techniques developed by Edison.

Edison and his Early Phonograph

It could also be used with headphones

Over the years Edison's popularity grew and people from all over the world looked to him as the inventor that would change our world. His investment into new technology proved that he could do just that. During the 1880's Edison's improvement upon Joseph Swan's almost successful incandescent light-bulb led to a new technological revolution.

European Chemist Joesph Swan

The problem with Swans light was that there was not a complete vacuum seal so the carbon filament could not last. When Edison and his employees recognized this, it led them to create a fully functional electric lamp that could burn for up to 40 hrs.

Joesph Swan's incandescent patented electric lamp (Left) and Thomas Edison's electric light (Right) 

So technically speaking Edison did in fact invent the first successful incandescent light-bulb.

                                                                         Thomas Edison's Pearl Street 

With the potential of bringing light to streets, businesses, and eventually homes Edison and his new incandescent light gained the interest of many investors. Edison realized this and set out to develop a company that could manufacture and deliver the electric power to light the world. That same year, with the help of investors such as J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilt Family, Edison founded the Edison Electric Illuminating Company.

The modern logo of Edison's Electric Illuminating Company 

Edison concentrated on developing a complete system of electric generation and distribution that would turn his light bulb into a commercially efficient and economical business.Pearl Street Station located in Manhattan would be Edison Electric Illuminating Company’s first functioning power plant. By 1884 it was already serving 508 customers with 10,164 lamps.

This map of Lower-Manhattan illustrates the area in which the
Pearl Street Power Plant served

Edison's system would consist of the large central power plant with its Direct Current generators called Dynamos. The "Jumbo" dynamo generators each weighed about 27 tons and had an output of 100 kilowatts. All six dynamo generators in the Pearl Street Station were driven by a steam engine, which was located in another part of the plant.

The Dynamo Room

Edison received more than two hundred patents between 1879 and 1882 as he solved numerous problems in the generation, distribution, and metering of electric current. Edison’s Electric Empire was expanding and the future seemed bright.

Edison's Dilemma

With the growing success of his business it was only natural for him to want to expand his electric power into new territories. Unfortunately because his dynamo machines generated electricity through Direct Current it was impossible to sustain usable power in a high energy circuit in iridescent lamps that were more than a mile away.

Lights powered by Direct Current may not get the energy needed in a circuit
with too much resistance due to distance or lack of power. 

By using the Direct Current method of producing power, the method of generation does not allow for a variation of voltage. In order to generate electricity with the aim of using it in a long distance circuit the voltage needs to be high enough that the resistance doesn't render the current useless. But if the Voltage was too high, then the lamps and filament themselves would burn out and again render the circuit useless. Hypothetically Edison's only solution to this problem was to incorporate a power plant every few miles from one another. While he did go on to produce many power plants Edison's solution to the problem was expensive and impractical.

It seemed as though the only other means to get a consistent, controllable, and reliable form of electric generation would only be possible with an impossible perpetual motion machine. 

One mans attempt to create perpetual energy

Land of Opportunity

                                           Nikola Tesla's Humble Beginnings


On July 10th, 1865 at the stoke of midnight, in what would now be known as Croatia, a baby boy was born. Little did his Serbian parents know how their son, Nikola Tesla, would change the world.

Inventor and Electrical Genius, Nikola Tesla

Nikola's father, Milutin Tesla, had devoted his life to the priest hood and had expected that his son would so the same. From a young age Nikola had been taught and raised to be a holy man, but he had always held a deep interest in the scientific studies of his era. Intrigued by the sciences more than his rigorous studies, Nikola often shared his desires to continue his learning at distinguished scientific schools. In 1873, 18 year old Nikola suddenly got stuck with cholera. He had been bedridden for 9 months, and the worst was assumed to be eminent. With little chance for his health to return, he tried to regain his fathers optimism. Nikolas father, in a moment of desperation, agreed to send him to an engineering school if he recovered from the illness. Young Nikola Tesla had recovered and in 1875 had been enrolled in the Austrian Polytechnic school in Graz.

The Graz University of Technology

                                                                            Tesla's Epiphany 

During this time Edison and his empire had been using Direct Current to generate electricity for many people in the city. Tesla was a great fan of Edison and his work. In a much later account Tesla's had stated, "It had been the height of my ambition and my most ardent wish to cone in contact with Edison and see America." After studying Edison methods of creating electricity with Direct Current, Tesla had an insistent feeling that he could help Edison improve it, but he had yet to find out how. One afternoon in 1882, Tesla was out for a walk, obsessed with Edison's D.C dilemma, it is said that he had a mental break down. According to his own accounts of the event, "...The idea came to me like a flash of lightning and in an instant the truth was revealed...  The images I saw were wonderfully sharp and clear and had the solidity of metal and stone, so much so that I told him: 'See my motor here; watch me reverse it.' I cannot begin to describe my emotions. It was a mental state of happiness as complete as I had ever known in life"   

This is a visual representation Tesla's vision

Tesla's new vision had been the breakthrough he had been longing to achieve. By using a rotating bi-polar magnet it could influence the flow of ions at multiple points and the force of magnetic induction would cause the ions to shift directions frequently, thus creating a new type of current, Alternating Current. Sadly this was just a concept and many colleagues even professors laughed at his claim to convince them of what they called a "perpetual motion scam".

A rendition of Tesla's First Alternating Current conductor

                                          
                                                                         Working For Edison 

Later that year Tesla had gotten a job in Paris, working for the Edison Electrical Illumination Company. Working under Charles Batchelor at the Ivry- sur-Seine lamp factory and installing light and fixtures in Opera Houses and Theaters all around Europe, he had earned himself  quite the positive reputation. 

An illustration of the Paris Opera House in which Tesla had installed a new lighting system

After working for Edition's company in Europe for over 2 years, he had managed obtain a letter of recommendation written by Charles Batchelor. With Charles Batchelor being personal friends with Thomas Edison, his recommendation was extremely valuable. In the letter Batchelor wrote, " My Dear Edison, I know two great men and you are one of them. The other is this young man!" Thomas Edison had accepted the recommendation and agreed to assign Tesla to a Station in America to work alongside him.

Tesla's trip to America was not a smooth one. During the voyage a mutiny had broken out and Nikola had almost been thrown overboard and he had even gotten his luggage stolen, but by the morning of June 6th, 1884 Tesla would have arrived safely in New York with only a poem and 4¢ in his pocket. During a speech he made later in life, Tesla recounted that day, “On my way uptown I came to a small machine shop in which the foreman was trying to repair an electric machine of European make. He had just given up the task as hopeless and I undertook to put it in order without a thought of compensation. It was not easy but I finally had it in perfect running condition. I was astonished when he gave me twenty dollars and wished that I had come to America years before. The next day I was thrilled to the marrow by meeting Edison who began my American education right then and there.” 

During this time in the late 1800's  many people immigrated to
 America seeking new opportunities for success 

It wasn't long after Tesla began working that he had tried to convince Edison his invention could improve upon Edison's Direct Current. Edison refused to entertain the idea of Alternating Current, and condemned them as deadly. Thomas Edison had built his entire electric empire on direct current and viewed Tesla's alternating current as a way to undermine his business.

One of Edison's several dynamo D.C generator's

When Edison heard of Tesla's effort to earn more money, Edison offered Tesla a chance to improve the performance of the company's D.C generators. Tesla had worked tirelessly for nine months, consistently working on the Dynamo generators, "I began the work for which I was engaged immediately and after nine months of strenuous effort I fulfilled my contract rigorously. The manager had promised me fifty thousand dollars but when I demanded payment, he merely laughed. 'You are still a Parisian,' remarked Edison, 'when you become a full-fledged American you will appreciate an American joke.'" This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Disgusted and shocked by Edison's remark and the lack of any compensation for his work, Tesla quit.

AC ϟ DC

                                    The War of The Currents

After Tesla had resigned, he still had to find work. His main jobs around this time consisted of digging ditches for Edison's power lines. At this time others also took interest in Tesla, private investors had even approached him and asked him to design a new arch light. Although this was not the opportunity he had hoped for, he took it believing that it would help him ultimately fund his Alternating Current project. With the help of his investors Tesla had formed the Tesla Electric Light Company in April of 1887. Within the years that Tesla had been working for Edison and the founding of the Tesla Lighting Company, Nikola Tesla had already been awarded 6 individual U.S. Patents. With Tesla's improved Arc-Lamp design the Tesla Lighting Company was able to gain profits, but most of the revenue went directly to the investors themselves. Luckily during his spare time at the company, Tesla managed to build an operation A.C conductor. But, with the investors having little faith in Nikola Tesla's Alternating Current they ultimately decided to kick him out of the company leaving him with nothing but worthless stock certificates.         

The Tesla Lighting Company Stock Certificate

Using his working A.C motor he was now able to demonstrate the elite capabilities of Alternating Current over Direct Current. He had published papers in Scientific Journals and made public demonstrations. One of these demonstrations was called the "Egg of Columbus", its design showed that alternating current was a strong steady source of energy.

During one of Tesla's demonstrations at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, employees of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, a company who's goal at the time was to create their own A.C generators. By 1888 Nikola Tesla had gained the personal attention of  Mr. George Westinghouse. Intrigued by Tesla's highly-efficient design and his working induction motor, Westinghouse offered to buy the Tesla's "A.C. Polyphase System" patent for $25,000 in cash, $50,000 in notes, and royalties of $2.50 per horsepower of each motor. Tesla agreed. 

George Westinghouse

Tesla and Westinghouse would eventually develop a strong partnership. After the completion of the contract Tesla stayed at the Westinghouse Co. Pittsburgh Plant for nearly a year. Helping Westinghouse and his men build and manage the gigantic A.C generators.  

The A.C Generators used to power the Westinghouse plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

                                                                             The Tesla Coil

With the money gained through selling his patent Tesla headed back for New York to open up a New Laboratory on 157 Grand Street. There Tesla would begin his work with frequencies, wireless transmission, and theories around the relationship with electromagnetism and light. Within the next few years Tesla traveled back and forth between European countries and New York. He learned first hand about other scientist and their work in Electricity, while in Paris he learned of Herbert Hertz studies on frequencies and even saw a replica of Hertz' oscillator, which used high-frequencies to create electric sparks. This fascinated Tesla so much so, that in the 1890 when he himself was experimenting with high-frequencies when developed the first Neon and Florescent Illumination using a Tesla Coil.

                                 

                                            This is a photo of the earliest known Tesla Coil

Tesla posing with a lit bulb that is not
connected to a power source

When Tesla developed his Tesla Coil in 1890, he specifically built it so that it could withstand high-frequencies and high voltage. With a power source and a capacitor to collect the charge and allow it to build up, the coils to allow for the high-voltage to be passed through and break the resistance created by the air.

This is a essentially mini-version of a Tesla Coil, It emits
a concentration of energy into the surrounding area.

The florescent gas in the bulb contains easily excitable ions, so when
placed near a source of energy it will produce light.

In short, the coil is meant to step up the energy produced and release it when the charge is strong enough, thus creating sparks and a surrounding magnetic field in which other devices can use. Tesla believed that with this, unlimited energy could be created and used perpetually. His invention of the Tesla Coil led to a better understanding of frequencies and the electromagnetic fields that influence the transmission of wireless energy. 

                                                  Edison's Scare Tactics

With Westinghouse having the patent to Alternating Current Systems, the threat of actual competition scared Thomas Edison. By 1887, within only a year of business using A.C., Westinghouse had already had more than half the amount of generators as Edison spread across the county. To fight the eminent spread of Alternating currents, Edison and his company's put on a terrifying smear campaign and lobbied for the outlawing of alternating current production. Edison was once quoted saying, "My personal desire would be to prohibit  entirely the use of alternating currents, they are as unnecessary as they are dangerous." In his many demonstrations where he electrocuted animals (with Direct Current) he would urge people not to trust Westinghouse and Tesla's Alternating Current. The smear campaigns even tried to give death by electrocution a new name by calling it "Westinghoused". When Edison and his technicians did in fact use alternating current, it was to kill small stray cats and dogs. 

A picture of the Topsy the Elephant after Edison killed her with 

One of Edison's technicians had even suggested that they should use Alternating Current to kill a man on already death row. This would be the first death by an electric chair. They would moved forward with the plan, and on the day of the execution it required several gruesome attempts to kill the victim. Disgusted witnesses claimed that before the man had died, his spinal cord burst into flame. Edison's plan to demonize alternating current had been a success and Westinghouse's company was in jeopardy. 

                                     The 1893 World's Columbia Exposition 


It seemed as though Edison and his Direct current had won, but in 1893 a chance at redemption would arise. In May of 1892, George Westinghouse had won the contract to power Chicago's 1893 World Colombian Exposition. Using Tesla's A.C Polyphase System Westinghouse planned to demonstrate the quality power offered by Alternating Current. With Tesla's guidance the two worked together to build a system for the Exposition that produced three times more energy than what was currently being utilized to power the entire city of Chicago.  With the press of a button, over 27,000,000 visitors over the next six-months had experienced the the first electrically lit fair.

An elevated view of the electrically lit 1893 World's Colombian Exposition

The many electrical exhibits included switchboards, polyphase generators, step-up transformers, transmission line, step-down transformers, commercial size induction and synchronous motors, rotary direct current converters, and even an operational railway motor. Most of these we're of Tesla's own design. The working scaled system truly allowed the public to visually see a system of polyphase power in which electricity could be transmitted over long distances and still be utilized safely.

"Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
Tesla Polyphase System"

Nikola Tesla's Alternating Current had proved superior to Direct Current.
Through the help of George Westinghouse, Tesla had won the War of the Currents.